Fourth Estate Newspaper

Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Life

Media Credit: Photo illustration by Kari Merchant Manscaping is a trend that has become popular in recent years. More men are shaping up and shaving it all off.

Some men like to give themselves a little trim to avoid looking like a caveman from the prehistoric era. Others go all out and wax eyebrows, trim armpits and shave their legs.
Manscaping is a popular term that describes the trend of men who trim or remove their body hair. This idea became popular for many different reasons. Some men remove hair for athletic purposes such as swimming or wrestling.
Many men that have tattoo sleeves shave their arms. Other men prefer having no hair in some regions to improve their physical appearance. However, there are men who refuse to engage in manscaping because they believe it's a feminine practice.
Statistics show that most women prefer a man who manscapes his body. According to the Web site fitbuff.com, 73 percent of women prefer a man with a bare chest because it seems more sexy and sculpted.
When it comes to back hair, 85 percent of women believe that men should take the lawn mower to their hairy backs.
Finally, 67 percent of women prefer a man who trims his genitals. These women don't want to navigate through an unkempt rosebush when they are in bed with their man. They also believe that trimming can make the penis appear bigger.
Men have several options when it comes to trimming and removing unwanted hair while manscaping. Men who just want to trim hair usually use a shaver. If a man wants to completely remove hair, he looks to wax. This is a form of hair removal that usually will keep hair from growing back for a few weeks.
Some men that know they will never want to have hair in certain regions are turning to laser hair removal. This form of hair removal is costly and takes several laser sessions per year, but hair will be gone for longer periods of time.
Many women have their own opinions on the increasing trend of manscaping.
Amanda Larson, a junior German major, believes manscaping is very hygienic. She also believes since women have been doing it for years, it's perfectly normal for men to pick up the trend. Larson thinks that manscaping makes men feel more comfortable and can give them a self-esteem boost if they are uncomfortable with unwanted hair.

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