Why are men attracted to body hair?

Written by Jon Clarke

Step away from the razor and wax strips, gents. In a recent survey, it was found that women find the hair on your body sexy. This might come as welcome news to many fellas out there, who are inclined to go super smooth in the name of false ideals perpetuated by Essex-based reality shows. But fear not foresty studmuffins, this makes pleasant reading for you…

According to asapSCIENCE, on average, women find hairy men more attractive partners. This harks back to primal instincts apparently, as hair is the product of testosterone - which is a signifier of strength, energy, confidence and sex drive.

When asked to be more specific, it turns out that a high number of women cite hairy men as comforting - giving them an increased sense of safety, security and strokeability. Yes, strokeability.

The weird reasons body hair is attractive

Male peacocks flash their tail feathers to display their fitness in order to attract potential mates. One theory even suggests hairy men are better able to detect parasites on their body, so females perceive more hair as a marker for greater, parasite-free health.

Biology professor Pavol Prokop has said hairy men are preferred more in areas closer to the equator, where there's an increased number of parasites.So it may be men became hairier so it would be easier to attract potential partners.

Henry Cavill showing off his muscular chest wig in 2008 film, Man of Steel. If it works for Superman, it works for us.

Katy Horwood, dating journalist and relationship expert, states that hairiness helps to increase the sexy scent of a man:

“According to scientific research, a woman will literally sniff out a man’s genetic make-up before she decides if he’s right for her.”

When asked about hairy men that rid their body of hair in order to be totally smooth, Katy replied,

“I want to date a man not a plastic doll. Waxing, shaving, plucking, bleaching, toning, flexing, oiling – it’s all too much.

Unlike over-groomers, hairy men don’t look like they are about to embark on some bizarre S&M game involving a tub of margarine – they look like real men who have more important things to think about than waxing their ball-bags.”

I suppose that’s one way of putting it.

The more body hair the better then?

Before you hairy beasts start getting too smug, there are certain boundaries women say. While beards have grown in popularity, and a chest rug akin to Tom Selleck is deemed manly, excessive hair in other places can have an opposite effect. The back ranked highest on this list, followed by ass and feet.

You read that right - we apologise to all hairy-backed hobbits with overgrown cracks. Fear not though, there are tools out there to help (but we personally think you should just embrace it and own the look).

There you have it. We can only hope this discovery will free up some shaving time in your schedule, and allow you to feel more comfortable and confident in your own hairy skin. Now run free in the wind, you majestic beast you.

March 15, 2019 —

Journal Article

Markus J. Rantala,

Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland

Search for other works by this author on:

Received:

07 September 2009

Revision received:

26 December 2009

Accepted:

29 December 2009

Published:

29 January 2010

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  Markus J. Rantala, Mari Pölkki, Liisa M. Rantala, Preference for human male body hair changes across the menstrual cycle and menopause, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 21, Issue 2, March-April 2010, Pages 419–423, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arp206

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Abstract

Recent studies testing sexual preferences in women have found that women’s preferences for male traits change across the menstrual cycle (reviewed in Gangestad and Thornhill 2008). In the fertile (late follicular) phase of the menstrual cycle, women have been found to have an increased preference for facial masculinity (Frost 1994; Penton-Voak et al. 1999; Penton-Voak and Perrett 2000; Johnston et al. 2001), vocal masculinity (Puts 2005; Feinberg et al. 2006), dominant behavior (Gangestad et al. 2004), and for both taller and more masculine male bodies (Pawlowski and Jasienska 2005; Little et al. 2007). During this phase of the cycle, women rate a male pheromone (Grammer 1993) and the scent of dominance as more attractive (Havlicek et al. 2005). This cyclic shift in preferences toward more masculine male traits has been suggested to be potentially adaptive (e.g., Penton-Voak et al. 1999). Masculinity in males is thought to be a reliable indicator of heritable components of male quality because testosterone reduces the strength of immune defense, so that only healthy males can maintain high testosterone levels (Folstad and Karter 1992). By preferring more masculine and symmetrical men, women would be choosing “good genes” for their offspring (for review, see Gangestad and Thornhill 2008; Jones et al. 2008). On the other hand, masculinity is associated with testosterone, which in turn is linked to marital instability and lower levels of attachment in relationships (Booth and Dabbs 1993; Burnham et al. 2003), suggesting that masculine men provide less parental investment. Thus, the cyclic shifts in women’s preferences might enable women to maximize their fitness through extrapair copulation, potentially by shifting priorities between indirect benefits in terms of good genes and direct benefits in terms of parental investment (Penton-Voak et al. 1999).

Although the cyclic shifts in women’s preferences on men’s traits signaling genetic quality are well supported by experimental evidence, studies testing whether women’s preferences on culturally based traits change with cycle are lacking. One trait that can be affected by culture is the hirsuteness of male body because hairs can be shaved if so desired (see, e.g., Boroughs et al. 2005). During puberty, many men grow trunk hair on the chest and back. The thickness of trunk hair in sexually mature men varies from the completely naked to the almost completely hairy. Hairiness also varies considerably between different human populations, which Darwin (1871) suggested to be result of population differences in sexual preferences toward body hairs. Although there have been many studies testing the impact of body proportions and fluctuating asymmetry on the attractiveness of men’s bodies, almost all of them have overlooked the contribution of body hair to attractiveness; most studies have used methods such as the 3D optical scanner to remove cues unrelated to body shape (e.g., Fan et al. 2005; Brown et al. 2008). To our knowledge, the only studies that have tested the role of trunk hair in the sexual attractiveness of the male body have used outline drawings of male figures (Dixson et al. 2003; Dixson, Dixson, Li, and Anderson 2007; Dixson, Dixson, Morgan, and Anderson 2007). According to these studies, in England and Sri Lanka, male trunk hair has a positive effect on women’s ratings of attractiveness (Dixson et al. 2003). In Cameroon, body hair had a positive effect on women’s attractiveness rating of males, but the hairiest figure was not rated as the most attractive (Dixson, Dixson, Morgan, and Anderson 2007). In contrast, in China, women rated figures with no or little trunk hair as the most attractive (Dixson, Dixson, Li, and Anderson 2007). These studies suggest that body hair may play a role in mate choice. Unfortunately, experimental studies using pictures of real male bodies are currently lacking. There have also been no studies with women to test which factors influence individual preferences for body hairiness and whether the hairiness of the mate correlates with an individual woman’s preference for body hair. It is commonly thought, however, that women’s preference for male body hair changes across the years like fashion and is influenced by the media (e.g., Luciano 2001; Boroughs et al. 2005; Martins et al. 2008), although experimental evidence in this respect is still lacking. Because the presence of body hair has traditionally been symbolic of masculinity and virility (e.g., Basow 1991; Basow and Braman 1998; Tiggemann and Kenyon 1998; Toerien and Wilkinson 2003; Tiggemann and Hodgson 2008), one might expect that women’s preferences for trunk hair would change with the menstrual cycle, although individual variation in hairiness does not signal high testosterone levels in men (Burton et al. 1979; Lookingbill et al. 1988,1991; Knussmann et al. 1992; Winkler and Christiansen 1993). However, to our knowledge, there have been no studies testing whether this is in fact the case.

The purpose of this study was to test whether male trunk hair has any effect on the attractiveness of the image of the male body and whether Finnish women’s preferences for male trunk hair changes across the menstrual cycle, menopause, and age.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Male participants

We recruited 20 Finnish males with visible trunk hair from the University of Turku and Åbo Academy (aged 20–32 years, mean age = 25.7, standard deviation [SD] = 3.7). The men received a bottle of Koskenkorva vodka (Alko, Rajamäki, Finland) (0.33 l) to compensate for the loss of their trunk hair and time. Front- and back-view photos of the males’ torsos were taken under symmetrical lighting conditions from a fixed distance of 200 cm (Figure 1). The participants were asked to stand with their arms relaxed at their sides. Immediately after the photo session, the men were asked to shave their abdomen with a shaver, finishing up with a razorblade and shaving cream. If needed, our laboratory assistants helped the men to complete the shaving. After shaving, a new set of pictures was taken with an identical setup.

Figure 1

Paired photographs of a male body before (a) and after (b) the removal of body hair. The photographs were presented to women in the forced-choice trial.

Female participants

In order to obtain as random and representative a sample of Finnish women as possible, research assistants interviewed women at shopping malls, in the street, at railway stations, in the lobby of a university building, in the vicinity of a maternity clinic, and in many other places with a high density of women in the Finnish cities of Kemi, Oulu, Tampere, and Turku. The participants were presented with forced-choice paired image trials of 20 males with and without body hair and then asked to choose between the hairy and the completely naked (shaved) version of the same body (Figure 1). To exclude the effect of skin irritation caused by shaving, the photographs were black-and-white (13 × 10 cm). The trials were presented in random order. In each trial, the participants were asked to choose the image that they found sexually most attractive. After the trial, each woman was given a brief questionnaire to fill out, asking about her age, the ethnic origin of her mother and father, whether she was currently using contraceptive pills or another form of hormonal contraception, the first day of her last menstrual period, the typical length (in days) of her cycle, whether she was pregnant, the age and hairiness of her boyfriend/husband’s body (scale 0–10, to help rating, the pictures of our male participants were used as references), the age and hairiness of her father, and whether her father was present during her early childhood.

A total of 552 women were interviewed for the experiment. We excluded homosexual and bisexual women, women whose parents were not Finnish, and women who were using oral contraceptives or any hormonal products that might affect their mate choice. Likewise, women were excluded from the analysis if they were unable to provide information about the typical length of their menstrual cycle or the current phase of their cycle or if they had an abnormal or irregular length of the menstrual cycle. The total sample for statistical analysis consisted of 299 women (aged 15–69 years, mean age = 34.5, SD = 13.6). Female raters were divided into 4 groups: 1) women in the fertile phase of their cycle (N = 62), 2) in the nonfertile phase of their cycle (N = 124), 3) postmenopausal women (N = 60), and 4) pregnant women (N = 53). This method of assigning women to groups according to fertility is based on the information that the luteal phase usually lasts 14 days and that the fertile phase does not exceed 6 days (Dunson et al. 1999; Wilcox et al. 2000). The method is commonly used in evolutionary psychological studies (see, e.g., Penton-Voak et al. 1999; Kuukasjärvi et al. 2004; Roberts et al. 2004, 2008; Havlicek et al. 2005; Rantala et al. 2006; Little et al. 2007). The study met the guidelines of the Ethical Board of the University of Turku and was in accordance with the spirit of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975.

Statistical analysis

The proportion of hairy pictures chosen was calculated for each female participant by taking the number of hairy pictures picked from pairs and multiplying by 100 to give a percentage value. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and visual inspection of data suggested that women’s preferences for body hair were normally distributed, so a parametric analysis was appropriate.

RESULTS

A one-sample t-test against no preference (50%, no preference) revealed that among premenopausal Finnish women, body hair reduced the attractiveness of the male body (t = 24.37, degrees of freedom (df) = 238, P < 0.001), whereas among postmenopausal Finnish women, the opposite was true (t = 18,52, df = 59, P < 0.001) (Figure 2). Women’s preference for body hair correlated strongly with the age of the woman (r = 0.424, N = 299, P < 0.001): Older women preferred hairier men than younger women. As the groups differed considerably in age, analysis of covariance was used to test differences in female preference for body hair, with age as a covariate. There were significant differences in preferences between groups (F = 4.77, df = 3, P = 0.003) (Figure 3.). We therefore employed Tukey’s post hoc tests to test the differences in estimated marginal means between treatments. Women in the nonfertile phase of their cycle had a significantly higher preference for male body hair than those in the fertile phase (mean difference 0.124, standard error [SE] = 0.44, P = 0.005) (Figure 3). Postmenopausal women had a stronger preference for male body hair than premenopausal women who were either in the most fertile phase of their cycle (mean difference −0.224, SE = 0.042, P < 0.001) or in the nonfertile phase. The preferences of pregnant women did not differ from those of nonpregnant women in the nonfertile phase of their cycle (mean difference 0.044, SE = 0.042, P = 0.331). However, pregnant women did have a stronger preference for body hair than women in the fertile phase of their cycle (mean difference −0.351, SE = 0.050, P < 0.001) (Figure 3).

Figure 2

Percentage of preferences for hairiness (±standard error of mean) for premenopausal (N = 186) and postmenopausal women (N = 60).

Figure 3

Percentage of preferences for hairiness (±standard error of mean) for women in the low-fertile (N = 124) and high-fertile (N = 62) phases of the menstrual cycle, postmenopausal (N = 60), and pregnant (N = 53) women.

A woman’s preference for male body hair correlated strongly with the hairiness of her current partner even when the woman’s age was used as a covariate (r = 0.456, N = 193, P < 0.001). The hairiness of the current partner did not correlate with his age (r = 0.116, N = 196, P = 0.106). Interestingly, the hairiness of the woman’s father correlated with that of her current partner (r = 0.368, N = 189, P < 0.001) as well as with her preference for male body hair (r = 0.132, N = 290, P = 0.024).

DISCUSSION

Interestingly, we found that the removal of body hair increased the sexual attractiveness of the male body to Finnish premenopausal women. This result is consistent with the study by Dixson, Morgan, and Anderson (2007), who found, using outline drawings of male figures, that Chinese women rated the figures of men with the little or no hair as more attractive than hairy ones. In contrast, British and Cameroon women preferred hairier male figures (Dixson et al. 2003, 2007). This suggests the occurrence of population differences in women’s preference for body hair, possibly explaining population differences in male trunk hair, just as Darwin (1871) suggested. It is possible that population differences in women’s preference for body hair might be associated with the prevalence of ectoparasites in the ancestral environment of population because naked individuals would have been less susceptible to ectoparasites (see Rantala 1999, 2007). On the other hand, it is possible that the population differences in women’s preferences are culturally based (see, e.g., Luciano 2001).

Our finding that a woman’s preference for body hair correlates strongly with the hairiness of her current boyfriend/husband suggests that body hair may play a role in actual mate choice. Personal interviews with the women participating in the experiment as raters revealed that many of them feel that body hair plays an important role in mate choice. Many of the women in fact had a very strong opinion as to the attractiveness of body hair (personal observation).

Many recent studies have suggested that a woman’s preference with regard to male traits signaling masculinity changes across the menstrual cycle and that during the most fertile period of their cycle, women prefer masculine male traits (traits that signal high testosterone levels) (for review, see Gangestad and Thornhill 2008). Interestingly, in this study, we found that women preferred shaved male bodies at times when their fertility was at its highest (in the follicular phase of their cycle). Likewise, pregnant women had a weaker aversion against male body hair than women in the follicular phase of the cycle. At first glance, one might conclude that our findings contradict previous studies because hairier men are commonly thought to be more masculine (e.g., Basow 1991; Basow and Braman 1998; Tiggemann and Kenyon 1998), probably because of the occurrence of sex dimorphism in hairiness in humans (see, e.g., Darwin 1871). Empirical studies, however, do not support the hypothesis that hairy males are more masculine in biological sense. For example, hairiness has not been found to correlate with traits that are associated with high testosterone levels like masculinity of voice or masculine body shape (e.g., Collins 2000). Likewise, individual variation in chest hair growth has not been found to be correlated with levels of circulating testosterone (Burton et al. 1979; Lookingbill et al. 1988, 1991; Knussmann et al. 1992). Furthermore, Winkler and Christiansen (1993) found that !Kung San males with more body hair had more estradiol in their blood, suggesting that hairy men might have more feminine hormonal levels than less hairy men. In monogamous mammals, estrogen regulates parental behavior (Trainor and Marler 2002), and men who become fathers have been found to have elevated estradiol levels (Berg and Wynne-Edwards 2001). Thus, it might be adaptive for women to prefer hairier males during the low-fertility phase of their cycle and while pregnant, if individual variation in hairiness is associated with estradiol levels also among Finnish men. Women's preference for body hair has been suggested to change over space and time (e.g., Boroughs et al. 2005). Thus, our study suggests that in the fertile period of their cycle, Finnish women prefer more the trait that is the current Western ideal of beauty (hairlessness) (see Boroughs et al. 2005) than the trait that is traditionally seen as a symbol of high testosterone levels and masculinity. It seems that the phase of menstrual cycle may affect the strength and direction of female preference even for traits that are not good genes indicators and whose preference may be culturally based.

It is possible that hairiness itself may not be the trait that females are cueing in on. For example, body hair could mask desirable male traits like muscles and a v-shaped body, which women found more attractive during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle (see Little et al. 2007), and shaving body hair makes these traits more visible. On the other hand, in contemporary Finland, body hair may be a signifier (positive or negative) of some target of learned prejudice: social class, ethnic background, etc. For example, Finnish and other Scandinavians are on average much less hairy than immigrant men from other parts of Europe and from Middle East. Thus, we are not able rule out the possibility that there is interaction between cultural predisposition and sexual receptivity.

We found that women’s preferences with regard to male trunk hair increased with age. Although most of the younger women favored shaved male bodies, most of the older women preferred hairy ones. Postmenopausal women also had a stronger preference for hairiness than premenopausal ones, even when the age differences between the groups were controlled, suggesting that the menopause changes women’s preferences in men. One might think it as a by-product of changes in fashion or changes in degree of cultural exposure to body hairs over the lifetime, especially when women were actively seeking mates, which might have affected women’s preferences later in life. However, the finding that menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause have effect on women preference on body hairs is a strong argument against the interpretation that change in fashion would explain why older women preferred more hairy men. Rather, it suggests that sex hormones might have effect on preferences (see Welling et al. 2007). Thus, it seems possible that the menopause changes women’s preferences in men due to change in sex hormones. Postmenopausal women are not fertile (Gilbert 2000), which is thought to cause a shift in women away from a mating-oriented psychology toward a more kin- and community-oriented one (Hawkes et al. 1998). If men with a hairy trunk apparently have higher estradiol levels (see Winkler and Christiansen 1993), which are known to be associated with higher parental care in males, it seems possible that after the menopause, a woman’s preference may change toward better parental and/or grandparental care.

Although previous studies have found that women evaluate the figures of hairy men as being older than the ones of naked men (Dixson et al. 2003), in this study, we did not find any correlation between a male’s hairiness and his age. Among Finnish men, hairiness apparently does not change much after puberty or early adolescence, and individual variation in hairiness is greater than possible changes in hairiness after puberty. Thus, our finding that older women found hair less aversive than younger women might not be solely a result of age-assortative mate preference.

Many interspecific cross-fostering experiments using birds, mammals, and fish that give parental care suggest that during pair formation, adults tend to prefer sexual partners of the species that gave them parental care when young rather than other adults of their own species (Immelmann et al. 1991; ten Cate et al. 2006). Likewise, studies using novel or artificially exaggerated ornaments have found sexual imprinting on these ornaments (ten Cate and Bateson 1989). Interestingly, the hairiness of a woman’s father correlated positively with her preference with regard to body hair and the hairiness of her current boyfriend/husband. This suggests either that women are sexually imprinted for the hairiness of their father or that women’s preference for body hair is heritable. Unfortunately, these effects can be isolated only by using adoptive families.

These findings suggest that body hair may play a much more important role in human mate choice than previously thought and that biological factors, such as hormones and sexual imprinting or heritable preferences, may explain individual variation in women’s preferences with regard to body hair. Clearly, more experimental studies are needed to show whether changes in women’s preferences on body hairs with menstrual cycle are widespread among different human cultures before any generalization can be made. Furthermore, although it is hard to distinguish between cultural and genetic effects, studies are needed which test whether women’s preferences for body hair really do fluctuate across time and cultures, as has been commonly thought, if we want to understand the rules according to which we construct our ideals of human beauty. Our study suggests that women’s preference on a trait that is not an indicator of good genes and whose preference may be culturally based changes with the cycle. It would be interesting to know whether women’s preference on many other traits that do not signal good genes, like men’s hair style or clothing, changes with the cycle.

FUNDING

Academy of Finland to M.J.R.

We wish to thank Viola Elenius, Sari Haapaniemi, Laura Linko, Päivi Kaulin, Kristian Mäkelä, Marja-Leena Pärkki, Minna Pölkki, and Terhi Valtonen for their assistance in the field and in the laboratory. We also thank Sue Aitken, Gil Rosenthal, Katariina Kangassalo, Anssi Susilahti, and 2 anonymous referees for their very helpful comments on the manuscript. Ellen Valle kindly checked the language.

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© The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail:

© The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail:

Supplementary data

Why is body hair so attractive?

Is body hair attractive on guys?

Do guys with more body hair have more testosterone?

Does body hair represent testosterone?