Chest hair on men or bare chested?

Or you can leave that detail out and let readers imagine it on their own. Just a suggestion.
 
Wondering which one is more popular. Can't decide which for my new male character.

If it matters, he is 6' tall. Chocolate brown hair. Wears it longer, curly, on top. Has a short groomed chinstrap and mustache.Age 22.

Depends on your characters, I guess. If your women think it's sexy then it is. But more generally...

My mother was the last person I heard say that chest hair was attractive. I was about 12 and just starting to grow chest hair. I think she wanted to make me feel more comfortable about the inevitable. I see few or no male models with chest hair.
 
Oh, lord, another question that can't possibly have a statistically meaningful answer.
 
Oh, lord, another question that can't possibly have a statistically meaningful answer.

Dear Authors' Hangout, can you please help me write my story? I have no idea what my story is about; I don't know who my characters are; but I would like to get a high score. Just asking, Authors' Hangout. :)
 
Based on my own RL experiences, I would say that statistically fewer women, in this region at least, find chest hair attractive after some time in the 1970s. (Although I do dimly remember a pair of girls that seemed to enjoy currying me like a damn horse for the better part of an hour sometime in the late eighties, sadly that's as far as that went.) But, I've heard that is a regional variance. So, I would think considering the variety of cultures served, it would be impossible to find a popular look across the board.

My suggestion is to look at the popular advertisements that feature male models in the region you wish your male character to be from. Modern advertising agencies are full of demographic studies that, statistically meaningful or not, guide their pitch. If you want the character to be popular with the ladies, then go with the mainstream look. If you want them to be a fringe dweller, then go with the opposite. If you want them to be largely unnoticeable, then go with what seems to be the normative sample for the culture they (the character) are from.

Or, hell, just write what you find attractive. Odds are you aren't a snowflake and comparative readers who will enjoy your style will also find them attractive.

Either way, best of luck. :rose::cool:
 
In my experience, men only groom that extensively if they have a good reason to. So it might be worth asking yourself if the man has a reason to go to the effort. Does he work with his shirt off? Is he expecting to take it off in the near future? Or is he in a relationship with a woman who likes it smooth? If he doesn't have a reason, then why does he bother?
 
Wondering which one is more popular. Can't decide which for my new male character.

If it matters, he is 6' tall. Chocolate brown hair. Wears it longer, curly, on top. Has a short groomed chinstrap and mustache.Age 22.

Just go with what you prefer. There's no hard and fast answer as far as I can see. My own personal observation is that most guys don't even think about it but maybe that's just sure I live.
 
In my case, and when I had a beard, the fur started just below my eyes and didn't stop until my ankles! Almost as much on the back as well. Best thing though; it never proved the slightest issue in any socially intimate circumstances.;)

Worst experience though was when I had cardiac surgery a couple of years back. They shaved me from chin to ankles - I have never been so cold in my life.

Sorry if an image of an antipodean furball has put the op off her cornflakes.:)
 
OP: Conduct a test. Write two versions of the same story, one where the guy is a furry bear, the other where he mostly absent of body hair. See which gains more reader satisfaction. I did this with an incest tale, one version mother-son, the other father-daughter. Both have the female rescuing the male. Father-daughter did *slightly* better. Your hairy-or-hairless difference may be greater. Will it be statistically significant? I dunno.
 
In my case, and when I had a beard, the fur started just below my eyes and didn't stop until my ankles! Almost as much on the back as well. Best thing though; it never proved the slightest issue in any socially intimate circumstances.;)

Worst experience though was when I had cardiac surgery a couple of years back. They shaved me from chin to ankles - I have never been so cold in my life.

Sorry if an image of an antipodean furball has put the op off her cornflakes.:)

I'm like you. I had a beard and fur from my feet to the top of my head. It was fair hair that bleached in the sun so wasn't realy obvious. Now it is all white and has retreated from my toes to my ankles. I still have the beard but the top of my head is balding.

My brother had seven black hairs on his chest. After he married they didn't last long. His new wife plucked them out and after repeating that for a couple of months they didn't regrow.
 
If he has chest hair would depend a lot on ethnic background and age.
If he shaves or trims his chest would depend on character and environment.
It's in your power as a writer to decide both.
 
In real life most men don't care about chest hair. From what I've seen, most women don't either. The ones that do can't seem to look any further than the next glossy image in some fantasy magazine layout or music video to actually LOOK and see the FREE BUFFET that's out there for them to sample as they please.
 
Or you can leave that detail out and let readers imagine it on their own. Just a suggestion.

This in itself raises a new question.

How much character detail -descriptive detail- is to much?
Can you follow the four senses rule right into data overload?.
 
This in itself raises a new question.

How much character detail -descriptive detail- is to much?
Can you follow the four senses rule right into data overload?.

The answers to those two questions are the same:

Enough to tell the story and not too much to detract from the story.

But it depends on the story you are writing. One story might work with a lot of detail; another with very little. It's a question of style and that is the personal preference of the author and reader.

Whatever you do will be wrong - or right - for someone.
 
Screw you, Mr. High-and-Mighty.

There is no ‘High-and-Mighty’ about it. Creating print fiction is a solitary business. You imagine; you write; and then, if you are lucky enough, your words are edited by someone competent to edit them. And then your baby is set loose among the readers.

Regardless of how well you have imagined and written, not every reader will find your creation to be the creation that you intended it to be. Hopefully, some will love it. Hopefully most will love it. But some won’t. That’s just the way it is. Some will want more hair, some will want less hair. Asking other writers how much hair to write is really rather pointless.
 
This in itself raises a new question.

How much character detail -descriptive detail- is to much?
Can you follow the four senses rule right into data overload?.

Yes, you can - over in the Feedback Forum you'll see regular discussions about the two extremes of description - one of which ends up with bra size and cock size as the only defining characteristics; the other extreme leaves everything up to the reader's imagination.

Being somewhere in the middle works best I find, where physical details are trickled out as required, rather than stalling the flow by "insert character description here". I find readers don't mind a little prompt on the basics (blonde vs brunette, slender vs curvy) but I also known that many readers have fine imaginations of their own, so let them use them.

Still, you do get readers who want every tiny thing explained...
 
I keep trying to remember to write a story with a protagonist with a mind that thinks exclusively in terms of just bra or cock size (with little real thought of actual measurements--just what measurements equal "really big and arousing" in his mind). I think there are such people.
 
Just a little bit in the middle of the chest with a light love line leading to the good part..
 
Wondering which one is more popular. Can't decide which for my new male character.

If it matters, he is 6' tall. Chocolate brown hair. Wears it longer, curly, on top. Has a short groomed chinstrap and mustache.Age 22.

Leave it to the characters or the reader's Imagination
 
Just a little bit in the middle of the chest with a light love line leading to the good part..

Swirling lightly around the pecs, helping to give good musculature definition. I include hirsute in some of my stories where it naturally fits (for me) the character or the mood of the story, just as I happily included it in my own experiences.
 
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