Chest hair: Encyclopedia - Chest hair

Chest hair

The term chest hair is generally used to describe hair that grows on the anterior torso of human males. The hair is typically short (about 1 inch long) and may extend across both chest and abdomen in a variety of growth patterns. The slang terms "happy trail" and "treasure trail" refer to hair growth between the navel and pubic region. Among males, chest hair is a common secondary sex characteristic, and the development of chest hair is consistent with Tanner Stage 5.

The occurrence of chest hair varies across racial categories. Men of Middle Eastern, South Asian and European descent tend to have more chest hair, while men of American Indian, African, and East Asian, Central Asian or South-East Asian ancestry tend to have less. Exceptions and variations abound; for example, among Caucasian men, Mediterranean men are known for abundant chest hair while Scandinavian men tend to have much less. And among Asians, men of North Asian, Central Asian, Korean, and Japanese descent almost exclusively have much more body hair than Southeast Asian men.

In Western cultures, the fashionability of chest hair waxed and waned throughout the 20th century. Early on, it was seen as the pinnacle of masculinity; later, smooth skin became a popular way to show off a muscular chest or to suggest youthfulness. One exception remains in the gay community where in some quarters (namely, the bear community) a hairy chest is considered as very masculine and attractive.

Celebrities known for their chest hair include Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, Robin Williams, John Travolta, Burt Reynolds, Paul Stanley, Freddie Mercury and Tom Selleck.

See also

• Androgen
• Bear community
• Hirsutism
• Manscaping
• Puberty
• Virilization

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Chest hair", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki