Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

A matter of manscaping

Hipsters embrace the vision of the ursine lumbersexual

Chest hair? Better shave that off with my chainsaw
Chest hair? Better shave that off with my chainsaw

Dear Hipster:

I figure “shaving” is pretty topical right now, what with Movember in the record books and Decembeard getting underway. My wife keeps dropping not-so-subtle hints that she would enjoy seeing my body with more of a ... there’s no delicate way to put this ... but I suppose “hairless aspect” works as well as anything. I don’t think that guys born to a life of hairy chests, shoulders, backs, or other parts are necessarily less manly than other men; yet I feel as if removing my natural pelt would emasculate me. Does that make sense? I don’t know! I mistrust men’s magazines, as I’m pretty sure they’ll just say whatever sells the most stuff, so I hirsutely await your unbiased answer in this matter of manscaping life or death.

Sponsored
Sponsored

— Doug

Before I delve into the specifics of Doug’s case, let me address a point of common sense, which is that saying, “I’d like you better if…” to your other half is like trying to brew up a nice brown ale by taking your favorite bottle of craft lager and refusing to drink it until it darkens sufficiently in hue. The result you get may not be the one you want, despite superficial resemblances, and didn’t you like the lager well enough in the first place?

On the subject of hairiness, we hipsters embrace the vision of the ursine lumbersexual, and all of the hirsute masculinity wrapped up therein. At least half of modern hipsters consider a full and flocculent beard to be the sine qua non of urban manliness, a proud statement of masculine identity countermanding the reality that few hipsters come any closer to manual labor than pulling the tap handles at a local craft-beer bar, carrying their Macbooks to the local café for some grueling SEO content updates, or perhaps pushing a tattoo gun around somebody’s bicep at $150 an hour. Not without irony has the educated and entrepreneurial hipster class gravitated toward farmer chic.

Yet, a carefully cultivated image of manliness is not the same thing as manliness itself. Indeed, the wooliest hipster can shave himself baby-smooth at a moment’s notice without fearing the loss of his masculine powers. He will rely on his powerful sense of ironic detachment to distance his sense of self from any skin-deep allegory to Paul Bunyanesque machismo.

“I was just over it with being so hairy,” he can say. “It’s practically 2016, you know? Time for a change.”

Caring so much about some errant whiskers, a few chest hairs, or the final wisps of an ironic mustache would be very non-hipster.

So, my piliferous friend, can you keep your manliness following the epilation of your formerly lanate self?

Of course you can. You should be more concerned with figuring out a more productive way to raise the subject of physical appearance between you and your wife. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you two could talk about it with the kind of depth and insightfulness that the average hipster reserves for discussing the merits of some obscure band available only on Soundcloud.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Digital Currency Wave Hits the Shores of San Diego

Next Article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Chest hair? Better shave that off with my chainsaw
Chest hair? Better shave that off with my chainsaw

Dear Hipster:

I figure “shaving” is pretty topical right now, what with Movember in the record books and Decembeard getting underway. My wife keeps dropping not-so-subtle hints that she would enjoy seeing my body with more of a ... there’s no delicate way to put this ... but I suppose “hairless aspect” works as well as anything. I don’t think that guys born to a life of hairy chests, shoulders, backs, or other parts are necessarily less manly than other men; yet I feel as if removing my natural pelt would emasculate me. Does that make sense? I don’t know! I mistrust men’s magazines, as I’m pretty sure they’ll just say whatever sells the most stuff, so I hirsutely await your unbiased answer in this matter of manscaping life or death.

Sponsored
Sponsored

— Doug

Before I delve into the specifics of Doug’s case, let me address a point of common sense, which is that saying, “I’d like you better if…” to your other half is like trying to brew up a nice brown ale by taking your favorite bottle of craft lager and refusing to drink it until it darkens sufficiently in hue. The result you get may not be the one you want, despite superficial resemblances, and didn’t you like the lager well enough in the first place?

On the subject of hairiness, we hipsters embrace the vision of the ursine lumbersexual, and all of the hirsute masculinity wrapped up therein. At least half of modern hipsters consider a full and flocculent beard to be the sine qua non of urban manliness, a proud statement of masculine identity countermanding the reality that few hipsters come any closer to manual labor than pulling the tap handles at a local craft-beer bar, carrying their Macbooks to the local café for some grueling SEO content updates, or perhaps pushing a tattoo gun around somebody’s bicep at $150 an hour. Not without irony has the educated and entrepreneurial hipster class gravitated toward farmer chic.

Yet, a carefully cultivated image of manliness is not the same thing as manliness itself. Indeed, the wooliest hipster can shave himself baby-smooth at a moment’s notice without fearing the loss of his masculine powers. He will rely on his powerful sense of ironic detachment to distance his sense of self from any skin-deep allegory to Paul Bunyanesque machismo.

“I was just over it with being so hairy,” he can say. “It’s practically 2016, you know? Time for a change.”

Caring so much about some errant whiskers, a few chest hairs, or the final wisps of an ironic mustache would be very non-hipster.

So, my piliferous friend, can you keep your manliness following the epilation of your formerly lanate self?

Of course you can. You should be more concerned with figuring out a more productive way to raise the subject of physical appearance between you and your wife. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you two could talk about it with the kind of depth and insightfulness that the average hipster reserves for discussing the merits of some obscure band available only on Soundcloud.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.