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In further proof that the Metrosexual revolution will stop at nothing, more and more men remove their facial, chest, armpit and even pubic hair. Once considered a symbol of masculinity, hair is now considered unclean and bothersome and its prestige value has hit rock bottom.
Dermatologists across the board say some 30 percent of patients coming in for depilation are men. And if once their reasons were primarily sanitary and medical, such as itchiness and inflammation during shaving, these days most are purely cosmetic.
The increase is due to a change in the male ideal. Rather than to the rough-hewn he-men or oily medallion men, women are drawn to metrosexuals, who pay nearly as much attention to grooming as they themselves do. Nor is the hairless man craze limited to Korea. As smooth, hairless stars take over TV and the movies, residual male body hair is being forced, so top speak, on the defensive.
"If you look carefully at the male stars on TV, most have no chest or armpit hair,¡± says dermatologist Lim Lee-seok. ¡°A fair number of male entertainers have had 100 percent of their body hair surgically removed." British daily The Independent said the fad among British men to go hairless was influenced by smart-looking male stars like footballer David Beckham and pop star Justin Timberlake.
Procedures to remove chest and armpit hair are particularly popular, because many men consider the sight of wet chest and armpit hair, soaked after swimming or, God forbid, sweaty from exercise, to be unsightly. Other men have hair removed from their calves and thighs to accentuate their leg lines when wearing shorts. Some men even subject themselves to the painful bikini wax so they can wear Speedos without giving offence.
The number of men in their 40s and 50s getting hair removal procedures is also on the rise. Most of these men remove hair from the fronts of their head to make their foreheads broader. This is because they believe a narrow forehead looks constricted.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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