Will the Italian chest rug ever be in again?

This is Part 2 in the Gangstas & Hugs “Man Grooming Series”. Part 1, last week’s post about male grooming, was inspired by this Fark story and discussion thread. Since I wrote it, the discussion on that particular Fark thread got pretty in depth, with proponents of both the Tom Selleck look and the Marky Mark look weighing in. I found the whole discourse quite interesting and enlightening. Let me share a few gems with you:

NikolaiFarkoff : “Excessive manscaping is ridiculous. I’ve got pretty even coverage on my chest and leg hair, and it’s not going anywhere. The strays on the shoulders and upper back get the tweezers (man up!). Body hair is nothing to be ashamed of, although my wife could do without the shedding on the bathroom floor.”

Tweezing your own upper back? Seriously? I cut my own hair (on my head), but I have no idea how one would tweeze their own back hair at all.

markie_farkie : “Sack, crack, and back… It’s the only way to go!”

Concise, memorable, and entertaining. I smell a new marketing slogan.

tweekster : “If you think being all hairy makes you a man, well I pity you.”

MayoBoy : “If you think being smooth like a little girl makes you [a] tiptoeing ponce, well you’re right.”

Well played Mayoboy, well played.

kahnvex : “Here’s how I roll…

Trimmins’ for the fire crotch, keep the hair off the shaft, balls stay hairy… nobody puts those in their mouth anyway (theres very little hair on them regardless)

Leave the chest hairy (like animal!) but make sure it stays below the neck line, and doesn’t creep off to the sides too much to attack the sidelines.

Almost no back hair, but as I approach 30 it’s getting a little blotchy back there, so I just have the wife Mach 5 that shiat.

/Subcribes to the Burt Reynolds version of manliness
//gets dirty in yard, works on own car, does own home repairs
/// can’t seem to grow a mustache… “

I guess what I’m getting at is this: Why the hell has it become such an issue for men? Guys used to be made fun of if they DIDN’T have chest hair. You were seen as puny and unmanly. Now you’re just a sasquatch that doesn’t trim his shit if you have one errant chest hair poke out above your dress shirt collar.

What do you all think? Will regular chest hair (a la Magnum PI) ever become “in” again? Will pornstars like Ron Jeremy and that guy with the 13″ shlong and an Italian rug on his chest ever make it in the biz anymore?

These are the questions that keep me up at night, clutching my Norelco Bodygroom in a fetal position.