As a global trend, men are becoming more conscious about skin care and self-grooming, including body hair. So then, what about Japan?

Japanese cosmetics brand Purasesu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. conducted a survey of 65 women aged 15 to 29, asking them what they thought about body hair on their boyfriend or potential boyfriend.

Here are the results:

Survey Results

Q1: Have you ever been bothered by body hair on a boyfriend or potential boyfriend?

  • It has bothered me: 61.5% (40)
  • It has bothered me a bit: 27.7% (18)
  • It hasn't bothered me: 10.8% (7)

In other words, nearly 90% (89.2%) of the Japanese women surveyed had a negative opinion of male body hair.

Here are a few representative comments from this majority:

  • "It's a shame when a guy has a handsome face but then you notice he has hairy arms and legs."
  • "When I went to the pool in summer, I was embarrassed by the hair on his chest and around his navel."
  • "Body hair is particularly noticeable on men with fair skin, so that bothers me."
  • "I'm really bothered by leg hair."
  • "When I can see chest hair coming out of a V-neck T-shirt...(I don't like it)"

Q2: Do you want your boyfriend to remove unwanted body hair?

  • Yes: 87.7% (57)
  • No: 12.3% (8)

Q3: Unwanted hair bothers you the most on which part of a man's body?

From best to worst:

  • 6th: Back
  • 5th: Back of hands, fingers
  • 4th: Arms
  • 3rd: Legs
  • 2nd: Abdomen
  • 1st: Chest

Finally, in the free response section, the survey asked the respondents:

Q4: What do you think about a man who removes unwanted hair?

A few representative answers:

  • "It looks clean, so I like it."
  • "I think it's wonderful."
  • "While I don't want a guy to be even more hairless than I am, I think they should remove hair on their chests and abdomen."
  • "If his girlfriend tells him she's bothered by his body hair, a guy should listen to her."
  • "With foreign (men), removing unwanted hair is just common sense, so I want (Japanese) guys to do it."

Very conveniently for any man reading their survey, Purasesu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. sells their VOID brand of hair removal cream which, if the hairlessly-bodied male models on their product page are any indication, is very effective in removing unwanted hair (not to mention perpetuating the idea that foreign men prefer to remove their body hair)


By - Ben K.