I agree with LAgirl. Tummy fur under the belly button (AKA a “happy trail” or “treasure trail”) is considered pretty sexy by society I think. Even men who remove their stomach hair tend to leave at least some behind in this area.
Ha, I could only wish I had a snail trail. I have disperse abdominal hair that’s managing to creep to the sides (just a few hairs though). I don’t think I have taken my shirt off in public for quite some time now. I’m either turning into a Werewolf or Steve Carell. I feel like a freakshow pretty much 24/7.
The weird thing is that my leg and arm hair are not dense. It’s in the normal range.
edit: Just realized that I wrote the message above in short-sentence bursts!
A bunch of stomach hair is also normal. Not just the snail trail.
http://desi-galaxy.sabza.org/wp-content/hairy-akshay-kumar-naked.jpg
Ironically, these are the areas that you cant cure…
You can get rid of any hair with either laser or electrolysis depending on the type of hair. Don’t dispair 
@NotSmooth
Dude, are you sure your problem (and your friends’) isn’t new growth instead of regrowth? Also, just because you all went to different clinics it doesn’t mean you went to GOOD clinics. I understand the need to vent (better than anyone, I guess. All I did around here was WHINING A LOT), and I understand being frustrated and helpless. I’ve been frustrated and helpless over my own body since the day my oh-so-cool chest hair started spreading towards my stomach, my shoulders and then my back.
Just don’t give up. Try new things. Maybe you’re one of those laser non-responders. Maybe they lied to you and you got treated by IPL instead. I don’t know. There’s always electrolysis left, provided that that’s an option where you live (it isn’t where I live).
@LAGirl
Yeah, I’m a bit hairier than this dude on the frontal department. He doesn’t seem to have the hairy shoulders and back to match though.
But at least I trim. That wet sheepdog look is so 70’s.
Also, I just realized something funny: I contacted several universities abroad for future visiting, and I’ve been instintively eliminating prospective unis based on how hairy the average male in the respective countries are. So yeah, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan: you’re out.
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I’ve been seriously doing this. Mighty strange.
There’s nothing wrong with some hair on a man’s stomach, or most other places, which is why men have it so much easier than women. But some men have a really unattractive amount. One time a guy was trying to seduce me and he showed me his stomach and it was all white skin and a bunch of coarse tangled black hair and I was all grossed out. NOT the effect he was going for I’m sure.
And these guys aren’t worrying about what’s accepted by society, but what’s considered attractive by women. And women who don’t like hairy men aren’t going to like a bunch of dense coarse hair anywhere except head, sometimes face, underarms and pubic area, and sometimes chest.
Candela, women have different opinions of attractiveness. It sounds like you prefer little hair, which is fine. I wouldn’t generalize all women. There are lots of posts here from women happily married to hairy men. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.
That’s true LAgirl, but how many women refuse to shave pits or legs or bleach their mustaches or Nair their stomachs or wax or thread or tweeze or get electrolysis saying they’ll wait for a man who LIKES a woman with hairy pits and legs and mustaches and beards and out of control bikini lines and lots of FINE body hair of the kind that men don’t even consider removing or bleaching? Most women don’t limit their dating chances by being less attractive than possible, and that’s what men who don’t groom themselves are doing.
Candela: I don’t shave/remove hair in order to get better dates. Hell, when I have a bf I often get lazy and stop shaving! 
I’ve never had a bf who was bothered by it, because I’d NEVER date someone that shallow. In fact I’ve had bf’s demand that I shave less because they are jealous since they know I’m not doing it for them, but for OTHER people.
The ONLY reason I groom away my hair is because society at large has a lower opinion of hairy girls, and I am just insecure enough to let that affect my self esteem (even when it comes to personal areas that the world can’t see, like my bikini line).
If I was a guy, free of that stigma, I would never remove any hair.
I agree with Kitty. I don’t do it for men. I still have hair on my legs now and I barely shave…maybe once every 2 weeks. The hair is finer enough, so it doesn’t bother me at all.
I thought like that when I was in my teens. Now I know better. My last bf could care less about me being shaved or waxed. If I did it, great. If I didn’t, fine too. You should look for more mature people to date!
I agree with Candela. Hairy men NEVER groom themselves.
After all, being hairy = being disgusting.
Nevermind the fact that most hairy men I know cut their hair at salons, bathe regularly (I bathe two to four times a day myself) with soap and shampoo, trim their body hair so it doesn’t become a wild mess and shave regularly.
Your answers come across as knee-jerk reactions to what immature men demanded of women in general. Yes, immature men are a large part of the population, but I’d wager they’re not really the ones you should be going for.
Maybe we just happen to have really different concepts of grooming.
I don’t know anyone who takes 4 showers a day! I know only a few people who take more than 1 a day and those people usually work out on those days. Wow. I also don’t currently know any men who go to salons for anything other than their haircuts (ok, one goes to get his eyebrows waxed because they’re pretty bushy and I refused to tweeze them and he didn’t want to do it himself. And my ex liked getting pedicures - no colors or anything, just cleaned). And I have quite a few male friends (same if not more than female friends).
I think you’re being way too hard on yourself, striving to achieve some assumed unattainable goal of perfection that doesn’t really exist in most people’s minds to the same extent. And I don’t mean for this to sound rude in any way. I’m really trying to try to help you understand that a lot of this is in your head. I’ve been in that situation before. Before laser and electrolysis, any type of activity involving bathing suits etc would cause a lot of anxiety since I had to do so much preparation for it and plan my waxing appts around it. Now, I see women at the beach who sometimes have hair here and there and I love that they don’t really care. A lot of my female friends are really not too concerned with showing some hair. And now that I got a lot removed, I’m nott too concerned with whatever remains and is showing either. It becomes something you don’t even think about most of the time. And that’s how most people are, who never struggled with hair issues in the first place.
For the record, I bathe at least twice daily as well. Once in the morning (obviously), and once when I get home to relax my muscles and wash off my make up/deodorant/lotions/whatever else I’ve still got on. I like being squeaky clean before getting in my sheets.
I will apologize in advance for my somewhat rude remarks towards Candela in my previous post. I started this week on the wrong foot. That said, yeah, a lot of it is in my head, but a lot of it isn’t. The waxed man stereotype began to grow wildly in popularity more or less at the same time my etruscan/middle-eastern genes started rebelling. And there are a lot of silly misconceptions about hair going on. I get particularly worked up when people tell me hair is gross and dirty. I smell good and fresh all the freaking time, thank you very much!
About the 4-showers-a-day thing: I’m the only one I know who does it routinely, but I dislike warm weathers and I have this weird tendency to groom after myself like an overly neurotic cat.
Winters here can be pretty cold, though. Not South Africa-cold, but cold nonetheless. Especially down south, where I live. So I usually reduce the number of shower sessions to two or three during the colder seasons.
PRC86: While grooming and hygiene are primarily oriented in cleanliness (and I’m sure you’re plenty clean and well-groomed in that respect), some people genuinely think grooming is about aesthetics, not just cleanliness.
These are often the same people who will say women are not properly groomed if they don’t wear make up or certain clothes. For example, if I wear a baggy sweatshirt, my grandmother will tell me to take more pride in my appearance and respect my body. She will imply I am not properly groomed simply because I don’t meet her personal aesthetic ideals in my clothing choices.
I wear makeup, but I know females who don’t, and they get told they need to “learn how to groom themselves” which is ridiculous.
I find this unfortunate, but rather common. I assume the correlation between hairy men and poor grooming is similar, and I totally get why you’d be frustrated and feel like you are stereotyped against. Candela seems very nice, and I don’t think she meant any insult to you, but I definitely disagree with her opinion there.
I’m actually finding that in the last 5-6 years, the attitude has changed somewhat about what a “groomed” person looks like. Look at the popularity of the hipster look. Most people I know think women who spend more than 30 mins on their appearance every morning are ridiculous, as are women who can’t leave the house without an inch thick layer of makeup. I personally find that just sad. There is a lot to be said about natural beauty. In my opinion, makeup is supposed to enhance your natural beauty. It’s not supposed to take over it so that people who first encounter you think “oh, she has a lot of makeup on” instead of “oh, she’s pretty”. I think some people don’t know the difference between the two.
Btw, have you seen any episodes of the new show The OCD Project? There are two women there who wash their hands all day long eveyr few minutes. And one of them actually wears that “mask-like” makeup (she would be much prettier with minimal makeup).
Hi:
I agree that the make-up by Betty Crocker look is not a good one.
Neither is the Duncan Hines look any better.
I agree the minimal look is better and it should just enhance rather than embellish.
I don’t wear any foundation since my skin is so soft and beautiful on its own thanks to electrolysis.
Alicia.
LAgirl, Aliciadarling: Unfortunately, we don’t know what she’s hiding under the mask like makeup. Perhaps she has bad scars. I HAVE to wear too much makeup, but I hate it and I think it looks terrible.
You said that people’s reaction should be “Oh she’s pretty” instead of “Oh that’s a lot of make up”, but those aren’t my options. My options are “Oh she wears too much make up” or “Oh damn she’s hideous!!!” I have always said that I would rather be the girl who wears too much make up than the girl who makes people cringe due to her sheer ugliness. No contest. Makeup wins.
At least with too much makeup on, people ASSUME I have the potential to be pretty if I only “learned” to do makeup correctly. Without the makeup, they realize they were wrong and I’m a lost cause.
I am very good at the subtle makeup look with dewy, clean skin when I do other people’s makeup (less is more is a good motto for most people). Too bad I am not eligible to use that technique on myself.
Is ten layers of drywall spackled on my face pretty? GOD NO! But it’s way less disgusting than the alternative. I don’t have acne, but I have acne marks and big pores and I get really pink in areas for no reason.
I am considering fraxel to correct some of this so that I can finally stop wearing makeup, but until then I have to settle for being “the girl with too much makeup.”
They’ve actually shown that girl in the morning without makeup and she looks fine. Normal really. Most people I know are in the same boat.
But I do feel for you and I’m sorry if it hit a note. That much suck to feel like that. I hope Fraxel does some magic for you.
Personally, I find foundation just too jarring and obvious. Have you explored tinted moisturizers with concealer underneath on the worst areas? I find Clinique’s Line Smoothing Concealer an absolute god-send.