At what age does male body hair stop tend to stop spreading to new parts of the body?

August 28, 2010 3:32 PM

At what age does male body hair stop tend to stop spreading to new parts of the body?

Men in your 30s and 40s... My finance and I would both like to know if and when my body hair will ever stop spreading. Will it? If so, when?

I'm in my mid-20s, so I'm obviously well beyond reaching full maturity. I'm already a pretty hair guy - generous chest and belly hair, the ability to grow an impressive beard, etc. On my back, I've got a few stray hairs but nothing close to approaching a "patch of hair." Before we get married, my fiance would really like to know if she can expect a hairy backed man within the next 10-20 years. She is jesting, but it makes me curious... does male body hair tend to continually spread to other parts of the body throughout life?

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (20 answers total)

My Dad's is continuing to spread slowly and he's in his late forties now.
posted by kylej at 3:43 PM on August 28, 2010

That's entirely up to genetics.
posted by MegoSteve at 3:48 PM on August 28, 2010

I'm 39. The hair on my head is thinning and receding, and has been slowly since I was about your age (I clip it pretty close now, and it looks OK, or so I'm told).

I'm not VERY hairy on the rest of my body (no back hair, moderately hairy chest and belly, and other parts). I can still grow a decent beard, even if it is quite grey.

But generally, the amount of hair on the rest of my body has remained pretty constant since ..umm... the end of puberty, I guess.

Except: Nose hair has increased. Also, I need to trim my eyebrows from time to time. And from what I've seen, ear hairs may increase as you get older (not for me yet!).
posted by Diag at 3:49 PM on August 28, 2010

Mid-thirties, receding hairline, hairier back, luxurious nose hair I have to trim regularly. Yes, it's an awesome look that all the babes love. Complete opposite of my brother, who is a year younger but whose hair is fuller than ever (though greying) and has no back hair. Bastard.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:23 PM on August 28, 2010

Well, I don't check all that often, but I'm 56, and I have more hair on my belly and on my forearms just above the wrists than I remember from ten years ago.
posted by Bruce H. at 4:35 PM on August 28, 2010

I am old. The answer is;
1. Head. Hair gets thinner and often disappears.
2. Everyplace else: Never, though the rate of spread slows.
posted by hexatron at 4:52 PM on August 28, 2010

My experience has been that hair just moves around. Right now, it seems to have left my head and settled in my nostrils and ears.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 4:52 PM on August 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

oops.
2. Everyplace else: Forever, though the rate of spread slows.

Also, hair doesn't seem to get thicker with time; the furry patches just get larger, as in 'neckbeard'. Your back is probably safe.
posted by hexatron at 4:55 PM on August 28, 2010

Still expanding at 46.
posted by hworth at 4:55 PM on August 28, 2010

50. No significant increase on the general body areas but OH the joy of nose and ear hair and the lengthening of eyebrows. I feel fortunate to have kept the hair on my head but I could do without needing to try and trim the eyebrows with the added challenge of presbyopia.
posted by Carbolic at 5:06 PM on August 28, 2010

My husband is 40. We've been together for the past 15 years; when we met, he was very slightly furry about the neck and shoulders. Now, he's fairly joyfully densely furred in the same areas, and the furry patches have spread. Plus he gets occasionally magnificent rogue eyebrow hairs; I don't know how it is that a 3.5" eyebrow hair can appear overnight, but they certainly appear to.
posted by KathrynT at 5:29 PM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

At 35, I've only just had a spate of solo back hairs in the past year. My dad (62), two years ago, had little ear hair. He now is in full bloom.
posted by notsnot at 5:33 PM on August 28, 2010

When I met my husband, he was 37 and had a single hair on his back. 18 years later, he is fully hairy back there. Notsnot called it "full bloom" and that is correct -- more hairs on his back, ears and nose...and eyebrows...and less on his head.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:50 PM on August 28, 2010

It'd be a weird conversation, but your dad and maternal granddad could probably answer this best for you...
posted by chicago2penn at 5:54 PM on August 28, 2010

I think it starts in early adulthood...and then stops a few weeks after you are in your coffin
posted by hal_c_on at 8:07 PM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm 55, it seems to me that it's stabilized now, these past ten years, give or take, except maybe the nose hair thing might continue getting more and more prevalent until it takes over the entire goddamn universe.** It's part of life -- my life, anyways -- give to me by my mothers line. I'm lucky in that I got my head hair from my fathers side; while I am doing a bit of the David Jansen thing, that whole receding temple hairline thing (thanx Mom), mostly the stuff is still hanging out on most of my head (thanx Dad).

I rip the stuff out of my nose by the fistful -- it's totally annoying. Eyebrows -- as noted above by KathrynT, a thick, wild hair can show up every now and again, out of nowhere, twirling about festively in the breeze, I could hang christmas tree tinsel on it, maybe an ornament, string some lights, whatever. Ear hair the same as my eyebrow, out of nowhere, my ears aren't fuzzy but every now and then comes one zinging out. Shoulders -- same as my ears, a twirly swirler now and again. Small patch of hair low center of my back. Chest and gut and legs and arms, no problem, just grows long. And there's a thicket of hair in my shorts, one gal reached in there one time thought she'd found the Maharishi, or Willie Nelson.

* Nose hair -- Rip it out, and I've got a clipper, too, use every couple weeks. Done.
* Eyebrows -- when a hair comes whirling out I cut it or rip it out. Beard trimmer maybe every six months to keep them in line. Done.
* Ears -- Rip out the twirlers when they show up, which ain't often.
* Back -- Electric shaver if/when I notice it, six months maybe.
* Shoulders -- Rip out the twirlers when they show, or hack them off with razor.
* Chest, gut, arms, legs, in my shorts -- hack it short using beard trimmer or hair clipper, whatever, chest and gut and crotch maybe every three months or four, arms and legs maybe 9 months or so. I don't give a damn about it really but I prefer it cut off so sweat doesn't hang all over me when practicing yoga.

Oh, and I didn't talk about my beard/mustache growing fast. It grows fast, always has but now -- gotta trim it every couple weeks. Man. It's gray, almost totally now, and I'm real glad about that, I sortof like doing the silver beard thing, but when it was going from brown to gray I had that really hot Homeless Guy look for maybe five years or eight -- that sucked.

**I could have a convertible mustache, just let the hair grow in my nose, and keep it stuffed in there, but any time I want a mustache just blow the hair out of my nose -- Presto! Instant mustache! I really, really don't like this at all, I sortof understand how old guys can lose the will to live, etc.
posted by dancestoblue at 8:08 PM on August 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

When you die.
posted by rodgerd at 1:42 AM on August 29, 2010

If you're worried about it, you can get laser treatments later on to remove the stuff you really don't like. A guy I work with says it works great!
posted by frosty_hut at 8:15 AM on August 29, 2010

My experience has been that hair just moves around. Right now, it seems to have left my head and settled in my nostrils and ears.

My guy friends called this "migratory hairs." From their heads down their backs, etc. And they were mid-20s at the time.
posted by JenMarie at 6:38 PM on August 29, 2010

I've known my husband for 11 years, he has aged from 49 to almost 60 in that timespan. He is a moderately hairy man. I haven't noticed any significant change of hairiness except for a slight thinning on the top of his head.
posted by deborah at 10:37 PM on August 29, 2010