# Guys: do you consider arm hair on girls a dealbreaker? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190 "2004-01-12T22:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/21 "2004-01-13T20:50:56Z")
> [@E. Thorp](#): > > There are girls who shave their arms? I am **so** out of it. I didn’t know that either. But, I’m willing to bet that within ten years it will be the norm … and a similar thread like this will draw 90% of male respondents saying “Arm hair on girls? YECCCCCCH!” ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/22 "2004-01-13T21:04:29Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > As long as her arms aren’t hairier than **mine** , I don’t have a problem. Of course, I’ve yet to meet a single woman with arms hairier than mine. Only married women? ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/23 "2004-01-13T21:30:05Z")
Hmm. I don’t mind a _little_ hair, especially if it’s blonde. But I’m afraid I find visible dark hair quite unattractive on a woman. Like the OP, there’ve been times where I’ve found a woman quite pleasant to look at, until I notice that she’s got arm hair. Then the whole thing just breaks for me. (My girlfriend is pretty hair-phobic. She doesn’t shave her arms, but she doesn’t need to, and I’m betting she would anyway if she thought she could get away with it. Heh.) ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/24 "2004-01-13T22:14:01Z")
> [@E. Thorp](#): > > There are girls who shave their arms? I am **so** out of it. > > Anyway, I like hair on, among other places, arms. When I was a competition swimmer, we used to shave everything not covered by a suit before a big meet. (This was usually much more of an ordeal for the men than the woman). Prior to the shaving party, of course, us girls let everything grow. We used to have debates about whether it was entirely psycological, or if the hair actually made a difference in our times. But we did it, season after season, during taper for states/regionals. It took _years_ before the hair on my arms was soft and normal again. PS- Not to be rude, but is this an ethnic/cultural thing? I’m Sicilian. Arm hair is normal, we’ve all got dark coloring and the men in my family are prone to shit like knuckle hair. I personally happen to prefer men with a nice amount of chest hair/arm hair/leg hair. I note that I tend to date men of eastern & southern european descent. No one has ever complained about my arm hair, but I’m self-concious about it around some of my irish/anglo pale & hairless friends. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/25 "2004-01-13T22:19:43Z")
I’m a girl with an average ammount of arm hair. I’ve seen a few girls with VERY hairy arms before. Not like dark black hair or anything, but just a lot of it. I always thought it looked kinda weird. I also remember reading somewhere that anorexics sometimes grow more hair because of the lack of body fat, and one of the above mentioned girls was QUITE skinny… By the way, I think arm hair is sexy on guys for some reason :D. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/26 "2004-01-14T00:21:36Z")
It used to be that I would have said no. It also used to be that I considered Alyssa Milano attractive. Then I saw [this](http://www.bakermedia.com/gallery/data/588/128112003_alyssaen_jennifer1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/27 "2004-01-14T04:20:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve had enough arguments with friends about this to feel that it’s time to turn to the SDMB. . . . > Some people think this is a shallow, indefensible way of thinking and I won’t claim that it isn’t, but I was wondering if any of the men out there share the same vehemently anti-armhair preferences. > > If so, have you encountered any accusations of being a bastard? I have known several women with very dark, soft arm hair whom I have found _very_ attractive. I don’t think that finding any specific feature off-putting is shallow, at all. One’s likes or dislikes are often shaped by many different (often unconscious) experiences and no one should be held to account for those preferences. On the other hand, I’ve never had an argument about my preferences (and I certainly haven’t been called a bastard for any feature that I found off-putting), _because I’m bright enough to not make a point of dismissing or denigrating a feature_ that someone else likes–or which may even be a feature on someone they love. YMMV 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/28 "2004-01-14T04:36:26Z")
Good point, **tom**. It’s fine to tell 'em why you like 'em. Very bad form to articulate to anyone why you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/29 "2004-01-14T15:52:23Z")
Arm hair? No problem. A lot of arm hair? I’ll buy her a brush, still no problem. ---
**Author:** ![JustPlainBryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JustPlainBryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustPlainBryan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/30 "2004-01-14T17:05:05Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Arcite_ > \*\*It used to be that I would have said no. > > It also used to be that I considered Alyssa Milano attractive. > > Then I saw [this](http://www.bakermedia.com/gallery/data/588/128112003_alyssaen_jennifer1.jpg).\*\* Meh. I still find her unbelievably attractive. I don’t have a problem with arm hair at all. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/31 "2004-01-14T17:29:34Z")
Dealbreaker? What the…? No. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/32 "2004-01-14T17:57:13Z")
Like someone said: Smooth hair is better than …whaddayacall it… stubs? If I meet a woman with fur-like, dark hair on her forearms I might reconsider, though. I’ve never found miss Milano particularly attractive, rather plain really, but her forearm on that picture really really looks like a man’s. Photoshop? The point is not that I find her attractive **with** the man’s arm either, though… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/33 "2004-01-14T21:45:41Z")
Arms: not a problem Legs: not a problem Facial Hair: not always a problem. I had a dark-complexioned Hispanic coworker of the type of beautiful that causes guys to walk headlong into streetlight poles for staring at her instead of watching where they’re going, and she had soft thin downy black hairs on her upper lip. In her case most definitely not a problem. Breast Hair: probably a problem. Doesn’t sound appetizing at any rate. Hair Down There: absence of it would be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/34 "2004-01-15T00:58:08Z")
Well, I never used to think about arm hair on women, until a decade ago when I went to a Roy Rogers in Manhattan (there were several back then), and saw a otherwise nice woman working the counter with extremely hairy arms, very much like a man’s (and worse than that Milano serving food picture linked to earlier in this thread). Since then, I’ve often notice how hairy a woman’s arm is, and pretty much learned that many women are just darn hairy - if they have more noticeble arm hair than me (I’m not particularly arm-hairy, I guess), then I’m kinda discouraged… Facial hair, meaning (noticable) mustache or chin hair, is an immediate NO - Sorry, but I associate that with men (or very, very eldery women - either way complete turn-off.) I do make an effort to keep my extraneous hair\* to a minimum, so should she… \*By this I mean nose hair for me, which is rather gross in any gender ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/35 "2004-01-15T15:12:10Z")
Well, I’m somewhat hairy, but I’m not messing with my arm hair. If I did, it’d grow back all bristly and nearly black like my leg hair does. And the last thing I want to deal with is arm stubble. Ick. It’s bleached out a good bit, and if somebody didn’t want to date me because of my ARM HAIR, fine by me. Bye! Face it, guys, women have hair in all the same places you do. Except not nearly as much facial hair. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/36 "2004-01-15T16:02:06Z")
If I find out a girl shaves her arms, her chances with me will **lower** significantly. I actually find forearm hair attractive. - Adam ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/37 "2004-01-15T16:19:20Z")
I saw a checkout girl who had 3-4 in. blonde hair on her arms. It was a bit _disarming_, but I certainly wouldn’t call it hideous. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/38 "2004-01-15T16:28:21Z")
The trick with these things is to ignore what you don’t like. It’s like the old “Don’t think of the word hippopotamus” trick. The only way to forget about it is to think about something else. Every woman I ever known has had at least one really cool physical feature to concentrate on - eyes, hair, skin, legs, hands, feet… anything. But there is nothing you can do if it really puts you off - some people can’t eat liver. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/39 "2004-01-16T05:32:35Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > It used to be that I would have said no. > > It also used to be that I considered Alyssa Milano attractive. > > Then I saw [this](http://www.bakermedia.com/gallery/data/588/128112003_alyssaen_jennifer1.jpg). Gah! She stole my dad’s forearm! ---
**Author:** ![conczepts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@conczepts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conczepts)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190/40 "2004-01-16T13:12:16Z")
That picture is obviously photoshopped. The Bicep is too big compared to her shoulders, she looks like popeye. That’s a guy’s arm, just under the shoulder it stops being Alyssa. I still don’t find her attractive though. I knew a girl who was really really attractive in the face, but had arms hairier than mine, other guys noticed it too, but pretty much everyone agreed that it would still be worth going out with her. I have hangups 100x worse than arm-hair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-do-you-consider-arm-hair-on-girls-a-dealbreaker/224190.md?page=3)