Yes, this may well be true. Are you male?
Twenty-seven responses. I think we have achieved database.
The answer is simple. Men with chest hair either: a) Don’t go to the beach, or b) Don’t take their shirt off at the beach, or c) Shave that shit off.
Not true.
They could be waxing.
You’ve found me out, Leo. :smack::rolleyes:
Selection bias, duh. The population that goes to the beach regularly isn’t necessarily a good cross-section of the male population.
That being said, I’d say that it’s extraordinarily rare for a man to have NO chest hair. The rest range from a little bit to Sasquatch, based on having been to the beach a lot and in various locker rooms and situations involving shirtless men.
I was vacationing in New Jersey (the infamous ‘Jersey Shore’). So of course, it could be argued that the culture there is very pro-fitness and young, so lots of young guys probably wax their chests to accentuate muscles.
But setting that aside, I notice quite a few times on the street, in public transport, at work, etc. that there will be men wearing open polo-shirts that are unbuttoned close to the chest, and there is absolutely no visible hair growth there. It’s much harder to make the case that these “ordinary” men shave their chests.
This makes me very suspicious of Wikipedia’s claim that 6% of men have no chest hair, and even more incredulous about their claim that "The largest group, 37 percent displayed pattern four [which is the hairiest pattern of all with the full chest/abdomenal connector), “Eight percent displayed pattern one, 12 percent pattern two and 11 percent displayed various other patterns.”
Again, I respect your incredulity of a single older study as authoritative, but the other side of the coin is that your anecdotal experience is quite swamped by the experiences of the rest of us. A majority with no chest hair? Not what most of us have ever observed or what the poll thread sems to show is common hair. (Inclusive of very sparse hair the number is still under 16%). I would put forth that an open polo is not a good measure of “none” and/or that you need to clean your glasses. 
(Are you sure those were men and not flat chested women?)
Thanks. BTW thanks for that more detailed link.
All men have hair on their chest. For that matter, so do all women. It’s just that in some men (and nearly all women) the hair is too fine to see unless you’re very close.
This is correct. I do have hair on my chest.
But without a pretty good magnifying glass, it’s not plainly visible. 
Older fellas with declining testosterone levels often lose some or all of the chest hair they may have had in their 30’s and 40’s. So a very young *or *very old beachgoer population will have less hair than average.
On that Wikipedia article, there is a photo illustrating Pattern #3 (my very own pattern).
But check out the dude in the background. That’s a nice photobomb right there.
The Wikipedia article doesn’t include a pattern I’ve seen very often: snail-trail to navel and a few lonely hairs around each nipple. I’m now wondering whether they would have counted those men as “hairless”.
In my experience, that’s called a “happy trail.” A “snail trail” is something entirely different. I’m guessing Urban Dictionary may provide some insight.
Huh? Why? Chest hair is manly. I go to the beach and I have chest hair.
It sure as hell runs in my family.
We also tend to grunt and hoot a lot. 
Jeez, give the guy a break. He said that his observations didn’t remotely match what his look at Wiki told him and basically asked if the discrepancy was with the survey or if styles and trends have changed that much. Maybe he didn’t phrase it as well as you’d have liked, but it was pretty clear what he was asking. And, incidentally, one survey of 1100 people, while potentially statistically sound, is not necessarily a “fact” reflecting the billions of people on the planet. Jeez.
I recall an episode of the view where they showed before and after pics of a (male) staff member losing weight and getting fit. Much hilarity and joking as Joy Behar noted how getting fit also enabled him to lose his chest hair.