# Men--when do you go shirtless? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299 "2013-06-30T23:32:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/1 "2013-06-30T23:32:06Z")
It’s mid-90s today in the Pacific Northwest, a really hot day around here, and numerous guys are walking the streets shirtless. It’s not something I’d ever do; if I’m outdoors and not going to the beach/doing hard labor I gotta wear a shirt. I just think it looks very unhygenic and unclassy. When do you think it’s appropriate to go shirtless in public, and how hot does it have to be? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/2 "2013-06-30T23:39:20Z")
Only when swimming, but I spent 20 years living in Minnesota, and it’s not nice to blind people, so I don’t go swimming often. Hell, I don’t even really wear shorts any more… I have no particular urge to pick up skin cancer because I forgot my sun block too many times. If it’s hot, taking off my shirt isn’t going to make things much cooler… only swimming, drinking large amounts of cold stuff, or getting in the shade is going to help with that. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/3 "2013-06-30T23:39:31Z")
Never. Melanoma teaches you these things. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/4 "2013-06-30T23:46:04Z")
Only when swimming is involved. Never occurred to me to take it off when just walking around outside. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/5 "2013-06-30T23:47:32Z")
Swimming: pools, beach or hot tub. Twice so far this year while mowing my lawn. I wouldn’t feel comfortable in public shirtless other places. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/6 "2013-07-01T00:04:32Z")
Swimming and showering. One has a duty not to cause jealousy from other males. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/7 "2013-07-01T00:18:04Z")
Nobody really wants to see my big hairy gut and man-boobs hanging out all over. That said, I’ve been shirtless in a nominally public place two or three times in the last two years. In each case it was over 95 degrees and I was on a hiking trail where I didn’t really expect to meet anyone else. The fact that I crossed paths with a young couple one time was just their bad luck. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/8 "2013-07-01T00:28:14Z")
I go shirtless outdoors when I’m swimming (or at a swimming location, even if I’m mostly just making sandcastles) and when I’m painting. And maybe if I just have to run out to grab the mail and I’m not going anywhere else that day. Though, most of the men I see on the streets shirtless are a lot more buff than I am. If I had a body like them, I might show it off more often, too. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/9 "2013-07-01T00:31:18Z")
I go shitless only when I have to hold it in. Oh, you said _shirtless._ [Emily Litella]_Never mind._[/Litella] ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/10 "2013-07-01T00:33:20Z")
I go shirtless in my apartment or at the pool or the beach, that’s about it. I used to go shirtless all the time playing tennis, running and hiking, but I wised up after my first melanoma. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/11 "2013-07-01T00:35:50Z")
Not anymore. It scares the children. (Damn it, I really need to start hitting the gym again.) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/12 "2013-07-01T01:04:46Z")
Often enough that I can stay out in a blazing sun from sun up to sundown and not burn. But just in my own backyard. I had some small skin cancers removed 2 years ago so started wearing a shirt more these days. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/13 "2013-07-01T01:08:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Though, most of the men I see on the streets shirtless are a lot more buff than I am. If I had a body like them, I might show it off more often, too. When I was a kid running track in the 70s, the whole team went shirtless during practice to keep cool, but nowadays there’s all sort of space-age fabrics that make it unnecessary. I’ve got a mesh/textile motorcycle jacket you can wear riding at 60mph in 90+ temps and _feel cold_, and my running gear (Nike DryFit) dries almost instantly and doesn’t weigh down with sweat the way cotton used to back in the day. I haven’t been in public without a shirt in decades. Kinda tacky. A buddy of mine almost never wears a shirt during the summer. He’s in full mid-life crisis mode - he works out so he’s in shape, and he’s gotten a bunch of tattoos and a nipple ring and just walks around without one whenever possible, hoping someone will tell him how young he looks. :rolleyes: If he’d taken such care of himself when he were married… well, no, she really does hate his guts, it wouldn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/14 "2013-07-01T02:15:57Z")
In my apartment, at the beach, and while swimming. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/15 "2013-07-01T02:30:51Z")
never where anyone else can see me. I don’t want to see it, so I’m pretty sure no one else does. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/16 "2013-07-01T02:32:12Z")
Swimming pool. ---
**Author:** ![chewsick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@chewsick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewsick)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/17 "2013-07-01T02:48:34Z")
When I sleep and shower. I’m relatively young and “only” 20-30 lbs overweight, but I just discovered hair on my back. Ladies? Eh, so, like never. Also pasty white except for legs arms and stuff which are actually look like people flesh rather than a Victorian or Edwardian catalog of undergarments. Yeah, so basically never. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/18 "2013-07-01T02:52:10Z")
I would never, ever walk down the street shirtless. But sometimes, on really hot days, I run that way. I don’t like necessarily _like_ it, because I’m not buff, but god-_damn_ it gets humid here in summer and I sweat like a pig. ---
**Author:** ![chewsick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@chewsick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewsick)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/19 "2013-07-01T03:07:12Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I sweat like a pig. Is that really true? Pigs should adopt my compromise solution on especially hot days – unbutton \*all[i/] buttons on a button-up shirt. Leaving the top button buttoned optional for advanced users. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299/20 "2013-07-01T03:15:50Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I sweat like a pig. Makes sense. Although, in reality, pigs don’t sweat much, they have ineffective sweat glands and have to wallow in mud to cool off. Of course, unless that’s what you _meant_… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-when-do-you-go-shirtless/662299.md?page=2)