Newsweeks’s term for them? Retrosexuals:
Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - Measuring 6 feet 3, with chiseled pecs and a bushy beard, George seemed like a model of manliness. Yet two years ago the 47-year-old Virginia businessman (who declined to give his full name to protect his privacy) decided he didn’t look quite macho enough. So he went to see Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, a Miami hair-restoration surgeon, to have 3,000 hair follicles ripped from his scalp and transplanted into his face, chest and belly. He wasn’t satisfied. So a year later he returned to get an additional 2,400 grafts done. “I could still have another surgery and not be completely covered,” says George today. “I’m very pleased, but 2,400 grafts is not a very hairy chest.”
George’s quest for maximum hirsuteness isn’t as unusual as it may sound. He’s part of a growing group of “retrosexuals”—men who shun metrosexuality, with its often feminine esthetic, in favor of old-school masculinity. Cosmetic and hair-transplant surgeons on both coasts report increases in patients seeking a more rugged look: hairier chests and beards, squarer chins, more angular jaw lines. Dr. Paul Nassif, a well-known Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, has noticed the change in the photos patients bring in to show him their ideal image. A few years ago “they were bringing in a pretty-boy look,” he says. Now, though, the requests are different: ” ‘Give me a big, strong, manlier chin’,” he says.
Among hair-transplant specialists, the vast majority of their patients continue to be men hoping to combat balding and receding hairlines. But in recent years, those seeking facial and chest implants have increased. According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, facial-hair transplants in the United States jumped from 765 procedures in 2004 to 1,189 in 2006. Epstein, the Miami doctor, has done 10 facial and chest procedures in the past 18 months—double the rate in previous periods. On the cosmetic front, some surgeons say that men are also asserting their manliness through rhinoplasty, or nose jobs, asking for a more pronounced proboscis.
Well, they might be able to buy the “look” but they’ll never be able to buy the attitude … 
Prior posts on manly men:
Yeah. Having tons of plastic surgery/hair implants whatever is NOT a return to traditional masculinity.
Traditional masculinity is not about obsessing over your appearance and engaging in expensive body modification that doesn’t involve lifting large pieces of heavy metal.
Comment by Severian @ 8/14/2007 - 8:14 pm
I’m a real man.
I don’t obsess over what it means to be a man, but I do know hair transplants, plastic surgery, penis size or plaid flannel shirt have nothing to do with it.
I’m raising two daughters, been married 18 years. I believe in family. I look responsibility in the face and own up to it. I strongly believe in individual accountability, especially my own. I teach mine this also.
I am happy with my life- no greater adventure could ever be lived.
Comment by TedintheShed @ 8/14/2007 - 11:13 pm
- Real men don’t eat quiche….
- BBH -
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 8/15/2007 - 12:42 am
I eat it and make it Bang.
Let me check something real quick….
Yep. Last I checked - I’m a man !!!
Comment by Baklava @ 8/15/2007 - 1:04 am
George sounds like he has self esteem issues.
Comment by camojack @ 8/15/2007 - 4:03 am
All this obsession with appearances! REAL men spend their time and money on motorcycles, guns, and ladies; not tanning/waxing salons, and cosmetic surgery!
Comment by Tom TB @ 8/15/2007 - 7:05 am
- Whoa - chill Bak.. its a movie title…*chuckle*
- BBH -
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 8/15/2007 - 11:22 am
Wow, can we get any shallower? How about simply living the right way and standing straigt and honoring your word, or is that too flippin much to ask?
Comment by Vegas Art Guy @ 8/15/2007 - 11:50 am
Nah, you’re obviously a French poofter!
Just kidding Bak.
Comment by Severian @ 8/15/2007 - 11:52 am
I’ve always been relatively hirsute except atop the head (and we all know what causes male pattern baldness). I never gave it any thought before either, but the fact that I have hairy arms and legs and chest and can grow a beard without plastic surgery must make me some kind of super male archetype.
Fine, 51 years old and I finally find out. Thanks loads. Guess I better go find somebody or something to dominate - I can start with people so insecure they think surgery makes them manly.
And you know what, guys? I am not averse to a slice of quiche from time to time. I figure real men eat whatever they damn well want.
Comment by Steve Skubinna @ 8/15/2007 - 12:29 pm
- ST must get a kick out of watching us do the “male macho” thing….. Heh…
- BBH -
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 8/15/2007 - 2:11 pm
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/15/2007 - 2:43 pm
Gee, Maybe I should stop shaving. I’d look like Billy F. Gibbons from ZZ Top in no time. I just wish I had his hot rods and money, too.
Comment by PCD @ 8/15/2007 - 3:02 pm
I guess it may be a bit shallow, when you think about it, but the sight of a big, hunky, manly man with hugh pecs all covered with chest hair, is what all the women are clamoring for, so we might as well give them what they want. Right?
Comment by Lucky Lunddy @ 8/23/2007 - 12:36 pm