The Art of Manscaping

Originally published January 11, 2016

In case you’re still hunting for the perfect 2016 wall calendar, meet aptly named, Mike Wolfe – a fellow with an especially hairy back in Idaho. You might be thinking, what does a hairy guy in Idaho have to do with buying a calendar?

You’ve heard of guys shaving their chests, backs and even their nether regions, yeah?  [RELATED: Man’s War on Pubic Hair ] Well, Mike Wolfe takes the art of manscaping to new heights. Literally. He’s compiled an entire calendar out of back hair art. I know, it’s weird and frankly a little (okay a lot) yucky and what the heck is back hair art? I promise I am not making this up and if you don’t believe me, check out Janu-hairy.

Image Credit: calendhair.com

Image Credit: calendhair.com

According to the product website, Wolfe first discovered he was turning into one of those guys everybody makes fun of – a dude with a really hairy back –  in 1998. He was in high school at the time and happened to find some hairs sprouting out from beneath his wrestling singlet. Shocked and horrified, he sought advice from his older sister who instructed him to take immediate action to completely eradicate it.

Image Credit: calendhair.com/Castanza

Image Credit: calendhair.com/Castanza

After enduring a decade of painful hair removal procedures coupled with constant assurances from his wife that she indeed loves his back hair as much as she loves the rest of him, Wolfe decided to embrace his hirsuteness. One day, instead of giving himself the routine clean shave, he asked his pal and graphic artist, Taylor Harding, to trim his back hair into an artistic rendition of the American flag.

Screenshot 2016-01-11 at 9.27.34 AM

Image Credit: calendhair.com

That was in 2008, and ever since, the duo has met every three to four months – the length of time it takes Wolfe to regrow enough back hair for Harding to create a new design – and the result is the first ever   CALENDHAIR – A Very Ame-hair-ican Calendar.

If you’re thinking a back-hair-of-the-month calendar is NOT the kind of thing you want hanging from a magnet on your fridge or anywhere else for that matter, congratulations. You’re a member of the normal person club.

“Everybody always makes fun of the guy with back hair,” Wolfe says.  “Well now it’s my turn to shine, right?”  You go Mike.

Image Credit: calendhair.com

Image Credit: calendhair.com

If interested, you can purchase your very own CALENDHAIR. They’re reasonably priced at $20 each and Wolfe and Harding are donating a portion of the proceeds from the sales to Gates of Hope, a charity that benefits an orphanage in Kenya, so it’s for a good cause.

Here’s the deal. I like helping orphans as much as the next gal and there’s no excuse for making fun of anybody, especially guys with exceptionally hairy backs. More power to you, Mike, but honestly, I don’t want to see your back hair every single day for the next year. No thank you. Call me callous (without feeling; cold) and monotonous (all the same, remaining the same), but I’ll be sticking with my word-of-the-day calendar for this year and don’t even try inveigle me into changing my mind…not even with orphans.

Screenshot 2016-01-11 at 11.03.04 AM

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