This guy is so perfect.  He’s smart, he’s sweet, he has a career, he has his head firmly planted on his hairy shoulders.  Ew.  Okay, there’s the problem.  He’s your perfect man, but he’s… shall we say – furry?

My friend Emily had this problem with her man, Andy.   They met at a dance studio where both were learning Latin dances and after discovering that Andy most certainly was NOT gay, Emily was interested.

Here was a guy who was bright and funny and he actually enjoyed dancing.  Not to mention that he chose to do it on his own rather than being dragged there by a girlfriend with delusions of him becoming the next Emmet Smith.  Emily double checked again that he wasn’t gay.   Sure enough, here was that rare man that every girl hopes to get – and Emily wanted him bad.

She did happen to notice that his arms were pretty hairy, but brushed it off.  No biggie, right?  Lots of guys have hairy arms.  It’s part of being a guy.

At their next lesson, Emily noticed a tuft of chest hair peeking out over his shirt, glistening with sweat from a half hour of doing the same turn over and over and over.  She attributed her slight nausea to the spinning rather than the sweaty chest hair.   Lots of guys have chest hair.   There were so many other things that made Andy cool.

Finally, the tension between them was so obvious that the whole class pretty much forced them to go out on a date.  And it was wonderful and beautiful in a way only portrayed in the movies.  Andy was a consummate gentleman, pulling out her chair, letting her babble on about her cats, and all that good stuff.

After the date, he pulled her close and kissed her with a kiss that made her knees disappear.  Seriously, if you ask Andy he’ll tell you that he had to catch her before she fell to the ground.   It was that good.  (No joke.  I met an ex of his at a party and she swore up & down that he was a casanova in the kissing department.)

Things between them were awesome until Andy’s shirt came off.  Emily found herself poised above a gaping chasm between really loving this guy and really wanting to toss her cookies all over the room.  Andy was beyond hairy.   Andy was a gorilla.  His chest was dark with hair, swirling in all directions.  His shoulders were covered in hair.  His back – oh good Lord! – was covered in hair.  Andy was the fuzzy wuzzy bear, and he DID have hair.  He WAS fuzzy wuzzy.

So what’s a girl to do?  After holding back her cookies and focusing on the millions of reasons why Andy was a great guy, Emily began to think of ways to make him a bit more presentable.

The chest hair didn’t bother her, but the shoulder and back hair was really a bit too much.  Emily brought it up casually.  Well, as casually as you can tell someone they’re the missing link.  She rented a copy of the “40-year old Virgin” and when the back waxing scene came up, she giggled and said, “I think you might have more hair than he does.  You haven’t ever considered waxing have you?”

To her surprise and relief he said he had considered it.  He’s always been embarrassed by the hair, so he’s avoided any type of events where he might have to take his shirt off.  Suddenly it made sense to Emily.  Andy never wants to go to the beach and he always finds a reason not to go to the pool in her condo complex.  He’s an amazing indoor volleyball player, but avoids an outdoor game.  He went on to tell her that he had even thought about lasering the hair off, but had been put off by the painful aspect of it…

Pain?  That was it?  If you’re a girl who’s ever had a bikini wax or *shudder* the dreaded Brazilian bikini wax, then hair-ripping pain is something you know about.  Reducing/eliminating waxing pain is a time old, never-ending conversation among women.  We have tried EVERYTHING, so we’re not short on advice here.  Emily took her opening & ran with it.  She asked him if he knew about numbing creams, steaming to open up the pores…all things that men NEVER talk about amongst themselves.  Andy was game.

Long story, short — a month later, Andy kicked my butt playing volleyball at the beach. That’s right.  The beach, with his shirt off (who knew he had Abs of steel?).  He & Emily have been going strong for the last 2 years…

How have YOU dealt with dating someone hairy? Did you bring it up directly, in a ’round about way or not at all? Share your experiences!