Undershirts and Men - necessary or not?

Okay, this was a topic of heated debate and I'd love to get a wider perspective.  I'd have put it in "Guy Talk" but I think that women likely have a serious opinion as well.

In my circle of (mostly) American male and female friends, the majority of us agreed that under most button-down shirts (and for some of us - under everything except T-shirts) men should wear a full white undershirt.  That this article was as necessary as a bra for women, and served a number of functions, including wicking away underarm sweat and lengthening the lifespan of shirts, sweaters, etc. 

Tank-type undershirts (so-called wife-beaters) were considered weird, but apparently the preference of one of the hairier males.  Some of us thought that this defeated the whole purpose of the undershirt, but at least it did cover some of the creepy chest hair.

A single male thought that any undershirt was unnecessary and never wore them.  He proclaimed he did not sweat that heavily and simply washed his shirts after each and every time he wore them.  He also had IMHO gross chest hair creep (at the collar and through the gaps between the buttons) and when it was suggested that he could get that situation under control with an undershirt, he proclaimed the hair as "masculine"

Now, I would never have thought to make a UK/Europe - US distinction here, except for the fact that I recently saw the HUGO cologne commercial with John Rhys Meyers (or whatever his name is,.. the one who plays King Henry VIII in "The Tudors").  He's wearing a thin white button down shirt in the commercial - virtually see-through - and no undershirt.  My reaction was totally "eeeew" but then I wondered if in fact this was a cultural thing.

So - ladies and gents, if I knew how to create a poll the questions would be:

Full t-shirt undershirts for men:

A. Necessary and desirable
B. Weird

Thoughts? Opinions?

Can I have an option C?  I don't think it's either necessary or weird.  DH doesn't wear one, and I have no problem with that.  He washes his shirts after every use, and has never had any trouble with sweat stains or anything.  I actually don't like the look of undershirts when you can see them through the shirt, though I wouldn't go so far as to say they are weird. 

And that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers advert is fantastically sexy, IMO   

Interesting topic. I'm a 22 year old male and for years I wore an undershirt until recently. I'm a moderately hairy man and do in fact have some chest hair that would show if I didn't wear an undershirt.

My reasons for wearing the undershirt were-

1. Because the shirt I wear over it I generally leave untucked. The undershirt is tucked in, so that should I bend over or reach up for something, my skin is covered.

2. To cover up the upper chest hair.


However, over the past year I switched to tank type undershirts. These were much more comfortable as I had less material on my sleeves and it still functioned quite well. It also wasn't as warm as a full white t-shirt and so I didn't sweat as much.

Now, though I don't wear undershirts and the reason is, I just get too hot wearing them. I shave the chest hair so it's not a problem and when I reach or bend over for something, I just make sure to check to see if anyone's watching.

I also wear a belt now which helps keep certain areas covered that the undershirt used to. I guess I can't really say if they're necessary or not for all men, but for me, I don't think they're necessary and in fact can't stand to wear them anymore because of how hot I get.

I say its up to the comfort and needs of the individual. Not different, weird or anything else.

I say its up to the comfort and needs of the individual. Not different, weird or anything else.

I think that's right.

To each his own but...

A

DF wears one or a "wife beater" under all his shirts that are not t shirts. I think for me it's more a matter of it looks gross if you can see a mans nipples under his dress shirt. He doesn't really have chest hair but he does have a lot of tattoos and even though we're both fairly tattooed, him more so, I think there are times when being able to see his chest tats through a shirt would be inappropriate. I can see where you are coming from with the hair too.

I'm with historyenne- I don't see it as necessary or weird. My dad would definitely fall into camp A and always wears an undershirt, but my husband often doesn't and that seems to be pretty normal here.  I'm indifferent (mostly I just don't notice one way or the other!)

I'm indifferent (mostly I just don't notice one way or the other!)

I'm the same.

I say its up to the comfort and needs of the individual. Not different, weird or anything else.

I agree. DH never wears undershirts of any kind, but he isn't hairy at all and I've never seen him sweat (he's always cold because he's so skinny!). I can see his teeny-tiny little man nips once in a while when we go outside, though (again, because he is always cold) and I tease him a about it a little. I haven't noticed if anyone else around the office wears them or not, which I suppose is a good thing. I doubt anyone really cares either way.

We call those "vests" over here....I don't wear them, only to be worn if you'd otherwise be cold without it.

We call those "vests" over here....I don't wear them, only to be worn if you'd otherwise be cold without it.

Yeah DF looked at me weird when I said wife beater. I then had to explain the word and it's origins 

Yeah DF looked at me weird when I said wife beater. I then had to explain the word and it's origins 

Over here, "wifebeater" is a slang term for Stella Artois. 

I'm the same.

Me three.
 I've actually never thought about it.  My Dad wears a t-shirt, my FIL wears a vest and the husband wears nothing under his shirt.  I've never really noticed that it looked unsightly.  What's wrong with chest hair?  Have I missed something.  I don't think you can see it anyway - I'll have to look when he gets home.  But if you could why would that be so horrible?  He's a guy.  Guy's have chest hair.

I always thought it was a British (maybe European, don't know) v American thing.  I thought it was basically a default that men wore undershirts under dress shirts when I was in the US and then when I moved to the UK, I realized that most men (ie in my office) didn't wear them.  When one of our male British friends was living with us for a time, we asked him about it as he never wore them.  I still made DH wear undershirts though.  And when we lived in India, men always wore vests/wife beaters.  They were called 'singlets'.

I remember back in the late 90s when I worked in Chicago, we would make fun of guys who would sometimes wear white shirts with lettering on them that you could read through their dress shirts (i.e. they didn't have any clean undershirts so thought they could get away with wearing a T-shirt).

Over here, "wifebeater" is a slang term for Stella Artois. 

Yeah I learned that right after my description. It's a fun fact when I'm at bars in SF now since all the hipsters here worship Stella.