Men Weigh In: 3 (Naturally) Sexy Things They Love About You

Check out any beauty advertisement, magazine photo spread, or commercial where a female is the main character and you'll see an underlying theme: we're expected to be perfectly primped with amazing wind-blown hair and crystal-clean skin. So here's your dose of female empowerment for the day: if guys aren't perfectly groomed at all times (and do you really want your man to be flawlessly beautiful?), then why are women expected to be? Here, men weigh in on what they LOVE about your beauty routines.

When You Bare It All
Did you know that the average American woman spends almost $200 a year on her makeup? That's a shocking $13,000 spent over her lifetime. And the kicker: Our guys actually prefer our skin sans accompaniment.
"I love how she looks when she first wakes up, " says Keith, 36, of his fiancée, April. "Fresh, clean, natural. I hate when she piles on that cakey eye stuff. She still looks good, but she just doesn't look as much like herself."
Chris, 23, concurs. "I was actually drawn to [my girlfriend] Stephanie because she didn't wear makeup. She didn't really look like she was trying to be noticed. That was cool, you know?"
"I absolutely hate lip gloss," says Taylor, 21. "My girlfriend's always trying to kiss me with it on, and it's so sticky! Seriously, why do you ladies like that stuff?"
"Lip gloss is the worst," says Taylor's friend Rand, 22. "I can never get it off my face! It completely takes the romance out of kissing because I keep thinking about how annoying it is."

Your Belly
If you're like most of us, you've probably lost count of the millions of hours you've spent doing ab exercises. And that's the good news. The bad news? Turns out guys don't actually care as much as we think they do.
"I love her stomach!" says Derke, 30, of his wife, Lita. "It's too round," she protests. He maintains that it's "perfect. She's soft and feminine and I love that her body just fits with mine."
"[My wife] Irene's soft and curvy, and I love that about her," says William, 40.
"She's got all the right goods in all the right places," says Jermaine, 35, of the "significant lady" in his life. "As far as I'm concerned, there's a reason they call 'em 'love handles!'"
"I'm not perfect, so I definitely don't expect [my girlfriend] Cate to be," says Ben, 29. "I love her, all of her, physically and mentally; I'm sure I would still love her if she dropped 10 pounds or dyed her hair pink, but I think she's exceptional just the way she is."
"She's only gotten more lovely with age," says Henry, 81, of his wife Edith. "Neither one of us have the bodies we used to, but I love each wrinkle and stretch mark. They're a testament to the life we've shared together. I didn't fall in love with her because she looked like Ava Gardner (which she did); I fell in love with her because she was the sweetest girl in the world, and that hasn't changed in over 50 years of marriage."

When You Toss the Hair Dryer

"Amy refuses to leave the house without stick-straight hair," says Steve, 23, of his naturally curly-haired girlfriend. "It's ridiculous! Every day, she spends hours in the bathroom using that straightener thing. I wish she'd leave it curly, at least a few days a week."
We're pretty sure that the "straightener thing" Steve was referring to is a flatiron, and we're even more sure that he's echoing the sentiment of many more guys out there: We like your hair just the way it is!
"This one's spent hundreds, no, thousands, of dollars on relaxers, extensions, perms, and color jobs over the years," says Clement, 45, of his wife, Cherie. "You name it, she's tried it. But eventually, she came to realize what I'd known all along: that she was blessed with beautiful hair naturally."
"Her hair was, honest to God, bright yellow," says Jason, 42, of a bad dye his wife had a few years ago. "I mean, it really looked terrible - like a highlighter. After that, she stopped coloring her hair, and I think she's never looked better."
"[My girlfriend] Danielle's got really thick hair," says Steve, 30. "She's probably in the bathroom about two hours every day, just working on her hair. Which is fine, except she thinks it only takes her about 30 minutes, so when we're running late for something and she says 'Oh, I'm just going to hop in the shower and do my hair real quick,' it's frustrating. Every hair does not have to be perfect, woman!"

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.