happy trail

Any kid who grew up in the United States in the 1950s probably knew The Roy Rogers Show, which closed with the now-classic song “Happy Trails to You,” written by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans-Rogers. The name of the song was based on the fact that Roy often signed his autographs “Happy trails, Roy Rogers,” with happy trails being a folksy way of wishing some well (cf., safe travels, bon voyage).

At least by the 1990s we see happy trails being described as a sexy feature for a man to have—it’s a line (trail) that leads down to the penis, a happy place for many. One early instance comes in a 1992 internet Usenet thread where people discussed preferences regarding male body hair.

Though happy trails have traditionally been seen as something that only men can rock, recent fashion trends have seen women occasionally growing out their happy trail, either as a statement or because they like it. Singer Julia Cumming grew out her happy trail and Instagrammed it.

anyone else learning to love their HAPPY TRAIL? One of my first boyfriends shamed me so bad for growing hair on my stomach that it still hurts to think about. screw anyone who doesn’t love the hair ya grow #bye

A post shared by Julia Cumming (@juliacumming) on Nov 7, 2017 at 11:09am PST

In 2017, Vogue ran an article titled “The Happy Trail Is Officially the Last Frontier of Female Body Hair,” which spotlighted Cumming.

a couple posts of mine were included in this @voguemagazine article about stomach hair. thank you @voguemagazine for writing about this! while there are a million more pressing things than my white girl hair dramas, if it makes anyone (including myself) feel a little better about the hair they naturally grow, then that’s cool. My personal hope is that one day it will be like a man choosing to have a beard, that you can be a woman and chose to have whatever hair you want and it won’t be newsworthy. 🌷

A post shared by Julia Cumming (@juliacumming) on Dec 17, 2017 at 9:12am PST