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Here's why men and women take their shirts off differently

Ever notice how men and women take their shirts off differently? Here's why.
/ Source: TODAY

It's one of life's mysteries you don't really notice until you take a second and think about it.

Why do men and women take their shirts off differently?

While the ladies usually cross their arms at their waist and pull their shirts up from the front, it seems guys opt to reach over their heads, grab the shirt from the back to yank it over their heads.

Theories have floated around online for years by people with enough free time to conduct multiple trials on this important topic.

Recently, Seventeen delved into some of the nitty-gritty.

Maybe it's because women's hair is usually longer, so pulling a shirt off by the collar might cause an uncomfortable tangle.

woman and man taking off a shirt
Women usually go with the cross-handed, pull-from-the-waist approach to remove their shirts, while men stick with pulling the shirt off from behind their heads. But why?Shutterstock

Or maybe it's because guys just aren't as flexible, as Matt Lauer surmised on TODAY Friday.

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Thankfully, a Tumblr user appears to have finally brought this burning debate to a conclusion.

It has everything to do with how men's and women's clothes are made.

Men's shirts are often looser, longer and have more space around the armpit area.

That means trying to pull one off like a woman from the front could end up getting the shirt caught on a guy's face while his arms are extended over his head, the Tumblr IPrayForAngels concluded.

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On the flip side, women's shirts are usually shorter and tighter around the armpits. So if a woman tries to pull it off from behind her head, the shirt might get stuck when she only has it halfway off.

Now, feel free to spend the rest of the day trying to pull your shirt off the two different ways and see if it's really true. (You're welcome.)

Follow TODAY.com writer Scott Stump on Twitter.