I’m 41, male, straight, single, athletic, and somewhat handsome. I am also not a native English speaker, thus I have no idea what handsome really means. Oh, and I do software engineering for living. I don’t know if it is relevant. What is indeed relevant — I am here to make a coming out. I want to be a beauty expert. Male beauty expert. Cool, right? I am super excited. Not to say thrilled.
You’re not asking how it all started but I’ll tell you anyway. It was one dark night in one of the most hectic and vibrant cities of the world. An old friend of mine who happens to be a female and to live in some distant country came for a visit to that hectic and vibrant city. She brought me a present. People do weird things, don’t they? Maybe I opened it up immediately, maybe I didn’t. We’re friends for over 20 years, I can afford hurting the feelings which are not there. I mean, there’s a chance I didn’t open it right away. Don’t judge me. Anyway, I opened it sooner or later and I used it. It changed my life. I kid you not.
It was a shower foam. Shower foam for men. Branded shower foam for men. You see, I had lived 40+ years without [branded] shower foam for men. I hadn’t even known they existed. Well, first 20 years I had no idea even about [unbranded] shower gel, all I knew back in my childhood and youth years was hard soap. I’m sure you can relate. However, you get used to shower gel pretty quickly. It seems fairly logical and ordinary. It’s just a liquid soap. Shower foam for men blows your mind. It really does.
As I mentioned, I’m that masculine average Joe who does programming at day and plays football (not to confuse with soccer) or basketball at night. He occasionally hits the gym and showers as most men do. Not a sophisticated creature.
I don’t know if I had used more than 5 different cosmetic products over the course of my life until that moment. Shower gel, deodorant, shaving foam, after shave lotion (not always). It is four. Well, perfume makes it five. Caveman, yep. It’s all changed though. OK, starting to change. I’m at the beginning of the journey. I want it all now. Night cremes, anti-aging solutions, face masks, perfumes for different times of day (they do have those, right?), scrubs, peelings, you name it. Seriously, please name it, I have no idea what else I want to want.
So what has caused all this havoc and why has it done that? How come I lost my mind over something so absolutely basic at such relatively advanced age? After giving it a thought, I break it down into following:
- Jealousy. Gender inequality. Women have it all and in numbers, men don’t. Some do actually, not me though. No one to blame here, no riots to start, I just want to catch up a bit.
- It feels so good. It smells amazing too. I really feel better when I use that shower foam in particular and quality skin care products in general. Subjective, yet very important aspect.
- Objective health benefits. We have to dig deeper here, validating everything through clinical studies, medical professionals, and our own hopefully positive results, but overall — good care is better than no care. Don’t take my word on it though.
- Uncharted territory. Terra incognita, tabula rasa, per aspera ad astra. Not sure the last one is related. The whole new world lays before me, I want to explore it and to find its treasures. Like that kid in the candy store. Which I never was. OK, like that kid in Home Alone.
This is the motivation. Now let’s talk action. A series of actions.
First, I tried to refill the humble stock of products I already have. Including that life-changing foam. They don’t sell it in my country and the manufacturer doesn’t deliver to this area either. So I had to improvise, recruit the same old friend of mine who happens to be a female and to live in some distant country. Didn’t work out. The postal authorities didn’t let it through as the foam container is a pressurised one and “potentially explosive in air transport”. Or whatever the heck they said. Really? So I guess all zillions of such containers are transferred by rail and sea only. Let God Almighty be their judge. Exsurge, Domine, in ira tua! (I really liked that Latin language handbook someone gave me 30 years ago.)
My second step is this blog. I’m going to document the journey into the beautiful world of the beautiful. Tautology intended. This kills two birds with one stone. Or whatever Romans used to say. (Never finished reading that Latin language handbook.) First bird is the unstoppable desire to share my joy with the world. I believe that somewhere on this planet there is another totally normal mid-age guy who will be extremely happy to read this great news. The second bird is to keep myself committed. Discipline is everything. You want to remember to moisturise your skin — remember to write about it, too! Not sure if this is the right pattern though. Maybe you have to moisturise your skin regardless of writing about it. Still figuring it out.
My third step would be actually stepping into this new universe and trying out stuff I haven’t possessed and/or known about and/or applied before. Congratulate me — I’m already past face mask and face charcoal scrub. The former felt nice yet redundant (probably once in a month will do), the latter feels … useful? Effective? Satisfying? The thing is that I’m extremely proud with myself each time I do it. My mom used to make me wash the face with soap when I was coming home after playing soccer (not to confuse with football) all day. I’m doing it now, mom! Not a simple soap but a scrub! With charcoal! She’ll be proud too, I know. As soon as I tell her. This charcoal also comes off really hard, takes a good amount of water to wash it off. The more the effort — the better work it does. I guess.
And my last step would be to stop counting the steps. For now. These were a few words on what, why, and where to from here. Stay tuned for more. I’m new both to the domain and to blogging. I will get better, I promise. Per aspera ad astra! Now it is in the right place.
