The New Regime.

Whilst reading an article on ‘Man Tans’ with the famous image of the character Ross from Friends populating most of the page, I can’t help but feel women now have competition where grooming and maintenance of image is concerned. Men have, over the space of ten years, become alert to the fact that they too have to make an effort with appearance, physique, and general up keep.

Gyms now look to pull in male clientele with waxes for those with werewolf like problems, or mani-pedi’s that attract the conscientious men with the need to impress with their smooth skin, neatly trimmed cuticles and cash to afford such luxuries that most can not.

This goes without saying; no one likes their husbands, partners, current fling or unrequited lover to have certain alarming qualities such as B.O or Gorilla like bodies. I do pose the question however, what happened to the rugged, manly man who couldn’t care less which moisturiser he used in the morning, or when his next appointment in the Hair Salon would be.

It never used to matter if a man was ‘too pale’, that was something alone that women would be judged on. Tanning on holiday – acceptable, Spray tans for men – just plain weird. I know many men may read this and think ‘Hang on, double standards’ yadda yadda yadda, but women since the beginning of time have been told to wear this bone crushing corset to have a inhuman body, or have every inch of skin waxed (which is pure torture) to please men.

Fixing hair and makeup before leaving for the office, lunch and continually during the day has been happening for years in order for us to gain credibility, acceptance and sometimes our way with the male specie. So surely in 2010, it wouldn’t be too harsh after a whole lifetime of being looked at as sex objects to say, Man up!