Girls and women are said to be vain right?


Right … But what about their male counterparts. They don’t spend hours in front of mirrors, right? Wrong! Male vanity is on the increase; men also want to have their eyebrows waxed, their faces reshaped, their bodies sculpted and their bottoms toned. While male vanity is flourishing, the industry that allows it is also booming.
The men's grooming product market is growing with top cosmetic houses producing men's ranges to cleanse tone and moisturise. Nail salons also report that more men are coming in for manicures. It wasn't that long ago that all a guy needed was a decent job and a little cleaning up to satisfy the basic requirements of masculine self-esteem. Now there are gyms full of men sweating furiously pausing only to check the mirrors or gaze at the washboard abs of magazine models. If men decide the gym is not adding enough to their male fabulosity – plastic surgery ought to do it!

So what is the deal? Why are men making such a big fuss about their looks? Some blame the youth-obsessed culture, others say it is to woo the fairer sex, or they feel if they look good they will succeed at everything they take on. Author Lynn Luciano says “A lot of the male-vanity revolution is not about impressing or pleasing women, but about impressing men, competing with them”. What some males may be experiencing is not only obsessive, but can become dangerous. Younger men often turn to steroids, while others develop a disorder called bigorexia or muscle dysmorphia (MD). It is known as a type of reversed anorexia where men have a strong desire to exercise every day and become ashamed and self-conscious of their bodies. The disorder often goes hand in hand with depression and anxiety.

“Men with MD will habitually go on holiday only where there is a gym, or transport weights with them; limit sex to conserve energy for workouts; check themselves in the mirror obsessively; and decline to wear shorts because they think their legs are too scrawny” Health24 reports. They also obsess about diet and constantly weigh their foods.
From as early as the 1970s, men opted for surgery to get the perfect physique and face. In 1997, US men reportedly spent three billion dollars on fragrances and grooming aids, nearly 800 million dollars on hair transplants, and another 400 million dollars on hairpieces. Sales of health-club memberships and exercise equipment totalled four billion dollars. Approximately seven percent of high school boys in the US are taking anabolic steroids to help build muscles, and the prime motivation seems to be improving physical appearance rather than sports participation. In a 1997 Psychology Today study of 550 men, 43% of the participants said they were dissatisfied with their overall physical appearance and three percent hated their stomachs while 45% claimed they were unhappy with their muscle tone.

Share this post