B E B E R E

Day Spas.

H was over last night: told me that he'd spent the day working on some publicity for a spa downtown that was looking to expand its market to men. One of the things that they were now offering was a 45 minute shave.

Forgive me for not being able to wrap my mind around this one, but doesn't 45 minutes seem a bit extreme? I'm a woman who shaves her armpits and legs (= more surface area than a man covers normally) and it doesn't take me anymore than 20 minutes to do a good, thorough job. Heck, I'm sure that professional swimmers don't take any more than a half hour maybe - and they make up the only group that I'd grant leeway to in this matter.

Where was I going on this? Oh, right. Day spas for men. I understand that the business of pampering one's self is a big one nowadays, as society in general tends more towards self-indulgence than probably ever before. Men, too, are urged to get more in touch with their 'feminine' sides. I should be more tolerant about this perhaps, un peu moins "vieux jeu," but, well, I just keep thinking of the dandies in the court of Louis XVI just before the revolution: feminized, infantine, decadent, of not much use to anyone.

Yes, yes, I am prejudiced and a bit unevolved in my thoughts on beauty/luxury culture. Yes, yes, I do know that I should be a bit more flexible, and I'm trying. I just can't see a man whose idea of going to the spa isn't of wallowing in a mud bath with middle-aged Germans and who spends more on beauty products than I do as being particularly masculine or even anyone I'd want around the house much.

Disclaimer: I live in Metrosexual Central, and I fear that I am far more man than many of the men in my neighborhood.

(from Grimpen Mire)