Boys and skincare

Boys and skincare

By: Wafi Habib

Boys and skincare are just like oil and water; they don’t mix well. Society makes it seem like it should only be females that care about protecting their skin when really we all should be doing it.

I had a firsthand experience of the discrimination that happens with this topic. I remember my sister was asking me why her skin was dry and when I simply told her to use a moisturizer, ‘someone’ (who happened to be male) gave me a baffled glare as if I did or said something wrong. It got me thinking and within that moment I felt embarrassed. But now looking back, why did I care? The fact that people had the nerve to judge someone even when it comes to something as simple as the topic of skincare really shocks me. I mean, I’m sorry that I care so much about my largest organ and I’m sorry that I don’t fit the ‘manly’ image but to be honest…I could care less about what you have to say about me and my obsession with skincare. Tough. Get up, get a life and get over it. 

However, on the flipside, I will say that people my age (teenagers) in this generation are so much more open-minded and are thankfully no longer living in the Stone Age. Most of the guys I know will know what a toner is, what a pore strip is, what a moisturizer is etc. They would no longer try to be over-masculine and be like “oh that thing you wash your face with”, they would instead be like “oh the facial cleanser”. I am thankful for this because now I can do my facial routine around friends without feeling as if they were glaring at me, judging me and instead they would just be minding their own damn business.

I remember when I was having a sleepover, I would pretend like I would have to go the toilet just so I could go and do my night routine. And on one night, after I had finished ‘going to the toilet’, I walked into the room to see my friend (who was also a male) applying a toner…and after staring at each other for about 5 seconds I burst out laughing because in that moment I realized that I wasn’t the only male that did this kind of stuff. And ever since then, the both of us are now very comfortable with talking about what products we use. In fact, on that very night, we ended it with a charcoal face mask.