Welcome to the first post of WashYourAss, a blog by men for men. This blog stumbled into creation simply because of the stigmas, confusion, and barriers pertaining to men's hygiene and fashion.
I found myself attempting to grow a beard for the past month and a half or so. Through my studying and patience, I've grown what I'd consider a reasonable beard. However, I found myself having an itchy face, rough hairs, and no complete way to clean it. I did what I felt most men would do in a foreign situation. I made the classic mistake of not asking anyone around me, of course to save my own "pride" I took to doing the research alone. Well, simply put I found nothing. Few to zero stores around me dedicated to men's beauty. I found that odd, especially with how "progressive" society is claiming to be. I found it even more odd that in a state like California, again lauded for how "progressive" it has become, that I couldn't find a store strictly for men's beauty. Hundreds and hundreds of female beauty supply stores sit around my area, but when it came to men's, I found less than ten. Even within those ten, they weren't specifically dedicated stores. "Haircut joints, waxing for men, and the occasional Gentleman's Clubs." Each store further from the next, with the closest being thirty minutes or more away. Which I again found strange, seeing as I live in a heavily populated area. I figured I must not be looking hard enough.
Pushing my pride aside I reached out to some connections in women's beauty and fashion, potentially to see where there husband's or male friends find what they need. Through a recommendation or two I found a beauty supply store within a reasonable distance, claiming to carry men's products. I made the twenty mile or so journey to the store with two friends of mine. Inside, we searched and searched for men's products, again to prideful to ask for help. Well surprisingly one of my two friends found herself in the very back of the store, behind the main attractions, behind the thousands of ounces of women scents, shower needs, and hairspray. A five by twelve area, a front and back shelf, those shelves broken up into four sections a piece, and a lonely three or four of those eight were dedicated to men. In a store the size of a small grocery store, lined wall to wall with women's products, less than 200 men's products sat in the back.
With the 50 plus women in the store, each having a reasonable idea of where to move next and what they could use for their own personal hygiene, there were 3 other men. One being my second friend, a gay man who split off from me for a while and wondered the store lost, just like myself. Another older gentleman, doing his best to read labels for answers. And finally a burly man young man carrying a reasonable beard, picking through the shelves with a more than confused look on his face. Each of us seemingly more lost than the next.
Now this is where I come in. Without receiving beating around the bush answers online, without have your posts deleted from Reddit for not following specific guidelines, without spending hours and hours searching up tips that range more in the area of fiction than they do fact, without the stigma of being called "feminine, girly, weird, gay, or everything in between." This blog is dedicated for those of us who find themselves lost when it comes to the next step in our health, hygiene, and fitness. No matter what the age I want to promote a healthy mindset and lifestyle for men to make themselves what they consider to be better men.
As always, don't forget to WashYourAss
- Noble
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