Resolve to have a better image in 2013

Gentlemen, if you’re the type to make New Year’s resolutions, make 2013 the year you take five simple steps to improve your image and make a better impression in the world.

1. Keep your shoes and boots clean and polished. It’s a cliche by now, but I say the same still rings true – in the old days, a man’s character was associated with how well he kept his shoes, and there is no reason to think differently now.  Freshly-polished footwear is the sign of a man who takes pride in himself, and people notice.

Shoes are the base of our daily wardrobe, and if they’re dirty, scuffed, and/or in need of repair, your footwear will negate any effort you’ve taken to dress well. On the other hand, wearing magnificently cared-for footwear can actually excuse an otherwise sloppy wardrobe – shoes are powerful!

2. Keep your hands clean. We meet a lot of people and we shake a lot of hands, and keeping yours clean, like wearing well-kept shoes, sends a positive message about your self esteem and your respect for others. Clean hands also reduce the spread of germs, important  especially in winter – so respect your health and the health of others and wash often!

Unfortunately, washing germs away will dry out your hands, making skin tight and uncomfortable (to the point of cracking, for some of you). The way around this is to apply moisturizer. I hear your complaints already, but  moisturizing your skin is no different than using oil to keep your baseball glove supple. To avoid the discomfort of dry hands, gents, try to apply at least once a day, preferably after your morning shower.

3. Keep scent to a minimum. Keep the smell volume down low, because you may be the only one enjoying the fragrant symphony hanging around you.

Remember that most, if not all of your grooming products, from shampoo to shaving cream, are scented. If you wear aftershave or cologne, this is another fragrance on top of these scents, which  gets to be overpowering quickly.

To make things worse, I just read an article about the fragrance industry using human and animal feces in their products – yuck!

4. Wear well-fitting clothing.  When dressing for business or casual, if you’re not paying attention to the fit of your clothes, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It doesn’t matter how big or small a man is, ill-fitting clothes visually change your body shape.

Wearing too-small clothing makes bodies bulge and pushes us out of proportion. Too-big clothing (left) gives visual obesity while making us look insignificant as we swim in excess fabric. A correct fit (right) accentuates the positive and makes us more confident. Wearing well-fit clothing feels great!

5. Stand straighter. Want to lose a visual 5 pounds and feel more confident? Inhale, straighten your spine, lift your eyes, and square your shoulders.

People often don’t pay attention to the way they stand, but posture speaks loudly; it can diminish us in the eyes of others or boost our presence and mood. People notice confident people, and confident people stand straight.

I encourage you to watch this 20-minute TED talk with social psychologist, Amy Cuddy, who explains body language and how to turn up your testosterone and your confidence by assuming 2-minute “power positions”:

Without spending extra money, you can sharpen your image by following these simple steps, making for a more confident and memorable 2013. Happy New Year!

Note – In the Key of He is taking January off – see you in February!

Movember Mustache: The Frank Zappa

Welcome to Movember! Our last mustache of the series is an ode to a man who himself died of prostate cancer, known for both his complex and satirical music, and his mustache-soul patch combination, Mr. Frank Zappa.

Zappa, an Italian-American with Greek and Arab heritage, emerged in the late 1960s as an anti-authoritarian musician, critical of American society and opposed to formal education as much as he was to organized religion.

In 1966, Zappa founded The Mothers of Invention and recorded Freak Out!, an album that, according to  Barry Miles in Zappa: A Biography, immediately established Zappa as a “radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the relentless consumer culture of America”.

The infamous tobacco-smoking, coffee-drinking, multi-faceted musician was one of the most influential musicians in rock and roll history.  The 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide says Zappa “dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker,  jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable.”

From belches to bicycles, Zappa loved sound and organizing sound, and during his amazingly busy career, recorded over 60 albums as a solo artist and with the Mothers until his death in 1993.

Frank Zappa’s facial hair is recognizable enough to stand on its own.

In one of his last interviews, he said, “give a guy a big nose and weird hair and he’s capable of anything.”  Frank Zappa’s unique sound and style remain a stronghold in rock music, and his iconic mustache and rectangular soul patch are unmistakably his – Frank Zappa was a freak in his own right.

For more Zappa stuff, visit Zappa.com.

TIP: When you shave your mustache off on Saturday, trim the long whiskers with an electric clipper or scissors before taking the razor to yer lip. For inspiration: watch a guy lose his 45 year old mustache!

Movember Mustache: The Hitler

Welcome to Movember! This year, we’re doing a famous mustache series. For our mid-Movember Mustache, the Toothbrush, 2 -3 centimeters of whiskers, synonymous with one of the most criminally insane minds of modern history, Adolf Hitler.

The Toothbrush was a popular American mustache style starting in the nineteen-teens, brought to life by entertainers of the day like Oliver Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. Once brought to Germany, the younger generation immediately took it on to replace the full ornate styles like the Kaiser, the Handlebar, and the Walrus, worn by their fathers.

Hitler, 1916.

Why Hitler took the Toothbrush style on in the first place has been argued for decades. Some believe that the neat, efficient style of the period was simply adopted by Hitler out of personal preference. His sister-in-law claimed that it was she, with her dislike of his bushy, unruly mustache that urged him to cut it.

It’s now understood that Hitler preferred a fuller Prussian style as a younger man during World War 1, but had to compact his mustache to wear a gas mask, when the British developed mustard gas during the Great War. Toothbrush mustache or not, Hitler’s gas mask proved ineffective – he was gassed and temporarily blinded in 1918.

Hitler’s “ugly slit”.

Alexander Moritz Frey, who knew Hitler in the Bavarian infantry, explained his first impression of him: “At that time he looked tall because he was so thin. A full moustache, which had to be trimmed later because of the new gas masks, covered the ugly slit of his mouth.” (Source: The Telegraph)

After the war, it’s no surprise that the Toothbrush mustache style disappeared; to this day, it is the infamous symbol of one of the most evil minds the world has ever witnessed, whipping up the same emotional response as seeing a swastika.

Strangely, the Hitler style ‘stache hasn’t died out entirely. Zimbabwe’s dictator, Robert Mugabe, wears a mutation of the Hitler, called a “Philtrum”, named after the place it grows, in the groove of the upper lip.

Mugabe started out okay, voted into power in 1980 and at first, “delivered on promises of peace, reconciliation with the white minority, and social development.” (Source: PBS) But as history has shown us, Mugabe terrorized, abused, and murdered his own people.

“Mugabe must be viewed as the 21st century Hitler because of the deaths and suffering of Zimbabweans under his rule,” Anglican bishop of Pretoria said in 2008. Another South African bishop explained Mugabe was a “person seemingly without conscience or remorse, and a murderer”. Sound familiar?

I found in my travels a story of Frank Spisak, convicted Ohio murderer who, in 1982, shot three people to death, and wore a Hitler mustache at his trial. For you old school Spiderman fans, J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker’s angry, screaming boss at the Daily Bugle, out to squash the web-headed Spiderman, was another nasty figure who wore the Hitler style mustache.

Could the Hitler and pseudo-Hitler mustache styles have drawn out their delusional cruelty?

In his excellent 2007 Vanity Fair article, Becoming Adolf, Rich Cohen explains his take on the Toothbrush as being “the most powerful configuration of facial hair the world has ever known. It overpowers whoever touches it. By merely doodling a Toothbrush mustache on a poster, you make a political statement.”

But just when a pattern begins to form, along comes Michael Jordan.

No one but basketball star himself knows why he chose to wear this mustache for a 2010 Hanes underwear commercial, but he caused a furor when he sported the ‘stache of der Führer:

Ironically, the mustache helped to increase Hanes’ sales, according to CBS, but since Jordan’s been called on it, it hasn’t been seen since. No surprise there.

But it’s still not dead. British comedian, Richard Herring, sports a Toothbrush in his show, Hitler Mustache, to draw attention to voter apathy in the UK, and to see if he can associate the mustache style with something other than the leader of the Third Reich.

Herring admits that when he first grew the Hitler, he got paranoid and feared being assaulted by someone in the street, but eventually became comfortable with it for his paying audience and for a reclamation of the mustache style “as a political protest against the BNP (British National Party)”, saying he was “using the Hitler moustache to oppose fascism.” (Source: BBC)

Creating a positive connection with the Hitler mustache will take a lot of work. And many generations.

TIP: For those of you in mid-Movember mustache depression, check out this great Movember video for support from Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation)!

Movember Mustache: The Billy Dee Williams

One of the coolest brothers of all time: Billy Dee Williams.

Welcome to Movember! This year, we’re doing a famous mustache series. To start off the month, Billy Dee Williams, American actor.

You might remember Billy Dee from such roles as Lando Calrissian from Star Wars films, portraying Louis McKay, Billie Holiday’s husband in Lady Sings the Blues, or maybe even from ads for Colt 45 malt liquor beer, but Billy Dee’s career goes all the way back to 1959 (The Last Angry Man), and his career is astonishing. For his talent and his good looks, he was named “the black Clark Gable”.

Billy Dee is known for his signature mustache, smooth hair, and sex appeal. In an 1981 interview with Ebony magazine, he talks about love-making as his ultimate expression:

Ebony: A lot of women …consider you as the epitome of what a man is supposed to be, and most assume that you are a terrific lover. Are you really as good in bed as they think you are?

Williams: Yes! Definitely! I’m even better than that!

Billy Dee is a confident man in a mustache, but his mustache isn’t striking because of the shape – it’s the split down the middle that makes it distinctive. He also keeps his facial hair neat and groomed – a must if a man wears facial hair!

TIP – regular use of a facial exfoliator is a must for black men whose whiskers grow curly – kinky whiskers can grow back into the skin which can develop into ingrown hairs.

Want to know more about Billy Dee? Here’s a great post written in honor of his 75th birthday.

Next Movember Mustache post: a forbidden iconic mustache – can you guess who immortalized it?

SPF for men

Gents, it’s time to be clear on summer skin. Since humanity blew a hole in the earth’s ozone layer, it is now dangerous for us to go outside without a protective barrier between us and the sun’s rays. This is why we need to use products that contain SPF, or Sun Protection Factor – sunscreens that reflect and/or absorb the sun’s harmful rays. Any dermatologist I’ve ever spoken to has stressed the importance of using an SPF in our skin care regimen because of the effects of sun exposure – accelerated aging and the possibility of skin cancer.

A frightening statistic from the Canadian Cancer Society states 5500 people will diagnose with melanoma this year and of these, 950 will die. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Getting into the habit of using a moisturizer with sun protection is a great insurance policy.

This summer, you may notice some changes in the wording on your sunscreen bottles. In 2011 in the U.S., regulation changes require sunscreen products to follow a standardized labeling system to specify products that have the best protection from harmful solar rays. The system will also ban the words “sunblock” (the word gives the false impression of protection), “sweat-proof” and “waterproof” (also false claims – products claiming to be water-resistant must indicate how long the product remains effective when exposed to water). See this CTV piece for more information.

Under the new standardized labelling system, only sunscreen products that protect against both UVB (causes sunburn), and UVA (leads to premature aging) radiation and have an SPF of 15 or higher, will qualify to be labelled as “Broad Spectrum.”

Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation in the U.S., says “sunscreen that is not broad spectrum or is broad spectrum but is lower than SPF 15 will have to carry a warning statement saying it has not been shown to prevent skin cancer or early skin aging.”

This is good news.  Below is information to help educate you about sunscreens and the nasty chemicals that are present in many. Following this, I’ve added some links to help you make wiser, natural choices in sunscreen.

Info and options

I spoke to Sara Schlatter, an Arbonne Consultant who educated me about her ethical, premium, green, Swiss-formulated brand of personal care products. The Arbonne line uses botanicals and antioxidants in their sunscreens, as opposed to some of the toxic stuff we’re offered on store shelves in North America. I learned that in Switzerland, ingredients must  be proven safe before used in products. Conversely,  ingredients can be added until proven harmful in Canada (what’s wrong with this picture?).

Arbonne does not contain preservatives (products are fresh!) and their literature explains hazardous ingredients to stay away from, so fellas, do read your product labels:

• PABA: Though rarely used now in sunscreens, beware of products that contain the ingredient. Forty percent of the population is sensitive to it, experiencing red, itchy skin;
• Parabens (butyl-, ethyl-, methyl-, and propyl-): Parabens are used as preservatives. They may cause skin rashes, redness, and pain, or, after inhalation, irritation of the eyes and the mucosa of the nose and throat. Parabens may also mimic estrogen, but because they are common in sunscreens, avoiding them may prove difficult.

–>When reading your product ingredient list, parabens will be found close to the end. When you look at your labels, you’ll find that parabens are in almost everything you buy in a drug store – shaving products, shampoo, deodorant, and moisturizers, so think about investigating a local health food store and trying an alternative brand that does not contain parabens.

• Padimate-O and Parsol 1789 (2-ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoic acid and avobenzone): These two chemicals have the potential to damage DNA when illuminated with sunlight. On the skin’s surface, these chemicals do protect from UV damage; however, once absorbed into the skin, these same chemicals can prove destructive;
• Alcohol, Isopropyl (SD40) dries up the skin, promotes brown spots and premature skin aging;
• Propylene/butylene glycol is derived from petroleum. Causes skin irritation, dermatitis, may inhibit cell growth, can cause liver and kidney damage.

If this isn’t scary enough, the chemicals used as fragrance and filler in many personal care products can affect sperm count and testosterone, and influence the function of the liver, kidney, and lungs. I’m not sure that saving a little money by buying cheap grooming products is worth putting your internal organs, and your general health at risk, but I’ll let you be the judge.

To make your life a bit easier, choose a moisturizer with SPF already in it so you only have one product to apply. Here are some good options:

Arbonne Facial Moisturizer with SPF 20

Alba Mineral Protection Facial Sunscreen

Avalon Organics Vitamin C Renewal Broad Spectrum SPF 15

JASON Natural Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF20

Keep in mind that the more inexpensive the product, the less pure it’s going to be and undoubtedly, the more chemicals it will have in its formula.  Sara says the most effective sunscreen should contain at least 7% zinc oxide or titanium dioxide to protect against UVA and UVB rays, with an SPF of 15 or higher.

People with rosacea/eczema/sensitive skin should always use a sunscreen, and Sara recommends Abonne’s ABC baby sunscreen because it’s “fab and gentle“. Sara told me that David Cassidy almost had to stop playing guitar because his eczema was so bad and Arbonne saved his career!

Seal your lips

AskMen.com says “lips lack both oil glands to keep them naturally moist and melanin to provide protection against harmful UV rays.”

Men, your lips need special protection too and there are lots of SPF lip balms available. Sara urges men to protect their lips but with products that do not contain petroleum jelly (Vaseline), mineral oil, and paraffin – these begin life as crude oil. Using petroleum-derived products will eventually dry out your lips, and you’ll be absorbing the same stuff that axle grease and butane are made of. These petroleum products smell bad and are masked with toxic synthetic fragrances, not to mention chemical colours and texture enhancers. The Arbonne balm option has an SPF 30 and is made with chamomile extract and vitamin E among other good things. Alba also offers non-petroleum SPF balms.

If you’re out to protect your skin, gents, and I hope you are, there are lots of ways to keep away from harmful solar rays: stay out of the sun, avoid tanning beds, wear hats, and keep covered; slather an SPF of 15 – 30 on hands, face, neck, and anywhere else you’ll be exposed to sun.

Historical whiskers: Van Dykes and goatees

Flemish painter, Anthony Van Dyke, originator of the Van Dyke whisker style.

If you lived through the 90s and were old enough to grow facial hair, chances are, you wore a wrap-around mustache/beard combination and you probably called it a goatee. You might be shocked to know that in the modern era, this facial hair style, mistakenly called a goatee, is actually a 400 year old Flemish (Dutch) style called a Van Dyke.

Author, Victoria Sherrow, explains both types of facial hair in her historical study of appearance in For Appearance’s Sake:

Goatees are tufts of hair on the chin, trimmed to look like the beard of a male goat, which give them their name.

Some men wear a mustache along with this type of beard. Variations of this look include the Van Dyke beard, which was named for seventeenth-century Flemish artist Anthony Van Dyke (1599 – 1641), whose portraits showed men wearing goatees.

Men like King Charles I of England. Charles usually sported a long chin beard and mustache combo, and commissioned many Van Dyke portraits. Shown here,  Charles I from Three Angles by Van Dyke, was created  as a guide for Italian sculptor, Bernini, commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to make the bust of the king. (Bernini is the famous sculptor of the period who did breathtaking work with marble and created such pieces as The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, David, and Apollo and Daphne. See images of his work here.)

This style comes in many forms from the complete, solid wrap-around, to various detached mustache and chin beard combinations of various shapes and styles that go in and out of fashion. During the Grunge period of the 90s, for example, every guy I knew who could grow a beard wore a closed Van Dyke (but called it a goatee).

The great musicians of the period wore them well – Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, and sometimes Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. The Van Dyke is a strong characteristic feature of the 90s and it was a good look at the time, but that was 20 years ago (!). Gents, if you haven’t changed your facial hair since 1994, I strongly suggest you modernize and shave off or reshape your whiskers – there are many variations of the mustache-chin beard style and lots of style experimentation to do that won’t make you look like you’re clinging to your youth.

The face is like a canvas; women change their looks by applying cosmetics, men by shaving, growing, and shaping their beards.

Heavy Van Dyke fans

Founding Pantera guitarist, the late Dimebag Darrell.

Pantera's Vinnie Paul

Metal musicians seem to like the Van Dyke, and lots of rockers come to mind. The two different Van Dyke styles shown here are worn by Pantera members: guitarist, Dimebag Darrell, wore a long mustache, grew his chin beard out and dyed it red. Ian Scott, the guitarist from Anthrax, also has a long chin beard that he sometimes colours red (not sure which came first), but he wears it alone without a ‘stache. He also shaves his head which makes his goatee more prominent and obvious.

Darrell’s brother and drummer, Vinnie Paul, wears a closed Van Dyke style with fancy chops. Shown here, his cool three-section chop sets off his Van Dyke.

Goatee

Pan, the ancient Greek deity of the woods, shepherds, and flocks, among other things.

The goatee proper, is simply chin whiskers, as Sherrow says, so-called because of its similarity to the chin hair of the billy-goat. The origin of goatee beards is thought to have originated in ancient Greece, where Pan, god of the woods, of creativity, music, poetry, and sexuality, is usually depicted wearing a chin beard.

Over time, this image of a goatee-d deity morphed into an image of the occult, known as Baphomet, illustrated in Eliphas Levi”s Dogmas and Rituals in High Magic (below). According to Secret Arcana, a website devoted to occult symbolism, Baphomet is symbolic of alchemy “where separate and opposing forces are united in perfect equilibrium to generate Astral Light.”

This Baphomet image has become synonymous with Satan and associated with sin and  darkness. If one thinks along extreme lines and decides to split the world into good and bad, embracing the dark, bad side is, in a sense, a way to thumb one’s nose at the “good” establishment. Not surprisingly, many rock and rollers have embraced the bad-ass, bad-boy image associated with darkness and the rebellion against the mundane.

Metallica's James Hetfield

Metal musicians who favour the goatee include Metallica singer and guitarist, James Hetfield, who sometimes wears a long, two-piece goatee, and bassist and vocalist for Slayer, Tom Araya, favours a long one-piece goatee.

Tom Araya of Slayer (Photograph by Steve Appleford)

Abe Lincoln was known to sport a goatee, as did the beatnicks of the 1950s. When Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Joel Hanrahan, shaved off his chin beard, it was an event – read this hilarious tribute to Hanrahan’s dead goatee here. And let’s not forget the most famous cartoon goatee of them all, the chin beard of Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, slacker and suspected stoner on Scooby-Doo.

For this post, it was simply my intention to clarify the Van Dyke and the goatee confusion, but what I found in the research is amazing to me. The historical, artistic, and occult lore of facial hair runs deeper than I realized and I am led to one conclusion: no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same.

The scent of swag

Continuing with last week’s Movember theme, Gerry, whose moustache journey we documented, took me to the Movember gala on December 2 and it was so much fun!

Gerry's barber gave him a David Niven look and I rocked a fancy airbrushed Mo!

Many guys had already shaved by then but I was delighted to see how many got into the spirit of the moustache and came in character – there were cops, highway patrolmen, firefighters, a gang of bootleggers, general Mo freaks, and a very dashing French revolutionary soldier complete with bicorn hat and period uniform. Gerry had his Mo reshaped one more time and we did him up as though he were striding onto his yacht, so I matched his costume and we both had a look of nostalgic glam.

Mo-goers were given bags o’ swag containing men’s grooming products – deodorant,  shave gel, and a 5 – yes, 5-blade razor. I put my swag away with the rest of my men’s grooming stuff when I got home and didn’t think about it.

Then I started noticing something. When I walked into my living room, I could smell something odd, something I couldn’t identify. I decided that someone walked past my door wearing too much cologne. However, each time I walked into my living room, I could smell it again, so I hunted around and discovered that it was my bag of swag from the gala that was causing the stink! I was able to distinguish which grooming product was giving off the strong scent – the culprit was Mennen Speed Stick. Welcome to today’s topic.

Now, I want you to understand some things before I continue, readers:  1. I don’t want to sound like an ingrate because I appreciate that large companies are sponsoring Movember and promoting the fight against prostate cancer, and 2. I only use natural and unscented grooming products on my skin, therefore, I am highly sensitive to chemical fragrances, thus my picking up on the swag smell.

Ingredients: salt and gas

I’m going to share some of the research I have done on common men’s grooming products with you so as to educate you on the products you’re applying to your skin because whether you realize it or not, your skin is absorbing it.  Some of these ingredients may cause you to question the products you use because the ingredients themselves are questionable.

My information comes from websites that scientifically test grooming products: Good Guide, Cosmetics Info,  Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, and the David Suzuki Foundation.

Because I have taken from different sources, the ingredients listed below may or may not be present in the 2011 version of Speed Stick:

• Water
• Cyclomethicone: silicone oil
• Denatured Ethanol: ethanol with chemical additives
• Tripropylene Glycol: colourless, viscous liquid derived from petroleum
• Dimethicone: anti-foaming and emollient agent, suspected environmental toxin
• Propylene Glycol: colourless viscous liquid derived from natural gas
• Phenyl Trimethicone: derived from silica, a natural component of quartz and opal
• FDC Blue #1,  FDC Yellow #5 : synthetic dye produced from petroleum
• Sodium Carbonate: sodium salt of carbonic acid
• Sodium Chloride: salt
• Sodium Stearate: salt of stearic acid, a naturally occurring fatty acid and cleansing agent (surfactant)
• Sodium Sulfate:  sodium salt of sulfuric acid
• Tetrasodium EDTA: used to decrease reactivity of metal ions that may be present in a product
• Stearyl Alcohol: compound produced from stearic acid, a naturally occurring fatty acid; stabilizer, surfactant, fragrance
• Dimethicone Copolyol: silicon-derived, used as a low-odor ingredient to mask other scents
• Fragrance: not listed – more trouble ahead

Fragrance

If the above list isn’t enough to put you off entirely, let me sweeten the pot a bit.

Some of us react to these synthetic fragrance ingredients because they are irritants that we have an allergy or sensitivity to. I don’t need to tell you that I’m one of these people. As a sensitive person, I pick up and respond to scent easily – this isn’t always a good thing. Like the way a strong cologne can offend, personal care products can be just as disagreeable.

I was with a friend one night earlier this year who decided that his health food store deodorant was failing. He happened to have his gym bag with him that happened to contain a commercial deodorant (that could have been Speed Stick or perhaps Old Spice) and went off to the men’s room to apply it. Before he even got back to me, my eyes were overpowered and almost watering at the strong scent that he carried back from the bathroom with him. It took a long time to get the stink of the deodorant stick out of my nose.

The fragrance in Speed Stick is rated as a high hazard by Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, and associated with neurotoxicity and allergies/immunotoxicity. In Failing the Sniff Test: Chemicals in fragranced personal care products remain a mystery, The David Suzuki Foundation reports that fragrance mixtures can contain up to 3,000 chemicals
, and a single product can have dozens or even hundreds of chemicals in it!

Many of
 these 
unlisted ingredients 
are 
irritants
 and
 can
 trigger
 allergies, migraines, 
and
 asthma
 symptoms. In laboratory 
experiments,
 individual
 fragrance
 ingredients
 have been 
associated
 with 
cancer 
and 
neurotoxicity 
among 
other
 adverse
 health
 effects. – David Suzuki Foundation

One of these alarming fragrance-boosting ingredients is Diethyl
phthalate, 
or 
DEP, widely 
used 
in 
cosmetic
 fragrances
 to
 make
 the
 scent
 linger.
 The presence of phthalates
 should be of particular concern to men because this substance is linked to hormone toxicity that can reduce sperm count and reproductive defects in the male fetus when the mother is exposed during pregnancy. Diethylphtalate are also associated with obesity and insulin resistance in men.

Alternatives to commercial deodorants are abundant but in my experience require trial and error to find the right one for you – I have several alternative brands that are just sitting in my bathroom because they just didn’t work for me. The one I like and stick with is a mineral salt roll-on, available at drugstores. Find good suggestions in Good Guide‘s top and bottom-rated deodorants and if you are concerned with animal testing (Mennen, who makes Speed Stick tests on animals), check the PETA site to see what companies don’t use questionable ingredients and test on animals.

Scent pollution

Many people have allergies to fragrance and yet fragrance continues to be poured into grooming products, among many other items. Both men and women are under the spell of corporate marketing that insists on strong unnatural chemical smells in their products (women’s products are just as bad as men’s – I have experienced young women running around the gym locker room  smelling like candy, and walking through the drug store fills my nose with gag-inducing smells of baby powder-scented tampons, cheap perfumes, and pungent, eye-watering shampoos). In the same way that commercial production adds excessive salt and oil to food products, I think that the producers of commercial grooming products are adding too much fragrance.

Try this experiment to prove it to yourself: put away your current scented grooming products (deodorant, shave product, moisturizer, shampoo, soap, etc.) and instead buy a small fleet of unscented products (maybe from the drug store, maybe from a health store). Use these unscented grooming products for 2 weeks, then bring out your former products. Smell them – how strong are these products to you now? Are you inclined to use them? How is the unscented world different and which do you prefer?

A month in the life of Mo

It’s December 1 – gentlemen, start your razors!

Movember is the month-long moustache-growing event to raise awareness and funds prostate cancer, an inititiative continuously gaining popularity and raising more funds to combat this men’s cancer.

This year, I wanted to look at Movember as a process, step by step, a week at a time, just to try to understand what it’s like to grow whiskers over your top lip. For some guys, the experience is an ordeal because not all men can grow a ‘stache and they end up walking around with patchy, generally unkempt things on their faces. For others, like my friend, Gerry (shown here),  it’s good times with a new facial feature because they can grow a moustache.  This year’s Movember post is meant to be something of a guide, perhaps an inspiration, for growing next year’s Mo, based on Gerry’s Movember experience. Let’s begin!

Day 1: Gerry starts the 'stache from scratch

November 1, 2011: Nature takes its course and Gerry lets ‘er rip on day 1, where he starts clean-shaven.

Week 2: the smudge of a Trucker looms

Gerry has a heavy beard and by the second week, his ‘stache is taking shape and making its presence known. He followed the nasolabial folds between his nose and his mouth as a shaving guide, but otherwise let it “grow wild”.

But it starts to itch; he starts touching it. Gerry says that when he eats, he forgets about the moustache but can feel something on his lip and assumes that it’s food. It’s the old cookie duster living up to its name.

By the time he got to week 3, Gerry’s ’stache had become “important”, as if it were an entity of its own. He began taking care of it, grooming it, getting meticulous about it, and decided he could do with some help and wandered into Garrison’s Barbershop on Queen West for a shave and a moustache re-shape.

These are the steps Gerry’s barber took:

Is that a corpse? No, it's Gerry in the hot towel portion of his hot towel shave.

1. Oil applied to beard to soften the whiskers. (Oil makes shaving easier – softer whiskers = less drag. Try it yourself with shaving oil from The Real Shave Company, available at drugstores.)

2. Hot towels applied to face for 5 minutes. (Opens the pores, refreshes the skin.)

3. Shave cream applied with shaving brush. (Easier shave – whiskers are raised by the brush and suspended by shaving cream.)

4. Face shaved with a straight razor.  Visions of Sweeney Todd danced through Gerry’s head as he lay there with his throat exposed to the unknown barber holding a bare blade over him.

The relationship between a man and his barber is a unique one indeed, as Gerry noted. This intimate, 45 minute man-on-man relationship must be grounded in trust. Gerry’s experience with the barber was ”relaxing and gentle”, and he felt pampered and cared for. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Arial view.

(There were actually 2 shaves involved here: the first one with the shaving cream using a clean blade that lightly scrapes the surface of the face, and the second one with a clear shaving gel to see missed patches and even the shave.)

5. Skin bracer applied to freshly-shaven skin. (“Pleasant and invigorating!”)

6. Cold towel applied to face to close pores.

$25 later, Gerry’s got a fresh face and a newly-shaped moustache. He’ll be back to Garrison’s for future shaves.

Week 3: Post-moustache re-carve.

Week 3: Gerry and his moustache are looking much better with a reshaping, even to the point of being attractive! (Oops, there goes my bias: I do not like the look of moustaches.) It is really amazing  how a trip to the barber can make your Movember so much more bearable – cool, even! A proper shave and shaping is a good step if you want to actually enjoy the whiskers instead of waiting for the end of the month when you can shave the bastard off.

Week 4: Gerry's moustache is a force to be reckoned with and getting scraggily again. Moustache maintenance is important and not for the lazy.

Week 4: Gerry’s ‘stache is getting unruly again!

Lucky thing this week concludes the moutstache-growing event, but not before another re-shape for Gerry and the fabulous Movember gala on Friday, where I hope to see some fabulous facial hair, but somehow, I’m sad to say, I doubt this.

Though guys are beginning to take their ‘staches seriously now, I’m still seeing Toronto men looking embarrassed every Movember. But lads, there’s no reason to walk around looking ashamed, you just have to learn to take care of your whiskers. It doesn’t have to be torture – iIf you’re going to grow a ‘stache for a month, have fun with it!

I’m seeing a lot of men who are emulating professional hockey players during the playoffs. Movember is not a reason to not shave for a month.  - Gerry

So let’s get into the spirit, men. Try investing $25 into yourself and visit a professional barber to help you rock a great, groomed Movember moustache next year instead of fighting with it, and be proud of your new little buddy.

Your skin in winter

Winter. The absolute worst time for our skin; a time when we’re dried out, rough, and scaly. Mmm, sounds nasty, don’t it? Dry winter air affects people with sensitive skin more than people who have normal skin, so if you suffer from sensitive skin like I do, this post is dedicated to you.

Gents, let’s keep it simple. I understand that some of you don’t pay attention to your skin in the winter (and sometimes the summer) because it may be something of a hassle, you don’t have time, or perhaps you may not be conscious of the importance of skin care. Fair enough. But knowing that skin is our largest organ that protects our internal organs and otherwise holds us together, it seems wise to take care of it. When it comes to our image, skin properly taken care of will make a better impression on people and it will also feel better to you, plus it is easier to shave over. This week, I propose three easy ways for a fella to avoid dry and possibly uncomfortable skin during the winter.

1. Avoid hot water

Though a hot shower will feel good if you’ve got a chill in your bones, it may wreak havoc on your skin. Hot water dries the skin and seems to tighten it as I well know, having what seems the most sensitive in the land. My skin is so sensitive that if I take too hot a shower in the winter, my entire body, including my face, goes red and splotchy and there isn’t anything I can do about it. This isn’t a welcome sight if I have to go out in public, so I take showers at night or early in the day to allow my skin to return to its natural colour.

The hot water concept applies to other tasks besides bathing, like doing dishes. Sensitive types especially should wear rubber gloves when washing the dishes because sensitive hands wet with hot water can make your life miserable. At the moment, I’ve got 4 scaly red patches on my knuckles that will split if I don’t take care of them. If the skin does split, I’m then open to viruses and germs, but besides the invasion of unwelcome foreign bodies, raw, red skin hurts!  If you have to wash the dishes with bare hands, dry them thoroughly and apply a hand cream afterward to combat the reaction.

2. Exfoliate

I don’t want to sound like a nag, fellas, but I want you to start exfoliating if you haven’t started yet. It will make your skin feel better and look better. For those of you who aren’t hip to the concept, to exfoliate is to slough off dead skin cells that sit on the surface of our skin, making skin feel dry (to the point of feeling papery), and depending on what colour you are, these dead skin cells, depleted of melanin, the cell protein that gives us colour, turns to a pale dust on the skin’s surface. Exfoliation may also help you to look younger as you clear away the layers of spent, grey cells that make facial lines appear deeper.

There are many types of facial exfoliators (several men’s lines carry facial washes or pre-shave scrubs with exfoliating spheres), but it’s nice to exfoliate the whole body. An easy way to lose the spent cells en masse is to wash with exfoliating gloves from a drug store or an exfoliating towel available at the Body Shop. Soap or shower gel them up and use all over your body, though you might want to avoid even a light scraping of the jewels – use with caution in this area. No need to press the material against the skin, just use with the same pressure that you would with a wash cloth and presto! your skin is fresh and smooth again! Keep your fresh skin supple with the next step in our simple program.

3. Moisturize

Some guys are not into moisturizing, I know, but it makes a huge difference in the winter. A nice (and hopefully natural) moisturizer will soothe your skin and make it less dry, less itchy, and more comfortable.

If you know me personally or perhaps you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I’m not into commercial chemical personal products. This isn’t just because I’m sensitive, but because I don’t like the idea of having petrochemicals seep into my system via commercial moisturizers AND I don’t buy brands that test on animals. I don’t think anyone willingly wants a dog or a bunny injected or swabbed with potentially painful or maiming chemicals, so it’s a good idea to check behind the scenes and educate yourself – for a health, environment, and social rating of personal care products, check out the Good Guide for product ratings and decide for yourself.

I asked Kristen Ma, co-owner of Pure + Simple Beauty in Toronto, and author of  Beauty, Pure and Simple, if she had anything to say about moisturizing for men.

I advocate men use natural skin care and moisturizers because they are more hydrating (no petroleum that doesn’t properly penetrate) and less pore-clogging.

Also, natural moisturizer and shaving products help prevent shaving irritation and post shave break outs because they are gentler on the skin and free of chemical irritants. I noticed a dramatic difference when my fiance began using our Pure + Simple soothing shaving cream. He never gets shaving irritation bumps anymore.

(Have a look at Kristen’s excellent and informative blog, Holistic Vanity, and check out the wonderful natural products that her spa carries especially for men here.)

Another natural line that I like, produced in Ontario, is Green Beaver. Green Beaver is organic and biodegradable and best of all, they have a great moisturizing line especially for winter!

It doesn’t actually take long to fix up and maintain your skin in winter and it doesn’t make you any less of a man.  I think that men who groom well and take care of themselves are much more appealing and nicer to be around than men who turn away from self-care. To me, taking care of one’s self and one’s skin is a reflection of our self-esteem, and gents, I know you’re worth the bother.

Your feet in summer

People seem to think that just because it’s hot outside, they have license to dress like a slob and slack off on grooming. Do you see ratty old t-shirts walking around in public? Have you ever had the misfortune of being downwind from someone who has slacked off on bathing? How about people who interpret “summer business casual” being the same thing as “cottage wear”?

Run on us, jump on us, but don't forget to clean us!

There are guys out there who wear sandals or flip-flops and whether unconsciously or perhaps out of spite, show off their filthy toes. We don’t want to see this and in fact, it’s a bone of contention with me. There is no reason not to have clean feet and this week, lads, we’ll discuss the state of your feet and how to make them not only nicer to look at, but nicer to live with. Allow me to pass on some easy and practical tips on keeping your feet neat, how to wear summer footwear, and how to tend to summer foot ailments.

Don’t be lazy – pay attention to your feet

I had a boyfriend once who never washed his feet. He insisted that the water and soap lather used to clean the top of his body was enough to clean his feet as it ran over them. The concept of cleaning in between his toes with lather was somehow preposterous, so he never did.

I’m not sure that I ever actually saw his feet; they were in beaten up Blundstones or wool socks most of the time, but if I had seen his feet, or the way I imagined his feet would have looked without cleaning between his toes for an extended period of time, I’m not sure that I could have lived with it – women are more sensitive to things like this, I find.

Anyway, the point is, please make an effort while you’re in the shower to bend over and clean the top and bottom of the whole foot, then clean between your toes, otherwise the infamous toe jam begins to collect. Toe jam, the ” grey-brown shit that accumulates between your toes. Primarily composed of dead skin cells, sock fluff and sweat.” (Urban Dictionary).

Dirty feet and the smell of dirty feet is not welcoming to anyone so please take the time to bathe and groom your feet, using the following tips to get you there:

A nail brush is an excellent grooming tool any time of year.

TIP #1: Go to the drugstore and buy a nail brush or a brush with a handle. Soap it up and give your feet a good going over  - the brush, soap, water, and friction, cleans your feet, cleans under your toenails, sloughs off dead skin cells on the surface of your feet, and it feels good! Lean against the wall, hold your foot up and do it standing up, or sit on the tub floor and reach to clean – mind, there may be some flexibility needed for this method.

TIP #2: Regularly trim your toenails with a toenail clipper – they’re wider than fingernail clippers and easier to handle.

TIP #3: Sand, yes, I said sand your heels to file down your callouses. Soak, smooth down the hard skin, and follow with a moisturizer. You could use a pumice stone or find a paddle with an actual piece of sandpaper on it – the Body Shop used to make these but they don’t seem to carry them anymore. Check the drugstore or specialty spas for items mentioned here.

TIP #4: A clean foot will not make a filthy flip-flop look better. Scrub both sides of your rubber or plastic flip-flops  (with your new nail brush if you want to) and get all of the crap out from the treads and surface texture. Do one at a time and compare – which one would you rather be seen in? Which one makes you feel better?

Summer socks 

Nothing looks more uncomfortable than a guy in shorts with mid-length calf socks on, especially if they’re dress socks. Different socks for different reasons, lads: dress socks are for dress wear (i.e. suits), and for summer, should be made of  cotton to keep the foot cool by wicking away perspiration.

Wearing ankle socks make fools look cool.

Athletic socks (usually white) are worn at the gym or with sporty clothes and convey a youthful, energetic message, but don’t really work with casual looks if you’re not wearing gym shoes, and this includes shorts.

So what kind of sock to wear with shorts and a casual shoe to avoid looking like a dork? Men’s shorty socks, of course, also known as ankle socks or low-rise socks. They really make a tremendously cool difference. Also, because you’ll only see a whisper of them outside of your shoe, it may not matter what colour they are = less to think about/easy.

Blisters

With heat comes sweat. Each of our feet contain 250,000 sweat glands. Any kind of friction on moist skin will case discomfort, wear at the skin, and maybe cause a blister. These are terrible and painful and can get infected if we don’t keep them clean.

TIP #5: To keep your foot drier and reduce friction on the foot, sprinkle powder on your foot after the shower to better absorb moisture – i.e. baby powder or Gold Bond powder.

Be aware of your foot in new seasonal footwear and be mindful of pressure and anything rubbing on your foot – this is where blisters and corns are born. There are lots of ways to remedy chafe, pressure, and blisters (before they start) like adhesive bandages, blister pads, and moleskin.

Moleskin pads give comfort to blistered feet.

Moleskin? Not the real skin of moles of course, but a heavy, densely-woven cotton fabric that is sheared on one side to give a short pile, mimicking the skin of a mole. It is very durable and soft, used to make clothing (it’s windproof you know) or adhesive pads used inside of dance shoes or over blisters.

TIP #6: The moleskin is used much like an adhesive bandage roll, cut to the size you need and applied over the blister – good info here on this hiking website about how to prevent foot blisters.

Think of your foot as the state of your shoe – polished and well-kept, it reads respect – self and otherwise. I hope that makes your summer a little more comfortable and a little more stylish, fellas. Best wishes!

No need to sweat it

It’s June and the temperatures are rising. For some people, summer weather is something of a problem if they suffer from excess sweating, or Hyperhidrosis, which can have negative effects on their lifestyle in more ways than you might think. Not only can sweating affect a person’s self-confidence, it can be embarrassing, and it can ruin your clothes.

Humans need to sweat to keep the body at an even 37 degrees C through evaporative cooling. There are about 3 million sweat glands in the human body, located all over but concentrated in the back (64 glands /cm²⁾, the forearm (108 glands/ cm²⁾, and the forehead (181 glands/ cm²⁾. The palms of the hands and the soles of the feet each contain from 600 to 700 glands / cm² (source).

According to hyperhidrosis.ca, an estimated 800,000 Canadians suffer from Hyperhidrosis, 60% of which are not brought to medical attention. The site estimates that 50% of Hyperhidrosis-affected people sweat excessively in their armpits. For some, this can be highly uncomfortable but there is hope!

Botox treatment

University of Toronto Academic Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Division of Facial Plastic Surgery, Dr. David Ellis, and I talked about Hyperhidrosis, men, and what men can do about excessive sweating of the armpits.

Dr. Ellis finds Botox to be an effective method of controlling underarm Hyperhidrosis and uses the product himself. Botox temporarily interferes with the bio-chemical reaction of producing sweat, keeping armpits dry between 9 months to 1 year. He says that the product takes a couple of weeks to kick in and has patients return after about a month to see if the injections worked in the area because “everyone’s sweat glands are a little different.”

The product is administered through a tiny needle into the underarm area (smaller than a blood-drawing needle), and larger men with a larger surface area may need more tiny pokes.

The only problem is, “Guys tend to be sucks,” as Dr. Ellis says, “Men are more scared of the initial consult, but once they have one armpit done, they see that it isn’t as bad as they thought. If I can do it, anyone can do it.”

I asked the doctor if men would still need to use deodorant if they’re using Botox for underarm sweating, and Dr. Ellis says that he does, though this just may be out of habit. According to Allergan, the company that produces Botox, women who use Botox in their underarm do not need to use deodorant as long as they wash daily. But a man isn’t a woman, and men generally sweat more than women do.

It is bacteria that produces the body odour smell and needs moisture to grow, so daily washing is necessary, though how many times a day would be a matter of experimentation with each individual. Also, as men don’t generally remove the hair from their underarms, I understand that hair traps the moisture which increases the likelihood of bacteria formation and the accompanying foul smell. For those of you so inclined, shaving or waxing under your arms is another way to help.

Dr. Ellis administers the Botox treatment for Hyperhidrosis to many professionals who work in close proximity to other people like teachers, dentists, and even sports players. Some insurance plans cover a good chunk of the Botox treatment to cover the cost of the injection technique but patients would cover the cost of the product themselves (about $400 – $500). For more information, please contact Dr. Ellis’ clinic, the Art of Facial Surgery.

Perspiration stains

While Dr. Ellis and I were chatting, he mentioned that before he used Botox, he would get yellow perspiration stains under his arms, specifically under the arms of his Brooks Brothers’ wrinkle-free shirt.

Perspiration stains are a problem for many people, especially those who choose to wear white dress shirts to work, and it often causes damage to the garment which sometimes just has to be trashed. It’s a crying shame and it isn’t necessary!

Let’s consider perspiration. Perspiration serves two purposes: to cool the body as it evaporates, and to remove waste products like ammonia and urea. Urea is a “nitrogen-containing substance normally cleared from the blood by the kidney into the urine. This is what makes some perspiration stains yellow – urea also makes urine yellow.”

Aha! Culprit #1!

Along with urea, there was another factor that I wanted to look into, the composition of Dr. Ellis’ shirt. I  looked at the wrinkle-free cotton shirts on the Brooks Brothers website and found them comprised of 100%  non-iron cotton, and here we have located our second culprit.

100% cotton or not, “non-iron” anything is not natural. To achieve a “wrinkle-free” textile, the cotton is treated with a chemical finish that may be convenient, but is not necessarily a good thing. The chemicals used in the finish may be a part of the reason that the shirt stained – synthetic elements tend to “hang on” to stains (and sometimes smells – who of you 70s children remember your stinky unbreathable polyester shirts?).

The J. Simon Shirtmaker site explains that “non-iron” garments decrease the quality and the life cycle of the shirt, and that the chemicals in the “wrinkle-free” treatment may actually be harmful to us  (one of these days I’ll write a blog explaining what the shirt you are wearing goes through before it climbs onto your back – you’ll be amazed).

J. Simon, that happens to be a supplier to Brooks Brothers, says, “The truth is, the word “genius” is used too often. What is “genius” is that wrinkle-free has proven to be a great marketing hook that many are using. But for the customer that really appreciates 100% cotton, it doesn’t deliver. Next time, buy a classic cotton shirt, deal with the ironing, and leave the wrinkle-free for the sale racks.”

Treating perspiration stains

So now we know why Dr. Ellis’ shirt stained, but what can the good doctor do about it?  I reached for my trusty Fabric Reference text book to find out:

Option 1: Work undiluted liquid detergent into the stain to penetrate. I suggest that it might be even better if the garment is damp when you apply the detergent. I found an excellent site that suggests to lay the garment out in the sun after you’ve worked in the soap and leave it out for an afternoon.

Option 2: Wash with an enzyme pre-soak or enzyme detergent (a detergent to break down starch, protein, and fat).

Option 3: Wash in water as hot as is safe for that garment. 

I found other good information online about preventing and treating perspiration stains, from lemon juice to baking powder (also good for ring-around-the-collar).  Though I don’t usually give much weight to information found on random online forums, I did find this Yahoo! Answers to perspiration stains fairly good.

Alternatives to Botox and stain-removal

1. Dress shields

Wonderful, discreet, shirt-saving ovals that you will wonder how you lived without. We used to pin these into the armholes of costumes in Theatre school for the comfort of the warm actors under the hot lights and to save the costumes. Dress shields can easily be made from unbleached cotton muslin and pinned in the sleeve seam with safety pins, hand-washed, and reused over and over.

Dress shields can also be ordered online. Avardi does fantastic adhesive dress shields and other garment-saving underthings like t-shirts with built-in dress shields (wonderful for the winter) and collar protectors (“White Collar Grime” collar strips – love it).

2. Natural alternatives

Along with mentioning dress shields (they call them “sweat pads”), this site explains some natural ways to deal with sweating.

3.  Stop sweating and start living

In my online travels, I came across an e-book with a 100% money-back guarantee that promises “All-natural techniques for fast & safe relief from excessive perspiration!” The testimonials rave about the process. “The Stop Sweating and Start Living remedy is a practical and unique treatment that permanently gets rid of your underarm sweat problem – naturally and without side effects,” it promises.

The site explains that Hyperhidrosis can “drain your self-esteem, kill your self-confidence, and cause you to waste time and energy worrying about your problem.” Notes on the site mention people wearing baggy black clothing to hide their wetness (works for hefty types too – I hid in baggy black clothing when I was 30 lbs overweight and I know that dressing this way does NOTHING for the soul nor the self-esteem).

It’s sad that something so natural can weigh so heavily on our day-to-day living, but thank goodness we’re moving farther away from afflictions that threaten to topple our confidence. It’s nice to have a choice of treatment from natural relief to periodic injections that can get a handle on the sweat and help us get on with it. Whew!