Keeping Up Appearances - The Rise of Male Grooming

Do you have to race your male counterparts to the bathroom? Or do you find you skincare and haircare products mysteriously disappearing? It's becoming apparent that men are putting aside more time for male grooming and priding themselves on their appearances, and I'd love to know your thoughts and experiences.

Apparently, on average, women spend between 20-40 minutes getting ready each day and, depending on what I'm doing and where I'm going, I definitely fit into this category. Washing and drying my hair can take twenty minutes by itself because it's so long and thick, but adding a bath or shower and makeup into the equation as well as moisturising and whatnot definitely pushes me to the far end of the scale. Would you believe, though, that men are starting to take even longer than that? We have makeup to sort and longer hair to curl/straighten/style yet they are somehow still trumping us. A quick search immediately brought me the results I was looking for, the average time it takes for a man to get ready is 83 minutes. Wow. I'm not sure how I'd feel if my other half took longer than me to get ready when going out, I'm so used to him sitting there waiting for me and rolling his eyes that it would be quite a shock and very weird; yet I can kind of believe that statistic.

While I prefer to jump in and out of the bath as quick as possible, my boyfriend will easily fall asleep in a steaming hot bath for an hour. I don't think he does too badly on the grooming part, he's very conscious about his hair and will quite often focus on his while I just bung mine up. He owns a few hair products and happily uses my dry shampoo and hairspray and owns his own pair of GHD's (this saves me having to borrow mine back from my brother - I know!) Recently I've been persuading him to take care of his skin with moisturiser because he's complaining of dry skin and breakouts, but to no avail quite yet.

I always remember the comedic portrayal of male grooming in FRIENDS. Chandler getting a pedicure, Joey having his eyebrows waxed and plucked and Ross getting a spray tan and having his teeth whitened (you have to give those episodes a watch). Media representations have, however, evolved since the 90's - TOWIE and MIC do a great job of reinforcing that men can enjoy beauty too and, based on a survey by First4Lawyers, 20% of men have sustained an injury whilst using a sunbed... I don't want to know how... or what!

All jokes and digs aside though, personally, it makes me really happy to see men taking pride in themselves by embracing a beauty regime no matter how small - it makes me feel great knowing a guy has made an effort for me. It's fantastic that society is finally opening it's eyes and saying 'yes, men like to take care of themselves - so what?!' Male grooming products are becoming much more commonplace and, while there are many more products specifically designed for men with masculine and powerful names endorsed by good looking male celebs, there is also more acceptance of the fact that men can use womens products. Times have obviously changed and, while we still may have a quick joke about men stealing our products or seeing the inside of the bathroom/salon more than us, it's great to move away from this 'girly' and overly feminine ridiculing. It almost makes me angry that pride in appearance and 'vanity' are considered a female trait, why can't guys look good too?

So I'd really love to know, how do you like your fellas? Would you mind a man in your life borrowing your products? Or do you think a man should be a man with their 'rough and ready' and 'blokey' exterior? Is this shift in the social paradigm and media representation for the better meaning guys can now take time on their appearances without pressure or funny looks? Opinions? 

*Partnered post, content written by myself.