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When did men get so concerned about personal grooming?
Not that I’ve ever had a problem in this arena, but I don’t remember “manscaping” being such a popular topic in years past.
Now we have products to keep a man trimmed, smooth, and powder-fresh. Even major, blue chip companies are jumping on the bandwagon.
Philips, the 117 year-old company that manufactures Avent baby bottles, Sonicare toothbrushes, and the Norelco shaver, has a promotional video on its website entitled “Second Puberty And You: An Illustrated Guide About What To Expect.”
It’s worth a watch, with a funny tongue-in-cheek presentation. (Thanks for forwarding, Miguel!)
The video represents a brilliant marketing approach; they made it funny so guys can pretend they’re watching it for comedic value rather than hanging on every word.
You know that when a product promises “an extra optical inch,” guys are paying attention.
New products are now addressing personal odor, as well as appearance. No longer content to just wash and go, some men are taking deodorants to the next (lower?) level.
According to the sample literature, NuBoss is a “deodorant created especially for a man’s genital area…with a light refreshing scent for a man’s private area.” Guaranteed to work for 24 hours, NuBoss is 100% natural, but without the offputting natural penis smell.
As the tagline says, “When you allow your woman to get this close, you had better be straped [sic] with NuBoss Deodorant Jock Spray.”
I love the photo of this obviously satisfied couple. They’re both enjoying the NuBoss scent wafting up from below. You can sense the woman’s pleasure and gratitude.
NuBoss is available in Cool Breeze, Lust, Savage, and Vanilla fragrances. It’s alcohol free, so you can use it even if you’ve just nicked yourself with your personal groomer.
I would show you a picture of the sample can that I had, but one of my male friends swiped it. Seriously, we were joking about it and the next thing I knew, it was gone.
I guess he wants to be straped in case his woman gets that close.
One word of warning: you can’t really buy groomers and genital deodorants as gifts. I’m guessing that nothing kills the mood like being told that you’re repulsively hairy or that your privates smell so bad that your partner actively sought and paid for a product to mask your funk.
Please note that I’m not complaining about this increased attention to personal hygiene. I’m already on record as being opposed to funk. I‘m just love that a new industry can sprout up (!) around an issue that has traditionally been solved by soap and water.
God Bless America.
Hello Readers!
I’m very excited to present my new blog design! Come see me on http://www.SuburbanFizz.com.
If you’re already using the “SuburbanFizz.com” domain, the transition should be seamless; it’s just a redirect.
I’m now using Blogger instead of WordPress. I’m doing this for technical reasons. WordPress has great features but very little flexibility. The switch hasn’t been easy; I miss many of the WordPress features and I’m still working on pasting my old posts into the new site.
Please excuse the occasional glitch as I’m getting up to speed. I’ll continue to update the WordPress site for the time being.
Big shout out to Goofy Girl for helping me with the redesign. She is fabulous!
I hope you like it. Let me know what you think!
Thank you so much for reading! Your support makes writing so much fun!
My high school hairstyle was a work of art.
The bangs were teased up and the sides were shellacked back with hair dryer-hardened hairspray. On “casual” days I would pull it back into a high, tight ponytail secured by a scrunchie, barrettes, and even more hairspray, gel, or mousse (or, more likely, all three).
It’s nice to know that this is still around…in modern gymnastics.
1991 lives on in women’s gymnastics. Scrunchies abound and the hairspray is flowing. Multiple Goody hairclips are apparently a requirement (pieces of flair?). No wonder the Chinese did so well; as my sister-in-law pointed out, it looks like a Claire’s store exploded on their heads.
For the record, I never intended to be an instigator.
Earlier this week I finished teaching for the day and headed to the bus stop. I got in the Loudoun Connection line, which serves multiple destinations.
My bus approached the stop, and my fellow Dulles-bound passengers and I stepped to the left and headed for the bus doors, thus leaving the Leesburg passengers in line. Both the Dulles and Leesburg riders maintained their queue order as the lines split and compressed.
Unfortunately, about a dozen of us Dulles passengers stepped out of line only to be turned away from the standing room only bus. I followed the group as it swarmed to the back of the line, which now contained both the Leesburg passengers and several newcomers to the queue.
This made no sense. Why did we go to the back of the line?
The injustice of the situation started to settle in and I started to get antsy. Read the rest of this entry »
My husband, SJ, said I was getting too fired up about John Edwards admitting that he had an affair (after many on-the-record denials, while his accomplished and attractive wife was valiantly fighting breast cancer.)
Fine. I can swallow my indignation and strike a positive tone.
Top 10 Nice Things to Say About John Edwards’ Affair
1. Boldness points for lying about it repeatedly on camera. Looked them right in the eye and lied like a rug; now that’s a man with balls of steel!
2. Creativity points for having a staffer come forward to claim paternity of the mistress’ baby. I’m still trying to get my head around that one. Either that guy is really taking it for the team, or he’s got major chutzpa for dating the boss’s ex-girlfriend.
3. The giddy anticipation about what type of excuse he’ll choose. Will he play the repentant sinner? Claim that his wife knew about it? Blame the stress of the campaign and his wife’s illness? Did he not understand the questions when he repeatedly denied the affair? I wondered about this with SJ, who, with disturbing speed responded, “Wide stance.”
4. We can pat ourselves on the back, thinking that we always knew he was just too handsome. A man with hair like that should never be trusted.
5. We’ll have something to talk about besides the Olympics. Michael Phelps, blah, blah, blah!
6. His lies weren’t under oath, thus sparing us a messy perjury trial.
7. President Bush is thrilled that he’s looking good by comparison
8. Bill Clinton, ditto.
9. At least Edwards met his lover at the Beverly Hilton, which is a major step up from the Quality and Days Inns that NY Governor David Patterson took his “dates”
10. He isn’t president. Yes, the affair and the lying are troublesome, but the image of Edwards running away from photographers and barricading himself in a restroom like a little girl just isn’t dignified.
I think that my brain may be full. For thirty-some years I’ve filled it through formal education, books, relationships, and experience. Based on the way it’s been short-circuiting, it appears that there is no longer one speck of available space in my mind.
Unfortunately, what remains in my brain wasn’t filtered in order of importance. Important things fall away, while worthless information settles in with a sense of entitlement and disregard for the cramped conditions therein.
Useless trivia is like Aretha Franklin in the ball gown of my mind.
Read the rest of this entry »
The low point of my recent trip to Los Angeles occurred during the initial cross-country flight from DC.
My sister, Kaye, and I were excited to score bulkhead seats on our full flight. As we boarded the plane, Kaye settled into the window seat and I sat in the middle. A few moments later our aisle seat neighbor arrived.
He looked harmless enough. Quiet, recently showered, and politely positioned on his side of the armrest, he seemed to be everything I asked for in a plane neighbor.
Then he proceeded to breathe. Read the rest of this entry »
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