By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Move over ladies! The men are coming, the men are coming. Once again that other sex is standing in line, waiting to lay its claim on Beauty, as it was in the days of yore, so it is now. Beauty is no longer a woman's realm. Every recorded culture catered to the vanity of the male, as well as the female. Men lavishly adorned themselves in powders, perfumes and paints. In ancient Egypt, men were no less vain in life as well as in death. Tombs were discovered stacked with copious supplies of cosmetics for the afterlife. The abundance of gold dazzled, when the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered in 1920, but little attention was given to the small jars of skin cream, lip colour, cheek rouge and hair balm provided for the king's personal use. History's first eye glitter was used by fashionable Egyptian men, and ancient Romans were no less vain. Unlike ancient Greek men who opted for a natural appearance, Romans were unrestrained in the use of cosmetics. Hair was an obsession among the ancients. The Assyrians were the first true hair stylists, renowned throughout the Middle East for their skills in cutting, curling, layering, and dyeing. Men rolled, perfumed and tinted their hair. Baldness, full or partial, was considered an unsightly defect, and was always concealed by elaborate wigs. Today men visit salons instead of barbershops. They gel, mousse, cut, curl, straighten, highlight, and blow dry. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Baldness created the art of hair transplanting, one of the main cosmetic procedures that men undergo for the sake of beauty. Another obsession borrowed from the ancients is the penchant for lighter hair. Even the Greeks succumbed to hair care, wearing it long and curly, and lightened its colour. I guess everyone always preferred blondes. All this would soon come to an end. With the advent of Christianity such male vanity was condemned by the church. Cried Bishop Cyprian: "What better are you than pagans?" Christian scorn of such adornments reached its peak in 692 AD when at the Council of Constantinople, men who wore wigs or cosmetics, were excommunicated. Women alone were left to pursue beauty without male competition. Following the horrific wars of the last century, it seems that men had their belly full of macho-ism and mench-ism. Viewing the brevity of life, and the destruction that male superego created, men took a step back in time and decided that the pursuit of a thing of beauty should not be confined to women. With more women well groomed, coiffed, and perfumed, competing in the work place, men felt they had to rise to their standard and be as appealing to look at and be close as women were. The American male grooming market is now worth $3.5 billion, one tenth of the whole market, which has now reached $35 billion. The need to look youthful well into old age is almost universal. Males who once scorned any such feminine exercises, have taken a second look in the mirror. They are dieting, exercising, buying hair and face products, manicuring and pedicuring, and dropping the macho male image by leaps and bounds. What is more, they are sitting in the waiting room of clinics to consult with a cosmetic surgeon. Men in increasing numbers are undergoing elective plastic surgery. The most reliable statistics come from the American Academy of Facial and Plastic Surgery which reports that as of March 2007 "there was an astonishing 91 per cent increase in men receiving non-surgical facial plastic surgery since 2000." That would include Botox injections, fillers for deep wrinkles, and skin peels. The top surgical procedures are hair transplantation, nose reshaping and liposuction, followed by eyelid surgery and face-lifts. While men do not necessarily brag about it, they are not adverse to discussing it among themselves. Its regular frequency amongst women has made it a favourite subject among 'ladies who lunch.' They compare notes, fees, and physicians, just as openly as they discuss childbirth, fashion and movies. While, again in the US, 11,7 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed in 2007, over one million of those were performed on men. The number in general has seen a dramatic increase in the last decade. Since 1987 there has been a 457 per cent increase in the total number of cosmetic procedures. Surgical procedures increased by 114 per cent, while non-surgical procedures increased by 754 per cent. Such figures may well reflect what is occurring worldwide. It is certainly happening here although on a much lower scale. There seems to be nothing wrong with taking advantage of medical and technical progress in order to enhance our looks and our well-being. Feeling good about oneself guarantees an ability for social acceptance, professional growth, and increased sel-confidence. Taking a page from children's fairy tales as well as ancient history, men are beautifying themselves in order to be more attractive to women, just as women try to be more attractive to men. For years women have argued that that they wish to look good for themselves or for other women, but hormonal studies have shown that in fact, women's alternate desire is to be more attractive to men, and now men's alternate desire is to be more attractive to women. They are going to greater lengths, now more than ever to achieve this goal. After all, did not the princess marry the frog after he was transformed into a handsome prince! And need we be reminded that love by Beauty transformed the Beast into a prince charming. Men are trying ultimately to appeal to women on women's terms. Does that mean that they are finally getting it -- that Venus is a better place to be at than Mars! If you get simple beauty and naught else You get about the best thing that God invents Robert Browning (1812 -- 1887)
