I was actually excited the first time I shaved.
I was 18 – pretty old for the first time I suppose, now that I see 12-year-olds with full beards. I was leaving soon for basic training and after a haircut realized I needed to clean up a little. It was pretty exciting, and asked my dad for some shaving tips.
After 10 minutes and close to a solid one million cuts, I was done. I thought shaving was so cool. Fast forward almost 38 years and the fun part of shaving died about, oh, about 38 years ago.
I have never been a sticker for my shaving gear. Cheap is fine with me. Bic? Fine. Schick? Whatever. Gillette? OK by me. I have it down to about 20 seconds, so spending a lot on shaving cream and razors just doesn’t make sense to me.
And yes, this is coming from a guy with 20 pairs of Converse tennis shoes.
Well, Gillette has been in the news recently because of an ad that featured its slogan, “The Best a Man Can Get.” Seems a commercial showing men ignoring boys scuffling and harassing women and basically asking if that is the best men can get really bothered some men.
Why? Honestly, I have absolutely no idea.
Please, let’s not pretend there is no such thing as men acting tough. I don’t know about this whole “toxic masculinity” thing, but as a man, I have been around plenty of men who act as macho as possible around other men. Sadly, some men seem to believe it is still 1955, and treating women poorly is OK. And if boys want to bully other boys or beat each other up? Hey, that’s just boys being boys, right?
Wrong.
Some men are so angry about the commercial that they are boycotting Gillette and throwing away their razors. If you feel that strongly, please do change your brand of razors. If you are so offended by an ad asking if you are being the best man you can be, by all means throw a man-sized fit about it.
I understand that some men are upset because they feel the ad throws all men in the same boat, basically blaming us all for acting like Neanderthals. Well, speaking as a man who watched the ad, I didn’t feel that way at all. I felt inspired, actually.
Let’s face it guys, we could do better. The macho thing is at times laughingly over played. And do we really feel like men are now being beaten down by the culture?
If you feel that way, please get some counseling.
Meanwhile, women continue to make less money for the same work, but we are the ones who are under siege?
Give me a break.
As men, we love to complain. Oh, we might not complain to our wives, but we complain to our buddies. And how many men do you know who – even in 2019 – stuff their feelings down like a turkey on Thanksgiving? Heaven forbid we actually get in touch with our emotions.
I consider myself a pretty open minded and emotionally connected person, but I am sure I am not nearly as sensitive as the generation behind me. And you know what? Being sensitive to others is not a bad thing. We need to be aware of an appreciate how we are treating those around us.
So guys, please stop the whining. We should continually ask ourselves if we are being the best we can be. That is not a bad thing – that is a human thing.
