I would say there are 3 reasons why men would tiptoe around even discussing cosmetic procedures let alone getting cosmetic treatments.
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- Energy: Cosmetic treatments are found to be feminine and not masculine. Honestly, as a dude identifying with masculine energy I totally get the feeling. The feeling is almost primal.
- Time and Significance: Men don’t talk about their cosmetic treatments to other men. I think of men I hang out with and we literally have so much to talk about in terms of changing lives and being great men that barely get to chatting about how we take care of oneself.
- Media: my girlfriend and the media are just not primed with men going through cosmetic procedures.
If you know me well, I appreciate the concept of masculinity in myself and men around me. It makes us being great men in the world. So I must admit I had a hard time even approaching hair laser topic. Then again part of me is all about breaking the rules and socially constructed phenomenon so I went ahead and did the laser at Dermabella Clinic in Vancouver. Read on cause I’m pleased with my decision.
Addressing the masculine energy, I want us to consider a new perspective about time and significance too.
Putting my entrepreneur hat on, I’ve learned to not do meaningless tasks i.e. shaving my legs over and over again and I found that pretty masculine. I was tired of constantly shaving and waxing body hair for taking progress photos. With that intention, I decided to laser the hair below thighs. Anything above that I prefer to shave than lasering the whole thing- being explicit here.
Resolving time, significance and energy aspects of getting hair removal laser as a man, I overrode my resistance toward cosmetic treatments socially constructed by the media. I started shopping around for different laser machines that are minimally intrusive.
I stumbled upon, light-based hair removal. During my consultation with Dr. Ali, I discovered that I needed 6 treatments to get my thick hair off my thighs.
My first thought around laser being shone on my legs was later discovering holes in my skin or damaging my skin in some form or shape. So I looked into the process by which light-based hair removal works: the technology.
In a matter of 30 minutes, the treatment was over and I did not feel any pain. The sensation was minimal and it felt like snapping a rubber band on my skin.
Days later, I looked at my skin again to see any side effects or reactions on my skin. None detected so far as of 30 days later than treatment 1. I’ll be sure to update you on the next 5 treatments.
Moving past the psychology and procedures of laser hair removal, in the next blog post, I’m sharing some about the technology itself. The device Ali used is called Elite+. The device integrates a combination of Alexandrite laser and Nd:YAG laser. It’s possible to change the frequency of laser at all times during the procedure to address a variety of skin and hair texture.
