this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 85 points 5 months ago (5 children)

In return, Women get to smell like coconuts and vanilla, while we men are relegated to scents like "burnt charcoal and 7 year old engine oil"

[–] Odelay42 78 points 5 months ago (6 children)

There's no laws preventing you from using what you perceive as women's hair care products.

[–] rob_t_firefly 58 points 5 months ago (3 children)

My baldness sufficiently prevents me from using them.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] rob_t_firefly 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That's true, my butt hair could do with an occasional shampoo. Maybe a fresh style too, I've been wearing it for ages just parted in the middle.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I like a nice French braid in mine

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

There is always butt hair...

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago

My husband is bald but like to use my nice smelling shampoo on his beard every now and again. Pamper yourself.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Well, baldness also requires care. A shampoo will be fine for your head-skin. Also, moisturise. Especially important for people who tend to have dry skin like me. There aren't many good moisturisers for men around though. (At least none which I found good so far.) So, moisturisers marketed towards women it is.

And if it smells like peach, roses and aloe vera paired with coconuts, even better. If your girlfriend/wife likes to smell herself that way, you can bet she would also like to smell your floral skin-desert.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Yes, but I think the (true) point was that male-marketed products are always either:

  • Arctic freshness 0°K we'll make you feel like you're naked on an iceberg in the middle of the North Pole

Or:

  • Now you smell like your grandfather! Some wood, musk, and cedar cones

Why is it so and what does it tell of our society and weird expectations? A great deal of men do NOT appreciate this approach, and sure turn to the products marketed for women.

We should either break that insanely entrenched stereotype about "masculine" scents, or better just ditch product gendering altogether.

Yay for men smelling like vanilla and strawberry yoghurt!

[–] Odelay42 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Reject marketing. Reject gender roles. Reject artificial constructs that only serve to oppress and control you.

Easier said than done, but seriously fuck marketing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Indeed! Marketing in general is evil by itself

Also, as a man generally into gender role reversal, fuck gender stereotypes!

[–] mightyfoolish 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

All hair is fur. Doesn't matter which mammal it's found on.

[–] AngryCommieKender 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

Old Spice has some "island" scents that smell like fruits and flowers for men. I am currently working my way through a bottle of "Fiji" smells like papaya and vanilla.

I am at a loss to think of a more man oriented brand of hygiene products than Old Spice. Maybe Axe, but do we really consider teenage boys men?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Old Spice's "wolfthorn" scent reminds me a lot of fruit candy. loke orange flavored hubba bubba or something.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Axe makes me break out something awful. Only been two periods of time I wore it, both because the lady I was with commented on it smelling nice when we were in a store, and then only wearing it on nights I was going out with her and hoping I'd recover before next time.

I have little or no allergies regarding anything else, but deodorants for some reason are prone to setting me off (my suspicion is that it's particular fragrances used in some of them). Currently Dove Men + Care is safe for me, so I use that.

[–] RBWells 2 points 4 months ago

My teens (one girl one trans boy) are crazy about that Old Spice Fiji scent, and the laundry scent Suavitel Fresca Aroma Del Sol. I think the Fiji does smell a lot like the clean clothes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Thanks, will check out! Most of Old Spice falls under "smell like your grandpa" in my opinion :D

Axe - true, though this is an abomination and I would definitely build a restriction zone around people who use it

[–] capital 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Easy, it’s the more expensive ones.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

what you perceive as

Sometimes it says straight on the box "women's shampoo" lol

[–] Odelay42 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What does that mean, exactly though? Will it make a man sick if he uses it? Or is it just a way for a company to appeal to a certain customer who believes men and women are too different to enjoy similar things?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Marketing, I suppose. Or just old custom from a time when gender roles were more strict. Maybe both

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If the man gets his hair really dirty, like farm dirty with diesel and moly grease and itchy chaff bits, then it means it probably doesn't have what it takes to do the job.

My wife bought endless shampoos, I tried them for sport and none ever impressed me. Our hard water laughs at fancy shampoos and soaps.

I always told her to forget it and use my big jug of Pert. A classic that says something on the back like "Pert wasn't designed to waste your time and money. Pert was designed to get your hair clean" but she was sure there was something wrong with it because it was only 5 bucks.

Finally one day she gave it a try and has used Pert ever since. It made her hair smooth and soft, it even washes moly grease out and it smells "fine", men's shampoo is the winner IMO

And now my shower is so tidy with only one jug of shampoo

[–] Odelay42 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But what about that makes it "men's" shampoo, chemically? Do women never need to wash grease out of their hair?

I understand you're point. I'm just reiterating that the formula is needlessly gendered. "Shampoo for hard water and heavy duty cleaning" just doesn't sell in our version of socialized society I guess.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Actually come to think of it, I don't think Pert is actually gendered. But everyone knows it's a "man's shampoo", because it isn't actively marketed as a "women's shampoo"... Yeah, pretty stupid, isn't it.

[–] bitchkat 1 points 4 months ago

I've always thought of Pert as non-gendered. In fact, that's what my mom bought for the family in the 70's.

I remember the green gel.

[–] RBWells 1 points 4 months ago

My regular shampoo is Malibu C Hard Water Wellness, it is not too harsh and works so well in our water. Not Pert cheap but can get it for around $30 a liter usually and that lasts me a looong time. I love that stuff. Doesn't dry out my hair, does clean and rinses clean.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I mean, I do, despite being bald. But its still quite jarring how much worse products for men smell.

[–] Odelay42 7 points 5 months ago

"products for men" are made up nonsense from companies who are trying to profit off of people's insecurities.

We have been deeply conditioned as American consumers, but I'm sick of it! Fuck marketing. Fuck gender roles.

[–] Squizzy -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I mean that is great and obvious and all but it is completely the case that they are women's products. They are on all the boxes, ads and testimonials. In the women's aisle.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

You have two separate aisles for men's and women's shampoo? Do you live in Saudi Arabia? In the rest of the world they're right next to each other.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

In Germany (dm), they have a separate isle for men‘s products, and „normal“ (less gendered) products everywhere else. Kinda weird.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

DM is notoriously weird in how they place products to begin with :D

Good prices though!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What a weird generalization to make. Maybe you’re referring to grocery stores, that have a small selection of beauty/health products.

My local Target here in the US (CA) was recently renovated to expand the body care section of the store, and now has two large distinct sections that obviously cater to specific genders:

The men’s section (deodorant, hair care, face wash, shaving supplies, etc.) is set apart by “wood” flooring, dark wooden display tables, and a kind of minimalist atmosphere. Several aisles away, the women’s section (hair care, makeup, face wash, nail care, etc.) is bright and colorful and chock-full of product signage.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Lol I just checked target. You're right. I guess I never get the "men's shampoo", mainly because it's low quality with a crappy "wood" fragrance. Of course women's deodorant is a rip-off too. Better to just look up the brand you like.

[–] Squizzy 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah we have an aisle with typically male hygiene and beauty products and another with typically female products.

Very sorry that your weird world view doesnt correspond to reality.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Do you have something against 7 year old engine oil?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Anything less than 10 years didn't have enough time to ripen.

[–] herrvogel 6 points 5 months ago

1965 chateau de Castrol. Very good harvest, that year.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

gonna smell like that anyway.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod 9 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Seriously. My goals today are to change my oil and grill some chicken.

[–] hakunawazo 14 points 5 months ago

And I'm all out of of oil and chicken...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I don't mind swapping the vehicle shop for the wood shop. I often walk in the house after a long day smelling very lightly of oak.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What's funny is that I'm now at the point of using bar soap as my "shampoo", but the store currently only has heavily scented bar soap, so I do actually smell like 🍑 and 🍊.

[–] RBWells 5 points 5 months ago

That doesn't work here. Natural soap, saponified fats, causes soap scum in hard water. If it puts a mineral coating on your tub, it will do the same to your hair.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah I just use bar soap and I've got fairly long hair. Works well enough as long as you're not too aggressive with it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I love the tar smell tbh