Skincare expert Suparna Trikha talks men's grooming; what do men want?

I am perplexed by the amount of time a woman can spend on herself to try and look good to get a look of admiration from her man. I come across so many young women who 'wake up' about wanting to look good before their marriage, before a party, before an event—I mean what happens to them the rest of the time? Do you live in hibernation? Are you not seen? Does it not matter to you? What about looking good for yourself? I am even more intrigued about what men want.

Thoughts about men's grooming you may not have considered

How do they perceive their own grooming programme? Does a woman’s admiring look make a man feel important? Do men ever realise that it matters how they smell? What they wear and how they wear it? Do men realise that it matters to us women, the way they wear their hair, the way they snip their nails, and the colour of their socks?

So where do men go to get all this so-called gyan? Magazines? TV shows? Barbers? Stylists? Fashion stores? What are the grooming techniques men should follow and what sort of a skin and hair care programme do they need? Are they in need of manicures, pedicures, massages and facials and waxing or even snipping the hair in their ears and nose?

I have thought about this and spoken to many men young and old. In fact, it all started when I was holding a talk for women at the International Spice Conference about 22 years ago. Our session was scheduled for an hour but in between the session, I found repeated requests from men who were in the business session. They wanted to enquire about skin and hair problems. Finally we decided to have a separate session for men and you will be surprised to know that the session for men went on for over two and a half hours!

So with repeated requests over the years from men, I will now in some of the forthcoming issues include men’s skin and hair problems as part of my column and if you feel that you could be suffering from aftershave rashes, or dryness, falling hair, oily skins, chipping nails, aching feet, hair-in-the-car issues, rough moustaches, receding hairlines, body odour, what colours to wear with what et al, well, then I would suggest instead of leaving this column only for the ladies take a peep into it once in a while, you just might find a part of yourself being reflected here very soon!