Are men becoming more self conscious about their appearance?

Of the two sexes, women have always been known for being more self-conscious about their appearance. However, in recent years there’s been a growing trend in men becoming more concerned about the way they look. In fact, a UK survey showed that the average man looks in the mirror more times per day than the average woman. So why are men becoming more concerned about their looks and is this a good or bad thing?

Is social media to blame?

It’s thought that one of the main reasons why men are becoming more self-conscious about their appearance is because of social media. Millennials turn to social media to chronicle their lives in the form of text, photos and videos and it’s estimated that the average young adult will take 25,000 selfies throughout their life. Social media encourages you to post things about yourself and it seems this need to keep your ‘audience’ updated has resulted in men becoming a lot more concerned about their image. A decade ago, you would hardly see anyone taking photos of themselves, but now it’s commonplace. The rise in popularity of the selfie, as well as photographs in general, has clearly made many people, both men and women, more concerned about their image.

What are men doing about their image?

It’s becoming more common for men to use cosmetic products. In fact, one in ten uses products that are aimed at women. Perhaps this a sign that the male cosmetics industry should create more products to satisfy the new and seemingly growing demand for such products. It isn’t just the use of cosmetic products that is becoming more popular with men, plastic surgery is too. Since 1996 there’s been a more than 100% increase in the number of men opting for plastic surgery, with rhinoplasty one of the more popular options. Plastic surgery is still far more popular with women, but it’s interesting to see that more men are choosing to invest in it to improve their appearance.

The pros and cons

So what are the pros and cons of this? The main pro is that men who take care of their appearance also take care of their body and their health. They don’t want unsightly things like beer bellies or moobs, so they work hard to get rid of them and in the process, they make themselves healthier. Being self-conscious is much more than simply just looking good: for most people, it’s about feeling good and being healthy. The main con is that it can be easy to get too obsessed with your image. Many people already take far too many photos of themselves, invest in far too many vanity procedures and spend far too much time taking care of their appearance. Vanity can be addictive and it can lead to people focusing on themselves too much and not giving enough time to other things in their life, like their friends and family.

These days people are more concerned about their image than ever before and this has had a more noticeable effect on men, who are putting an increasing amount of effort into looking good than in previous years.