Has ‘male beautification’ reached a new level of ridiculousness?
In a recent post on The Frisky, Julie Gerstein discusses the most recent fad in male beauty to hit Hollywood. And what is the new “thing,” you may ask? Ball-Ironing. Yes, Ball-Ironing. Gerstein says:
For $575, uncreased testicle enthusiasts can go through a special package procedure, cheekily dubbed Tighten the Tackle. Estheticians use lasers to remove hair and correct scrotal discoloration. Jamie Sherrill, who runs the cosmetic surgery site Nurse Jamie, says it’s totally normal. After all, “They thought the Brazilian bikini wax was crazy 10 years ago and now it’s just part of the process … the tide is turning — don’t knock it until you try it.” While we’re pretty sure that most men have no desire to have lasers pointed at their junk, ball-ironing has become a trend in — where else — Hollywood. The Santa Monica, CA, spa Beauty Park says it’s seen an uptick in clients around awards show season.
Ball skin, you see, is not unlike your sensitive and thin under eye skin. And more men are realizing that their balls require extra attention and management. Smoothing out their balls, says Sherill, seems to give some men a boost in self-confidence and esteem, not unlike a facial might for women. And it’s paying off: In the last year or so, Beauty Park teste-fies (heh) it has seen a marked increase in male clients.
What do you think?
Are ridiculous, unnecessary beauty routines becoming more common for men?
Do you agree that this will eventually become “normal” in the same way waxing is for women? Or is this simply a fad that will eventually pass?
Photo: spacepleb/Flickr
The conventional wisdom has been that men were vainer than women in that women looked at their reflections and saw what they wanted to alter while men looked at their reflections and saw only what was admirable. Gay men normally fall between the two extremes, but it seems that American straight guys are viewing their grooming of increasing importance — one might assume to have a competitive edge over their peers in the pursuit of women. But if one goes to Europe (especially Italy or France) one sees men as interested in their appearance as the women they’re competing, so… Read more »
Ball skin, you see, is not unlike your sensitive and thin under eye skin.
and thats why no laser is going near my balls lol.
and i thought scrotum skin was wrinkled for a good reason
and like anthony, i wonder at other possible health risks
Is this actually something straight men are doing? I can see it becoming popular in the gay community, perhaps, but honestly, I have never looked that closely at a guy’s balls and can’t imagine why “beautified” balls would be something that I would care about.
Why do you assume that gay guys would be more interested in it than women? Parhaps nobody cares, or parhaps some women do, but others (like you) don’t.
I’m straight and sometimes I want to shave my balls but find it really difficult to do. I want to do it not because I think straight women care about balls or think they like to look closely at guy’s balls. Its juts I want to have hairless balls. Is it gay if a straight men want to have hairless balls? And I DONT CARE AT ALL women like balls or not, like its hairy or not. Sometimes we want to do something for ourselves, not for women. Honestly your comment is no different from comments from men who ridicule… Read more »
I personally wouldn’t do it and find it ridiculous, but every man should be able to do whatever they would like to do. Beautification in itself is a contested term because all of us have some different forms of what we define as beautiful. One thing that would interest me is to see if studies can be conducted to find out what type of health benefits and/or risks come with the process of “beautification.”