There was a time when men used to go to the local barber and be done with their fashion pronouncement for the week, if not a couple of months, apart from the daily shave, weekly trimming of nails, some type of cream and an aftershave. And not to forget the bushy ears (vellus) and nostrils (cilia)! I remember the Afghan Snow that my father used, and the ivory’ish buoy-shaped Old Spice after-shave bottle with a screw-on top.
The Afghan Snow, I learn as I google, is India’s first beauty cream, and I quote from a website: “The bottle for the cream was imported from Germany and labels from Japan”. It was founded by a young man named Ebrahim Sultanali Patanwala from the Rajputana region in Rajasthan! Patanwala came to India with the formula for the cream as well as for the perfumes. The bottle for the cream was imported from Germany and labels from Japan. “His Majesty King Zahir of Afghanistan convened an audience with Mr. E.S.Patanwala along with a few other select entrepreneurs on his visit to India.
The king was presented a hamper with all E.S.Patanwala products; in it was a jar of pearly white cream without any name. When the King saw the cream he remarked that the cream reminds him of the Snow of Afghanistan. Mr. Patanwala asked if the cream can be named as "Afghan Snow" to which the King contentedly agreed”.
The times they have changed and today men’s grooming has taken on many, many hues. Gels, perfumes, creams, waxing… it’s as complicated as a woman’s beauty retinue!
To wax or not, trim, tweeze or thread the brows, colour or streak the hair — entirely an individual’s choice, but remember to be on point.
What does not and cannot change is the true mark of a well-groomed man — confident and dapper in sharply ironed shirt or suit or trousers, a neat haircut, clean and short nails, the whiff of an after-shave, the right accessories! Not much, but luckily for them just these few elements can give them a super model look. Do I hear a wail of protests!?
