Teenage years: Your biggest fears turn into insignificant things

Teenage years can be difficult.

And as you age, you also come to realize that it may be one of the funniest times in your life. Your biggest fears turn into insignificant things.

I had a thing for facial hair.

My upper lip's initial "hairs" utterly exhausted me.

"Why me! What ought I to do? Should I shave or not? ”

Personal crisis transformed into Shakespearean conundrum.

With my early facial hair, I wasn't happy. My pals began to ridicule me. I wished I could never grow up.

But when the first hairs started to grow on my chin when I was about sixteen, the stress became too much for me. I then realized there was no way out. I wouldn't have to shave for the first time for very long. Snips were useless as a first line of defense before that.

Teen Spirit, is that you?

But when it came to shaving, a new problem emerged. Which scent should I choose? Royalty and the wealthy no longer wore perfume. It became democratic to smell good. It was intended for the regular guy who valued exploration and wanted to push the envelope. You would experience that wonderful feeling at the beginning of the day with a healthy dosage of aroma. Men didn't wear perfume in the 1980s only to smell good.You become a true man because of the powerful and spicy perfume of men's cologne.

And there were a ton of choices. Aftershave. Eau de Toilette and Eau de Cologne. Aromatic perfume.

What then should I employ?

I choose to commit fully. I stopped thinking of myself as a youngster from day to day. A "personal" perfume was an essential element in my plan to depict "Miami Vice" masculinity (or at least I thought it was). I'll be more appealing to the other sex as a result.

To smooth my face, I started with an aftershave, but I soon realized that it didn't linger on my skin for very long. It vanished instantly. Then I discovered that alcohol makes up the majority of aftershave, with only a small fraction of other chemicals and key aromatic oils.

The outcome? For one to two hours, I was only feeling manly. I rapidly reverted to the more feminine version of myself.

With this in mind, I chose eau de toilette for a lasting daily impact and all-day scent sense, and it became an important component of my grooming regimen.

I chose Dior Fahrenheit, which is described on the Dior website as a "bold marriage of extremes" and is a bit unique woody floral musk.

However, Fahrenheit was unquestionably the right choice. I had a wonderful scent all day! I quickly turned my head from side to side in the morning, afternoon, and nighttime to determine if I could still smell myself.

Hit the mark!

It quickly evolved into the ideal birthday present. Many bottles and fragrance sets were given to me. I have enough deodorant to last a lifetime. I was devoted to my perfume. My issue was eventually resolved.

A Gen X rebel

But in the early 1990s, my infatuation with fragrances vanished as suddenly as it had come. I realized as a young adult that I could get by just fine without the aid of a fragrance at that point.

My eyes opened to a number of issues.

Overly commercial

The advertising for perfume were repetitive and exhausting. The persons in the photos were too flawless and polished. They lost their authentic appearance. I also believed it was absurd to think that a scent might sway people's feelings for one another. Who still thought that perfumes might be used to entice someone? ”

In all honesty, I grew tired of my "own" smell, which wasn't actually me but rather a mixture of chemicals. I was becoming someone else. I tried a few other scents, but none of them satisfied me.

An English Shower

Spraying mass-produced perfume was increasingly seen as a lazy and inexpensive way to demonstrate virility and freshness (without taking a proper shower).

I was the first to acknowledge that scents had utilitarian purposes as well. For instance, they disguised unpleasant body scents.

Too much was used, though, far too frequently. The odor that needed to be covered up was then just made worse.

Aromatize Later

Additionally, you might tell something was off when you could smell someone before you saw or heard them. Their fragrant aromas permeated the entire room. The true difficulty began when more of these "smell ya later" types were in the same place since everything they touched was "infected."

It rapidly reduced the required oxygen levels.

Clean Up Masculinity!

Today, I have never gone back to men's fragrances and I never will.

I gave up on my self-delusion.

"I won't be a macho man anymore."

Even though I still shave in the morning, it's nothing compared to the grooming ritual I used to subject myself to when I was younger.

Additionally, it is ineffective in the modern world to try to smell like a cowboy in order to demonstrate and increase one's masculinity. To assert my personality and set myself apart from others, I don't need a synthetic substance that makes me smell like leather, wood, or the ocean (whatever that even implies).

I have grown along with masculinity. I don't think today's youngsters have to deal with the incredibly bizarre world of men's fragrance. I suppose they have other concerns. That is unquestionably development.