The Rise and Fall of the Metrosexual Man

This article details the change in the metrosexual man, culminating in a range of products and procedures that have become commonplace for both men and women today. Instead of a graceful death, the term metrosexual evolved into a number of genres/typologies and results in a good looking confident man with heart.

What was the Metrosexual Man? 

The term metrosexual came to prominence in the early 90s and is a mix between heterosexual and metropolitan, coined as men begun to openly follow their role models and began to show an interest in trendy fashion and using products to deal with age lines, wrinkles, skin blemishes and much more. The author, Mark Simpson, who invented the term, noted that he had seen the future of masculinity, and it was moisturized. It became the synonym for straight men who looked after themselves, moisturized, had a trendy dress sense, good hair, and good skin routines. 

This led to a boom in the men’s cosmetic, hair care, and clothing industry, and the effect was that there are a plethora of men’s products out there. It has become the norm, and a large number of men now regularly buy and use skin and hair care products that would’ve been frowned upon in the 80s as the Camel man strutted his stuff. Everything changes and metrosexuality heralded a new man, using all the product they could, because they were worth it.

Some procedures became commonplace

Times have changed, and it is now acceptable for men, women, and the gender-neutral to want to look and feel good about their appearances. Cosmetic surgery has increased, walk-in procedures are all the rage, and one can have a bit of Botox over lunch or a new set of veneers whilst on holiday. The one thing that this brought about was the fact that metrosexuality arguably became mainstream, and although there are still different typologies of men out there, most are now comfortable being moisturized to the gills and looking good for it. 

The metrosexual is dead, replaced now by the spornosexual, the lumbersexual, and the nuetrasexual, all with components of the metrosexual man. It’s now accepted for men to care about their appearance, grooming, and sensitive sides, in all walks of life.

Hair as a great example of manly evolution

This acceptance heralded a range of treatments for men that had previously been the sole preserve of women. Hair is a great example in that before we were weaving it or shaving it like Beckham and co, it was all short back and sides. Once it became acceptable to grow it, plait it, die it, and just generally have as much fun as we could with it, men’s hair was big business.

It started with products, treatments, specialised hair care and has grown to the point where it is common practice for those experiencing hair loss to want to and to be able to halt this process. hshairclinic.co.uk  is an example of an accessible clinic offering a range of treatments that many men out there now feel free to use. Wayne Rooney, Louis Walsh, and Joe Swash have all been open about their hair treatments; it’s now normal.

Flush the Fashion

Editor of Flush the Fashion and Flush Magazine. I love music, art, film, travel, food, tech and cars. Basically, everything this site is about.