Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Dressing Successfully: The Ten Commandments 9

Keep clothes clean

Nothing gives a clearer picture of an unsuccessful man or contributes more to the impression of a man whose life is going slowly downhill and falling apart than dirty clothes. Or clothes that permanently look crumpled, creased or un-pressed.

No man today can complain of having a problem keeping his clothes in good order as excellent cleaning facilities exist in every neighbourhood. Suits can be cleaned and retextured, trousers pressed, sweaters freshened. And at home shirts can be properly washed and pressed and shoes cleaned. The moment a stitch unfastens or a heel looks worn shoes must be taken to a cobbler.

Besides looking better because of the care and attention, clean clothes will last longer. At the end of each season clothes should be cleaned and then put away wrapped until they are needed. This is particularly important with winter clothes that will hang for six months before they are worn again.

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Comments (0) Mar 12 2009

This recommendation to change the style of the haircut is also right for men whose hair is noticeably thinner now than it was. Go to a stylist who can cut the hair into a balanced shape, closer to the head, so that the lie of the hair looks natural and the hair itself is manageable and trouble-free. A good cut will make the remaining hair look healthy and draw attention away from the balding area.

By and large the shorter the cut, the better the look. It gives the face new strength and dimension and creates a look that is individual. Men who grow their remaining hair longer than normal make their bald patch look worse. The contrast between hair and no-hair makes the patch doubly obvious.

If you cannot face life without some form of covering think hard before you consider surgery or before you invest in either a hairpiece or hairweaving. No matter how persuasively consultants talk nor how much you pay for the piece, both cover-up systems show. Which is preferable, showing a false head of hair or a balding patch? The choice is strictly personal but remember as you continue to lose hair so the hairpiece or weave will have to be changed and made larger.

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Comments (0) Mar 12 2009

‘Concentrate on yourself,’one. therapist says. ‘Sort out your life to your satisfaction. Apart from certain goals affecting careers, for most of us we have been trained in our lives to look outwards but now the new rule is: look inwards. Consider yourself first. Give yourself new priorities and aims. Get into new projects or travel or hobbies that will improve your life satisfaction. Do not accept that for you life has no meaning or has to be dull and boring. If it is, you only have yourself to blame.

‘If life begins at forty — and why shouldn’t you begin again? — start out by being yourself. Be honest. Look for personal affection and contentment. Let your humour come out. Try mocking yourself. Have fun.’

A conclusion to draw is that although middle-age may be around the corner and life is undoubtedly, if subtly, going to be different, the difference should be of your making and on your terms. By your choice and by making revisions about yourself and your expectations.

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Comments (0) Mar 12 2009

During a man’s forties heart problems, both real and imaginary, start taking shape. A large number of men will have all the symptoms of something wrong and have a check-up only to find nothing is.

However, heart disease does account for a high percentage of deaths in the forty-plus age group.

In Britain it has been estimated that one man in four will have coronary disease before he is sixty and one man in ten will die from it. Fortunately it has also been calculated that at least fifty per cent of men who go to their doctors complaining of heart pains have, in reality, chest pains caused not by heart disease but by stress and anxiety — so there could be good news waiting not just bad.

(Stress is today regarded a major factor in the cause of heart disease. However it is being suggested that doctors may have over-emphasized its effects as stress produces its own additional subconscious hypochondria and manifests itself, in particular, in all the symptoms of heart disease in an otherwise healthy heart.)

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Comments (0) Mar 12 2009

Because life seems to be taking on a negative form, almost every aspect of it seems wrong and requires deploring verbally at every opportunity. There is a relentless need to complain about anything impinging on his life whether major or minor. Sometimes he will complain with good reason — about noise, the neighbour’s children, television programmes — but mostly the complaints are far reaching taking in every aspect of his daily life. He has little good to say about his children, family, home cooking, restaurants, holidays, public transport, money. Mention a ubject and he will find a point to complain about. Refer to his work and ‘e will tell of his resentfulness to its rat-race qualities, how he has poor reward or appreciation and if it were not for family responsibilities how quickly he would chuck it all in. He is no longer fun to be with.

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Comments (0) Mar 12 2009