男士需要美容保養嗎 試試以下這幾種

LAST NOVEMBER, my female co-workers at The Wall Street Journal discovered that the sole product I used on my face was soap. Their reaction to this mundane revelation wasn't all that nice. They began calling me 'the man who doesn't moisturize.' As in, 'Would you ask the man who doesn't moisturize if I can borrow his stapler?'

去年11月，我在《華爾街日報》(The Wall Street Journal)的女同事發現了我用在臉上的唯一產品是香皂。對於這個平淡無奇的發現，她們的反應並不那麼友好。她們開始叫我“不用保溼霜的男人”。比如她們會說，“你能問問那個不用保溼霜的男人，我能借他的訂書機用一下嗎？”

One of our style editors took pity. 'You've never moisturized?' she asked gently. 'I don't remember,' I admitted. Judging by her expression, she graciously decided to assume I had amnesia. 'Well, we'll have to do something about that,' she said. And so began my eye-opening, skin-altering, brain-addling, four-month adventure in the world of male beauty regimens.

我們的一個時尚編輯表示同情。她輕聲問道：“你從沒做過保溼嗎？”我承認：“我不記得了。”從表情來看，她優雅地斷定我有健忘症。她說：“好吧，我們得做點兒什麼。”於是我開始了歷時四個月在男士美容世界裏大開眼界和脫胎換骨的腦補探險旅程。

First, a little background. It isn't that I am unaware of the guy-beauty industrial complex. I know, for instance, that Clinique basically started it all with its pioneering men's skin-care line in 1976--a program it's relaunching this month. According to Jenny Belknap, vice president of global treatment marketing, the relaunch was triggered by the company's discovery that, while women traditionally bought the men's products for their husbands and sons, 'we firmly understand that now men are buying for themselves.' To make the line more male-friendly and less boggling, Clinique is cutting back from 25 products to 19 and shortening product names. Not that men seem all that intimidated by skin care: According to Mintel, a Chicago-based market research group, 63% of guys 25-34 report that they use moisturizer.

首先介紹一點背景。我並非不知道男士美容的產業聯盟。比如我知道倩碧(Clinique)基本上是靠它1976年首創的男士護膚系列發展起來的――本月又即將重新推出。其全球護膚業務營銷副總裁珍妮・貝爾納普(Jenny Belknap)表示，這次重新推出是因爲公司發現，雖然過去都是女性爲丈夫和兒子購買男士產品，但“我們堅信，現在男士們都是自己購買”。爲了讓這個系列對男性更加友好而且更容易讓人接受，倩碧把產品數量從25件減到了19件，並且縮短了產品的名字。並不是所有男士都對護膚感到畏懼：據芝加哥市場研究機構英敏特(Mintel)調查，25歲至34歲的男士中，有63%的人稱自己使用保溼霜。

Though I am legitimately hazy regarding my own historic moistness levels, I did go through an exceptionally vain phase in my mid-to-late 20s, a couple of decades ago. I had a Manhattan stylist renowned as the 'King of Blondes' highlight my hair, whose natural color suggests a particularly lackluster mouse. I visited a Mexican spa where a bored local woman rolled me in seaweed as if fashioning a giant joint. I spent wads of money on stress-relieving massages, including one that concluded abruptly when the theretofore silent, aged Asian masseur stopped kneading my right shoulder and shrieked, 'The wing is broken! The wing is broken! It cannot carry the child!'

儘管我對自己臉部的溼度情況一直不清不楚，但幾十年前，在我25到30歲之間那幾年，我的確經歷過花時間 飭的階段。當時被譽爲“金髮之王”(King of Blondes)的一位曼哈頓造型師給我做了頭髮挑染，我本身的自然髮色就像一隻毫無生氣的老鼠。我去了一家墨西哥水療中心，一個百無聊賴的當地女人用海草把我捲起來，就像卷一支巨大的大麻煙。我花了大把錢在緩解壓力的按摩上，包括那次遇見一個上了年紀的亞洲男按摩師。他默默揉捏着我的右肩，突然停下來尖叫道：“翅膀斷了！翅膀斷了！它沒法帶幼仔了！”那次按摩就意外結束了。

I remember at one point growing convinced that my boss was monitoring my under-eye puffiness, but, soon after, I regained my equilibrium. My grooming routine was gradually reduced to: unscented Dove soap, Barbasol shaving foam, interchangeable drugstore shampoos and some despised hair gel that made me feel like one of those oil-coated ducks blinking in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez disaster.

我記得有段時間我堅信老闆在觀察我浮腫的眼袋，但不久後我重新找到了平衡。我的日常梳洗用品逐漸縮減成：無香型多芬(Dove)香皂，Barbasol剃鬚泡沫，各個牌子的超市洗髮水，還有被人鄙視的髮膠，這款髮膠讓我覺得自己是埃克森・瓦爾迪茲號(Exxon Valdez)漏油事件發生後，滿身油光閃閃的鴨羣裏的一員。

So, naturally, I was wary when the aforementioned style editor dumped a box of skin-care and grooming product samples on my desk: 'We'll start with these,' she said. 'You'll use four products at night and eight in the morning.' I nervously mentioned that I didn't live in an alternate universe where mornings last 107 hours. 'Just get up earlier,' she said.

所以很自然的，在上文中提到的時尚編輯把一盒護膚和梳洗產品小樣扔到我桌上時，我非常謹慎。她說：“我們先從這些開始。晚上你要用四種產品，早晨用八種。”我緊張地提到我並不是生活在早晨有107小時的另一個宇宙。她說：“那就起早點。”

In the shower the next day, I washed my hair with my new Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo, a pricey Italian product designed to rehabilitate messed-up hair, and immediately felt like some dapper Milanese guy who eats oddly shaped pizzas and whose apartment is full of strange, half-size appliances. Next, I used Clark's Botanicals Face Wash (a soothing, mild, herbal goop) and shaved my face with what appeared to be pink icing, but was really a premium rose-scented cream from the storied British company Geo. F. Trumper. Next came a spray toner, an antiaging serum and the pivotal moisturizer (mine came from the Jack Black brand). Then I did a few jumping jacks to maintain my stamina and applied an age-combatting smidge of La Mer Eye Concentrate under each peeper using the complementary wand. (Wands? Arguably manly in wake of Harry Potter phenomenon? Discuss.)

第二天早晨洗澡時，我用新的Davines Love Smoothing洗髮水洗了頭髮，這是一款價格昂貴的意大利產品，專門修復受損頭髮。洗了以後我立刻覺得自己像是一個衣冠楚楚的米蘭人，吃着奇形怪狀的披薩，公寓裏全是奇怪的小型家電。接着我用Clark's植物潔面乳（一種舒緩溫和的草藥黏液）洗臉， 然後用一種看似像粉色糖霜但實際上來自知名英國公司Geo. F. Trumper的高級玫瑰香剃鬚膏刮鬍子。接下來是爽膚水噴霧和抗衰老乳液，還有關鍵的保溼霜（我用的牌子是Jack Black）。接着我做了幾組開合跳保持活力，然後用附送的魔法棒在每隻眼睛的下眼瞼塗了點 La Mer抗衰老眼霜精華。（魔法棒？哈利・波特(Harry Potter)現象後應該算是男子氣的裝備了吧？可以討論一下。）

Finally, I groomed my hair with Baxter of California Soft Water Pomade, which gave my hair the texture of a mink pelt, but was still a bit greasy for my taste.

最後，我在頭髮上抹了點Baxter of California軟水發膏，讓我的頭髮有了光華毛皮的質地，但對我來說還是有點油。

I walked to the subway feeling fresh and tingly and evangelical about the value of taking time to value oneself. I also felt a little like Patrick Bateman, the murderous skin care devotee from 'American Psycho,' but was too busy caressing my curiously soft face to brood on that. Upon reaching the subway 15 minutes later, I realized that, in my heady self-absorption, I'd forgotten my wallet. I felt less evangelical running home again.

我走到地鐵站，覺得很清爽，對於花時間珍惜自己的價值也感到很興奮。我還覺得自己有點像帕特里克・貝特曼(Patrick Bateman)，就是《美國精神病人》(American Psycho)裏熱衷護膚的殺人狂，但我忙着撫摸我那異常柔軟的臉，無暇去思考這些。15分鐘後到達地鐵站時，我意識到，自我陶醉讓我忘記了拿錢包。再折回家時我的熱情就沒那麼高漲了。

By day three, the tingliness had given way to a burning sensation around my jaw. Was this my choice: To feel youthful but on fire versus old and content? The culprit turned out to be the rose shaving cream, which the style editor replaced with Proraso Shaving Foam for 'pelli sensibili' (sensitive skin). After carefully testing this amazing product, I can honestly tell you that it's fun to say 'pelli sensibili' repeatedly in a heavy Italian accent.

到第三天，那種興奮感消失了，取而代之的是下巴周圍的灼燒感。我需要做出選擇：是覺得年輕但有刺痛感還是覺得老而滿足？罪魁禍首原來是那支玫瑰剃鬚膏，時尚編輯把它換成了敏感肌膚(pelli sensibili)適用的Proraso剃鬚膏。小心翼翼地對這款不可思議的產品進行試用後，我可以老實告訴你，用濃重的意大利口音重複說“pelli sensibili”很有意思。

And so it went. As I continued my regimen, either my skin improved visibly or my colleagues formed a vast conspiracy that required them to gush about my face. I asked non-coworker friends if they noticed anything different about me, but they were stumped and resistant to broad hints. Still I could swear that, in a certain group photo taken at a steakhouse about seven weeks into my program, I look like a cast member of a teen drama on the CW Network: weirdly lineless, buoyant, possibly a vampire.

於是我繼續用這些東西。隨着護膚的持續，要麼我的皮膚有了明顯改善，要麼就是我的同事串通好了對我的臉進行議論。我問非同事的朋友有沒有注意到我有什麼異樣，但他們都很爲難，不願意給出提示。不過我仍然可以斷定，護膚計劃進行七週左右，在某家牛排餐廳所拍的某張合照裏，我看起來肯定像是哥倫比亞及華納兄弟聯合電視網(CW network)某部青春偶像劇裏的演員：皺紋出奇的少，光彩照人，像極了吸血鬼。

By week 12, long after my co-workers had acclimatized to the undocumented miracle that was my face, I was bored by my regimen's demands and losing my motivation. I decided to tempt fate by subbing out my original, conventional moisturizer for Clinique's new Oil-Control Mattifying Moisturizer. Life so seldom offers opportunities to be 'mattified' that it seemed worth the risk. But, although the product left my skin powder-dry and Botox-taut, I was still feeling restless.

到第12周，在同事們早就習慣我臉上潛移默化的奇蹟後，我對護膚計劃的要求產生了厭倦，失去了動力。我決定冒險把倩碧新型控油保溼霜換成原來的傳統保溼霜。生活提供“被控油”的機會太少了，所以我似乎值得冒這個險。不過，雖然這款產品讓我的皮膚乾爽緊繃，但我仍然覺得不安。

The style editor decided we needed to seriously up the ante and helped me book a facial with celebrity youthifier Tracie Martyn, who's rejuvenated Brad Pitt, Alan Rickman and Madonna. When I arrived at Ms. Martyn's Fifth Avenue penthouse studio, I was taken aback by the estrogen-y décor, which is entirely lavender and white with gauzy curtains that should properly be billowing in a strong breeze. A Borzoi would not be out of place. I was told that I'd been squeezed in between Diane von Furstenberg and a businessman who'd just run a marathon.

時尚編輯認爲我們需要下更大的血本，她幫我預定了明星煥膚專家特蕾西・馬丁(Tracie Martyn)的面部護理。馬丁爲布拉德・皮特(Brad Pitt)、艾倫・裏克曼(Alan Rickman)和麥當娜(Madonna)做過青春煥膚。到達馬丁在第五大道的頂層公寓工作室時，我因爲其充滿女性氣質的裝潢而吃了一驚，裏面全是淡紫色和白色，薄紗窗 在微風襲來時應該會搖曳生姿。再養一隻波索犬(Borzoi)也不會顯得突兀。我得知自己被安排在黛安・馮・芙絲汀寶（Diane von Furstenberg）和一位剛跑過馬拉松的商人之間。

'About 20% of my clientele is male,' Ms. Martyn, a hypnotically placid Brit, told me once she had me on her table. As she applied potions with darting little swipes, tightened my jawline with a tool that emits electricity, and exposed me to red light that she said once healed astronaut wounds, she mentioned a male 60-something lawyer who visits her every week. She started cooing excitedly as my face responded--brilliantly, it seemed--to the electricity: 'Oh, it's looking very good.'

馬丁是一個異常平和的英國人。我一躺上化妝臺就聽她告訴我說：“約有20%的客戶是男性。” 她迅速地給我擦上藥水，用釋放電流的一個工具緊實我的下巴輪廓，然後讓我照射她聲稱曾經用於修復宇航員傷口的紅光。她提到一位60多歲、每週都來的男律師。隨着我的臉對電流有了反應――看上去很亮澤――她開始興奮地嚷道：“噢，看起來非常棒。”

Back at the office, I stared at my face in the bathroom mirror, searching for evidence that it was more chiseled. One cheekbone looked pointier, but I couldn't be sure.

回到辦公室，我在衛生間的鏡子前觀察自己的臉，尋找輪廓更分明的證據。一邊的顴骨更尖了，但我不能確定。

Confession: In the end, I abandoned all the products in my regime, except for the Italian shampoo, the 'pelli sensibili' shave foam and a truly addictive cleanser from Tracie Martyn that I added post-facial. Turns out that I'm just not vain enough to fuss with wands in the pursuit of advanced male beauty. I still moisturize occasionally--if only to ward off ridicule.

告白：最後我放棄了護膚計劃中的所有產品，除了那款意大利洗髮水、敏感肌膚適用的剃鬚泡沫和特雷西・馬丁的一款我在做面部護理前用過的潔面乳，這款潔面乳讓我用了還想用。事實上我只是沒有足夠的閒工夫費那麼多講究去追求高級男性美。我仍舊還是會偶爾做做保溼――即使只是爲了避免別人的嘲笑。