"In his early fifties, he spends nearly all of his spare time on this app, imbibing a steady stream of drag queens, Democrats and women washing their faces. This formula had sufficiently influenced him to plan a trip to Seoul, where he wanted to get 'skin treatments that are illegal in the US.' Would I like to come with him, he wondered? If it isn’t clear by now, my brother is gay. So am I, but he’s better at it than I am...."
Writes Ben Kawaller, in
"My gay brother and I went on a beauty trip to Korea. It hurt/At 41, Ben Kawaller crossed the globe for a skin treatment that’s illegal in the US. Was the pain — and the four-figure price tag — worth it?" (London Times).
A brief description of one procedure: "the general idea is they burn off your face and the one that grows back is nicer."
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41 comments:
"the general idea is they burn off your face and the one that grows back is nicer."
I have recently undergone two courses of applying a chemotherapy cream to my face and scalp to treat precancerous skin. The instructions were to apply twice a day for 4 weeks, or "until you can't stand it anymore". Really, those were the instructions. I lasted 3 weeks.
I would think by 41 one would learn that it is far better to find someone who loves you rather than lusts after you.
Transgender and transdermal are bivalent.
Meh, the Seoul skincare look looks soleless to me.
Just as American beauty products won't make you look like the models who advertise them on TV and in magazines, "K-beauty" treatments won't make you look like an 18-year-old South Korean woman.
The illegal in the US treatment is Rejuran, an " injectable skin treatment that uses polynucleotides (PN) derived from salmon DNA to deeply repair, regenerate, and rejuvenate skin at a cellular level." I love some Korean beauty product, but I can state for sure, this is not going to be one I'm going to try.
I would have thought that Korean skin care would be a taboo subject since it idealizes pale skin.
So, I'll turn 60 this year, and I always vowed not to "get work done." But I have friends who have done chemical peels, that thing where they freeze your fat, that thing where they inject your fat into other places, blepharoplasty that is putatively for medical reasons but is in fact an eye lift, et cetera, et cetera... and I'm not going to say I'm not intrigued.
Looking back at pictures of our parents and grandparents at our current ages, we are always struck by how much younger we look - objectively, not just in our own minds. It's tempting to push that as far as it'll go. I don't have wrinkles, just less skin elasticity than I used to have and a certain amount of - let's call it "gravity," an amount of droop in the cheeks that, if I just subtly move the flesh over my cheekbones up by like a quarter of an inch, entirely disappears and takes a decade off me. And when I catch sight of myself in a reflection while I'm doing stuff on my phone, the state of my neck gives me pause. So. Do I renounce my ow?
And then I see Jamie Lee Curtis and give myself a hard shake and tell myself to suck it up and just age like a woman with guts.
I do color my hair, though. My husband wants me to because he went prematurely gray and he says he doesn't want both of us to "look old," but I won't claim I do it just for him.
My kids exposed me to the Nutter Butter official tiktokaccount yesterday. It's a strange world we are in near or far. They are good normal kids who find this absolutely hilarious and I was admittedly entranced. The over-polished era is behind us for sure. Unless you're Korean, apparently.
People will do (and spend) almost anything to become what they are not.
Korean Skin Job or an Ivy League degree in Gender Studies. Pick your poison!
dude - you don't have any wrinkles. What is your problem?
I earned every seam on this face.
Western Civilization is doomed.
His favourite line of cosmetics is CVS Beauty. That made me flash for an instant on what was my "favourite" line of cosmetics - then I remembered that, oh yeah, I don't even have cosmetics. Weird, huh.
Anyway, his pilgrimage to Korea and this foolishness that he engaged in there smacks of delusion on his part. Well, c'mon, let's not ignore the elephant in the room - his face needs well more than just Korean skin treatments.
@original Mike I did that awful treatment for several summers a few years ago. Thankfully my dermatologist told me I could stop. May you be as fortunate.
Sometimes what needs to be burned off is more than skin deep
Op, op, op, op
Oppan Gargoyle style
Gargoyle style
Op, op, op, op
Oppan Gargoyle style
Eh, sexy lady
Op, op, op, op
Oppan Gargoyle style
“And then I see Jamie Lee Curtis and give myself a hard shake and tell myself to suck it up and just age like a woman with guts.”
But who isn’t nutz!
That guy's face looked fine before. I don't see what he was trying to fix.
As a man, if you have enough money, you don't need to do any of this (endless examples exit), and now these guys are poorer. Seems like a bad decision all around.
I have heard there is a big demand for Korean Sunscreen here. It supposedly can last a it longer and has broader protection against the wavelengths associated with photo-aging of skin.
Sounds a lot like Efudex (flouraracil). Not fun. But better than skin cancer and you end up even more incredibly handsome than you were before. At least in my case.
"A brief description of one procedure: "the general idea is they burn off your face and the one that grows back is nicer.""
Nature will provide sunburn and skin peel/ replacement for free.
'Korean skin treatments that are illegal in the US' seems right up there with "Mexican butt lifts" and "gas station sushi" ideas.
The only cosmetic procedure I'd kind of thought of considering is getting rid of the fat around my middle, i.e., a small inner tube/love handles/etc. The only times I've ever managed to get rid of it (and I work out a LOT) were a Summer where I rode my bike to and from work and never really ate a substantial evening meal, and once when I got food poisoning in Egypt.
Now that I'm old and out of the dating pool for decades, I only care about performance. But still. . . . .abs. . . . . .*sigh*
Iman @11:43 - a fair point! "Guts" as relates to aging publicly. I don't expect much in the line of brains or common sense from the Hollywood folk.
The new season of Beef has Korean cosmetics as part of the storyline. I didn't realize it was a real thing.
Never once in my life have I used any kind of lotion on my skin or balm on my lips, except sunscreen while skiing or at the beach. For hunting, hiking, and other normal outdoor activities, where I'll have a hat with a good brim and a long sleeved shirt, and won't always be in intense sun, I won't even do that much.
I think people actually become dependent on skin lotions and lip balm, and will suffer dryness and chapping and such if they ever discontinue it. That doesn't happen to me.
I recall seeing John McCain on CSPAN c. 1998 with a face that looked like raw meat or recent Ben Sasse. It occurred to me, with his weight loss, that he was running for president. Two years later, he gets a melanoma on his face. Coincidence?
In '84, I took a Labor Day roadtrip in a GTO convertible wearing shorts, then had the sunburn sandblasted on the beach at Ocracoke Island. Six years later, I had a melanoma mid thigh, fortunately also on the front.
Regardless of who originally coined the phrase, it still stands.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
But gay men are just like everybody else, well, except for the mental illness part.
"I have recently undergone two courses..."
I've done something similar a couple of times. As well, there's the time the dermatologist applied a cream at the office and then I sat under a light hood for 15-20 minutes. That one, it hurts right out of the gate. And then, the radiation treatments but at least they didn't hurt.
"Sometimes what needs to be burned off is more than skin deep."
More cutting than burning, but that's where the stitches came from.
Looking back, I wish I hadn't spent so many summers at the beach in the sun.
This is the sort of blog post that makes me yearn for more information on whatever Lena Dunham is up to.
Homos are in the transgender spectrum. How is that relevant to either skin care or gay mood?
There are just three things a man can do to look better without looking foolish: Get a good haircut, keep the weight off, and wear age-appropriate clothes that fit.
Remember: self-care is caring.
I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV.
Methylene blue. Ordered it first March 2025. My son insisted I try it. Day 1 I decided 2 things- I need to be taking it, and I was getting it in pill form, not liquid. Mental effects are it makes you more aware. And you'll notice the first day you take it.
15 mg pills the smallest pill dose I could find. Minimal compared to what many advocates say they take. I had a large raised brown patch on my forehead that's been biopsied- negative for anything bad. About 2 months after starting methylene blue it was gone, replaced by a slightly smaller bluish spot. So i looked it up- and it seems methylene blue is good for the skin. Especially in combination with natural sunlight. Not much of that up here in CNY- but advocates said red light therapy lights also work. So I bought one to sit over my recliner. Over the course of a year it slowly faded. I just returned from Florida, a whole 1 week stay, with a few days at the beach. The spot is now almost faded away completely.
Had my yearly dermatologist appointment a few days back. There are a lot fewer spots on my skin. A lot fewer.
So if you're looking for better skin- I can attest to methylene blue. There are, AFAIK, no published negative effects. Well except for blue (or bluish green) urine. A small price to pay.
Keep referring to him as "my gay brother" and your face burning off won't be your biggest worry ...
Gutfeld in the last few weeks will occasionally break out into this sort of Foghorn Leghorn old Southern accent and start talking about "the humuh-sexshualls." I bet he's going to riff on this article: "Guy Benson, are Korean cosmetics essential to the humuh-sexshuall lifestyle? If a young man is interested in Koh-rean cosmetics, should we be worried that he's becoming a humuh-sexshuall?"
I think Gutfeld is making fun of people who make fun of gays, or of closeted hypocritical gays, or something like that. Even the people on his shows think it's weird when he does this bit. CC, JSM
Guy Benson is a good sport and a good man.
Do newspapers just let anyone write about anything?
Yes, Benson gives it right back to Gutfeld, usually accusing him of being barely closeted. It's a great routine. CC, JSM
A brief description of one procedure: "the general idea is they burn off your face and the one that grows back is nicer."
Gay men are crazy
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