Bathing is for all regardless of gender

Fadzayi Maposah, Correspondent

Men come in different forms and images.

There are men who are always clean shaven, making time for a shave.

There are men who keep a moustache, these remind me of Tom Selleck in Magnum that I watched as an adolescent.

There are men who keep their hair short and there are those who keep their hair a bit long and need what we as Zimbabweans commonly refer to as an Afro comb.

There are men who have a bald head and a beard, which I presume is brushed or combed to keep it in form.

This look of a bald head and a beard is no longer a reflection of a particular faith.

There are men who combine short hair and a beard. There are so many variations and combinations that can be done. Creativity at play. By the way I once saw a man with a plaited beard!

There are men who wear dreadlocks and these can be in various sizes.

There are those who have dreadlocks only on a certain part of the head. There are men who have plaited hair. They can actually have corn rows or the Bantu knots.

Bantu knots are what we just term, mabhanzi in Zimbabwe. For the mabhanzi there are so many options.

Creativity enables the hairdressers to do all sorts.

While at some point it appeared as if plaiting was only done by the youth, I have seen some beyond the youthful years with plaited hair. There are also men with tinted hair.

The colours are too numerous to mention here.

While some men have tended to maintain a certain look, there are others who have the look according to the phase that they are in.

There are some, no matter what type of hairstyle they maintain, will always have a hat on.

Now head care is varied too. There are beanies, caps in various forms, sizes and shapes, the list is endless.

There are those who will wear cowboy hats (with or without a cattle ranch!)

Then there are those who will tie a head scarf or bandana on their heads. As you read this, please add what I may have omitted.

You could be reading this and then just see a man with a style that has not been mentioned here, please add him. The more the merrier. I do not want any man to feel left out.

Now whatever your style, your look or your age, there is one thing that is important.

Bathing; proper bathing let me add. I am not sure who taught you how to bath.

I can only say that when and how you were taught to bath was a critical milestone in your life.

There is a time when are fascinated by water and cannot stop bathing.

Bathing in this case just means splashing about in the water. For grown men, the splashing does not work at all.

I know that there may be splashes in the bathroom as one goes on the task to get themselves clean.

(The more splashes, the more work that needs to be done after bathing. This cleaning should be done by the one who has bathed, let me add. This is a story for another day, so let us not dwell on this for now.)

It is important to make time for bathing. It is necessary.

I know that some men were forced to bath when they were young. Some even got beaten when they did not want to bath. By the time that they bathed, they had little stripes on various parts of the body.

How many can relate to this?

Some were even bribed to get a bath.

The adults or the responsible caregivers had a torrid task presenting an array of bribes so that the little boy would bath. The bribes can come in the form of treats, taking someone to a special place or even carrying the little boy on the back for a period.

Then there were some young boys who loved bathing, but society contributed to the way they behave now. When the boys frequented the bathroom, they were cautioned: “Usada kugeza semukadzi”, loosely translated this means you should not bath like a woman.

Some boys were socialised to believe that frequent bathing made them less of a man.

Now these are some of the men who do not enjoy bathing.

Bathing and basic hygiene does not make one less of a man. There is nothing feminine about bathing.

Bathing is basic hygiene that is applicable to everyone.

An individual should bath at least once a day. This is a full body wash. Once a day is the bare minimum, and there is no problem with going above the minimum.

It is important to understand that our bodies are not straight; there are areas that accumulate sweat which gives off a bad odour with time.

The more physically active one is, the closer they need to get to water, soap and time for basic hygiene.

This Menvember, the month of the goat, be the GOAT and bath adequately.

As you bath, change your under garments please. If you can wash the under garments just after bathing and put it to dry, you are showing the way!