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A manly face is rough. We know that. It seems impossible to cover it withougt looking like a guy in drag. This is certainly one of the biggest tells. This tell was one of my most difficult to deal with. Nothing will give you away faster than having a thick layer of Elmer's patch and fill under a quarter inch of foundation. We all know that Tammy Faye is a guy in drag right?
My beard was dark, peppered with red hair. Those pesky red hairs are the worst to kill and they tend to stick out. By noon, I had a 5 o'clock shadow. I tried the thick makeup for some time and I got clocked every time I went out. Anyone could see it from 100 feet away.
I learned from various sources that makeup works better when you can use less. Remember, makeup is to even out things like freckles and uneven skin tone, not to cover razor stubble.
First of all, use a moisturizer after shaving every day. Don't use male products. Get some Oil of Olay or a Nivea product. If you need to be a guy during the day, use some aftershave behind your ears and on your forearms to cover the smell.
It took me a couple of years to figure out how I could shave to get rid of "the tell". I found that the longer I could let the beard go before going out on the town, the better my face would ultimately look. I'd let it go on a weekend and I'd travel on a Monday. I'd go out Monday night. That would give me 3 or 4 days of no razor burn. If I had to work during the day and I was going out that night, I'd do a very quick shave with a Norelco razor in the morning. I would only do only one or two passes, even if it didn't get everything. The trick was to not injure the skin.
When it came time to go out in the evening, I'd soak my face in a hot wet towel for 10 minutes. I'd use a shaving gell to soak my face for another few minutes, followed by a couple more minutes in a hot wet towel. I'd then use the same shaving gell and shave with a new disposable razor. I would shave only against the grain minimizing the number of times I would drag the blades across my face. When finished, I'd soak my face in the shaving gell and shave again. I would then let my face soak in copius amounts of moisturizer and wipe off the excess after a few minutes. After all of this, my face was almost color free from that I would normally have after shaving. I would then apply a light coat of makeup. If after a finish coat of powder, I could visibly see makeup, I would wipe it off and reapply. It was actually better to let a bit of the beard shadow show than to wear too much makeup.
Hair on my arms and hands were also a big problem. Remember, most humans have some hair on their arms and hands, so shaving it all off is also an unconcious tell. So yes, I would shave my arms, but I'd still leave some of the hair on my arms. I'd try to keep it shorter and less dense. I would lift my sideburns trimmer a bit above the skin and go against the grain. This would trim the hair shorter. I'd take some very quick passes with the Norelco with the grain to cut 3/4 of those dark critters out. That left some hair. It was still dark, but that was okay. My arms did not look shaved. Those manly pores didn't stick out saying "here I am, I'm a guy!"
Ear and nose hair is a dead give away. Pluck it all! Nuff said about that.
I had copius amounts of chest hair. I found that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Shaving just didn't work. If I could pluck it, that would have worked fine. But I had too much. So I wore clothing that did not reveal this manly feature. If you can use an epilator (an invention that came out after I had my passing issues), that will work just fine.
Please feel free to post your comments and questions here.
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Topic: Learning to pass... dealing with the hairy man. (Read 3801 times)
