Making Beautiful

Abstract

Many competing sociological debates intersect in the world of beauty parlors. There is an increasing proliferation of male or “gents” parlors—a space where a new formation of the male self is being produced and established through new cultures of care and work. Because “work” has always been understood as central to the lives of men, a major basis of their identity, it is often seen as being identified with masculinity. “Beauty” and “caring,” on the other hand, are often viewed as something intrinsically feminine. This article weeds out such notions by presenting life histories of men in “beauty work” and argues that just as different work situations produce different models of masculinities, the same work situation also may prove an arena of a variety of masculinities. The article also explores the possibilities and potentials of understanding gender relations in South Asia that will prove helpful in making comparisons with other masculinity studies.