Man Tips Idea

Dr Galen

Ages and ages ago when we get this forum going, the idea was to help create a cool place for people to come to, get some friendly advice about some related stuff and be a bit of a sounding board for all the crazy in your head.

How about we start a bit of a feature, a bit like other forums on boards, a regular thing.

I'm thinking that maybe we could pick a topic say every fortnight, and then for the next fortnight people ask questions and get answers, tips and general info on that subject. Eventually, we'd build up a repository of information on various topics. If there was enough interest, then maybe the Mods would look to create a sub forum for "The Gentleman's Library"......

So.......anyone interested? If so, maybe suggest a few topics and we can poll it and kick it off soon enough.

drewbedo

i would suggest topic like good shaving tips/after shave balms

D'Agger

I applaud the idea - very good!

A topic I would suggest would be aftershaves - what're good daily-wear-to-work scents, going out scents etc.

There's so many to choose from thesedays that perhaps, with the help of this forum, the selection process could be alot easier for a number of gents

Joey the lips

Aftershaves is good but the problem i find is how to rate them. For example. women describe perfume as being jasmine, vanilla or fruity flavour

I can see men saying prada is fruity so all your left with is the 10 most usual popular

Maybe i am wrong though.

D'Agger

Joey the lips wrote: »

Aftershaves is good but the problem i find is how to rate them. For example. women describe perfume as being jasmine, vanilla or fruity flavour

I can see men saying prada is fruity so all your left with is the 10 most usual popular

Maybe i am wrong though.

I agree it is difficult to rate in a way - different people will like different aftershaves, they'll suit some moreso than others

If there were defined paramaters from the start on how to rate it and maybe an additional comments section for places where it can be bought on offer atm then it could work? For example:

Name: Dolce & Gabana - The One

Season: Would recommend it around winter time as it's got a woody tinge to it.

Strength: Not the strongest smelling fragrance I'd give it a 7/10

Suitable for: Everyday use i.e. work

Price Range: Around the €40 mark for a 50ml bottle

Additional comments: It's currently on offer @ xxx for €x

Dr Galen

while we don't want to veer too much into the territory of the facial hair forum, I'd think that there might be room for a bit of crossover, and might also help traffic to both forums if we did it as a bit of a crossover?

Some suggestions from me,

1) Buying/Wearing/Looking after a suit
2) Going for an interview

drewbedo

i like this idea..
ive personally got few suits.
i am guilty of when they are not in use just placing them back in the suitbags and hanging them neatly in one end of the wardrobe.
have never spent more than 600 euro on a suit but with the wedding day coming up to 18 months away i shall be purchasing a suit rather than the usual hiring.
so will be checking out different designers/retailers imminently...

TouchingVirus

I like the idea all right, nice one OP. I do suggest we try not to veer into stuff that's fairly subjective (e.g. aftershaves etc). It's just that for general topics it's grand to get a consensus and follow it but you'll have a guy rubbish a top 10 aftershaves in an instant because his sense of smell is different

Unfortunately I've no suggestions of my own just yet, but I'll give it some thought

Dr Galen

Yeah I get you on the subjectivity of things, but thats also the point in my head.

Throwing around a few different views on a product could help an undecided make a decision. Obviously we wouldn't want the threads to get taken over totally discussing the merits or otherwise of 1 product.

Sure lets see where this all leads

source

Another suggestion, how to properly polish boots/shoes.

Another Idea for the Gentleman's Library: shop suggestions for buying all items Gentlemanly.

BigDuffman

Hand shakes for men

Very important for a man to be able to shake hands!

Avoid limp lifeless handshakes
Avoid gripping recipient just by fingers and above the knuckles
Avoid trying to crush the other chaps hand

Look the person straight in the eye
"Pump" the hand maximum of 3 Min of 1.

If you have a girly handshake or know the individual is a crusher. Extend your fore finger along their wrist. This will make your knuckles line up and it will be very difficult for them to crush your grip.

TouchingVirus

Not so much a how-to with pictures, but a recommended link/guide/schedule/whatever for checking yourself for testicular cancer. It shouldn't even be perceived as an old person thing these days, testicular cancer gets the young folks too (as do most other cancers). It's something that's oft overlooked by a lot of gentlemen, and it shouldn't.

Otis Driftwood

Big +1 to TV's above post.I check myself monthly but from just chatting to friends its frightening the amount of men that dont know to or have never examined themselves.

I was actually very surprised when I discovered there wasn't a thread with self-help guides to men - the Ladies Lounge have similar things. We are entering into a time where men are more and more becoming aware about correct grooming, health and well being practices, which would have previously been labeled as "weird" or "homosexual".

It's amazing how many times people think I'm strange when I mention about exfoiliation before shaving and the use of oils/balms during. Yet those same people are complaining about raw and sore skin.

LightningBolt

I'd be wary of forum cross overs as stated above but how about how to diy stuff. No offense, grooming and fashion are great but as it's a "manly" forum you need to stay true to the heart too.

Another thing that could be done is just to cross link to other forums. I know in motors they have tutorials on how to service your car and other bits and pieces.

petebricquette

LightningBolt wrote: »

I'd be wary of forum cross overs as stated above but how about how to diy stuff. No offense, grooming and fashion are great but as it's a "manly" forum you need to stay true to the heart too.

Another thing that could be done is just to cross link to other forums. I know in motors they have tutorials on how to service your car and other bits and pieces.

Well, I'd say it could be open for anything: not exclusively grooming and fashion. Some various relevant health topics would be great (without veering into actual health advice; that's for your GP). Things like prostate cancer, as another poster said testicular cancer checks, getting STI checkups and what's involved.

Great idea OP.

Chaotic_Forces

This could really work wonders for my generation (early 20s).

We all can name or a site or two with articles or whatnot on various topics. We can also ask questions on other sites.

But with Boards.ie being mostly Irish, we would have real feedback and experience coming from Irish people in Ireland.

I could see a bit of a problem with anything health related since it's the boards policy that we can't give out medical advice. That area can be a bit dodgy.

Dr Galen

I kinda like all of the ideas above in fairness. The health ones would be great, as thats initially what this forum started out as. Its easy enough to stay away from the medical advicey type things too. Sam34 and I are Mods in Health Sciences so we are well used to it, Sam34 being a Mod here would make that easy enough.

I like the idea of doing some of the more "manly" stuff too. Not that I personally agree that things like fixing your car is overly manly, but i deffo get the jist. Maybe we could have a few of those type things too as this evolves.

So.... maybe we leave this for another day, see what other ideas comes up and then we make a poll. We can use the poll as a way to fix the first topic, and then the ones following?

LightningBolt

LightningBolt wrote: »

I'd be wary of forum cross overs as stated above but how about how to diy stuff. No offense, grooming and fashion are great but as it's a "manly" forum you need to stay true to the heart too.

Another thing that could be done is just to cross link to other forums. I know in motors they have tutorials on how to service your car and other bits and pieces.

So it's not "manly" to want to look after yourself and wanting to look your best?

petebricquette

Dr Galen wrote: »

I kinda like all of the ideas above in fairness. The health ones would be great, as thats initially what this forum started out as. Its easy enough to stay away from the medical advicey type things too. Sam34 and I are Mods in Health Sciences so we are well used to it, Sam34 being a Mod here would make that easy enough.

I like the idea of doing some of the more "manly" stuff too. Not that I personally agree that things like fixing your car is overly manly, but i deffo get the jist. Maybe we could have a few of those type things too as this evolves.

So.... maybe we leave this for another day, see what other ideas comes up and then we make a poll. We can use the poll as a way to fix the first topic, and then the ones following?

Sounds good, Doc. Go for it.

LightningBolt

Deleted User wrote: »

So it's not "manly" to want to look after yourself and wanting to look your best?

In fairness I never said it's not manly. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look well, if more men took care of their everyday appearance I'd be pretty happy. However, as it's TGC I'd like it to also include stuff on general handy stuff like how to fix a car (quite difficult but you get the idea). How about, I have to cook dinner for a girl tonight, recommend me something to cook. We could do a how to create your own cinema room, all pretty cool manly things (cooking might be a step to far for some!).

Agreed on health advice too, that would be a welcome addition.

Sofiztikated

As for the advise on which fragrances is nice, that's subjective, and depends entirely on the man.

I know some people that like Joop, and on them it works quite well, on me, it smells like tom cats' piss. It's down to chemistry and all that sciency bolix.

However, a descriptive review of the fragrances would be better. The base notes, mid notes and top notes, so that TGC'er can see what is in a fragrance, and find out what suits them as a man. See my thread here on "What you smell of" for an example of what I'm talking about.

I think general man skills would be appreciated. Such as how to open a bottle of beer with another bottle of beer, how to change the oil in your car, how to change a tyre, and so forth. Skills that you SHOULD have been taught, rather than obtuse angles and other shíteology.

As for shaving, I would refer to either the Beards and Facial hair forum, or Mantic59 on Youtube. That man knows shaving.

Dr Galen

Ok, so far then we have the following options to kick off with:

1. After shaves and Fragrances for men
2. Buying/Wearing/Looking after suit
3. Interviews
4. Shop suggestions for buying all items Gentlemanly
5. Buying a goodf pair of shoes & How to properly polish boots/shoes
6. Hand shakes & Greetings
7. Checking yourself for testicular cancer - Facts & Figures also
8. Getting STI checkups and what's involved
9. I have to cook dinner for a girl tonight, recommend me something to cook
10. How to create your own cinema room
11. General man skills

I'll create a poll for all of these options and we can leave that for a few days. That can decide what we kick off with. When the group decides on what we run with first, I'll PM the person(s) suggesting it and we can put together an OP. That way things can have a wee bit of structure.

I know there will be crossover with a few other fora in some of those topics, but what we'll do is contact the Mods of those fora, and get them to weigh in with some of their own advice, and also create some links to said forum. That way, maybe the people here will go visit another part of the site and pick up some more ideas/knowledge.

Anyone any good at sig design? Maybe drop me a PM when you get a chance?

TouchingVirus

Loving the suggestions, really will be a good addition to tGC so kudos to you again Doc.

If you're looking for a sig I'd suggest the Sig Requests thread in Digital Art and Design, they're the ones who're skilled at this stuff Look forward to the poll

Dr Galen

Done

OldGoat

Some future topic suggestions:
Things you can make with wooden pallets.
Songs you can play with just 3 simple chords.
How to repair a puncture.
Chopsticks for beginners.
There are more drinks then just larger.
How to iron a shirt.


Really like the basic cooking suggestion.

TouchingVirus

OldGoat wrote: »

How to iron a shirt.

Just to expand on this, how to iron trousers (without a trouser press). Trousers are not jeans, they need to have the fold/crease down the front/back

drewbedo

looks like your only problem now is trying to pick few issues and start some threads upon them...there are many great suggestions.

Deedsie

I think a topic on nutrition could be good. I know the nutrition and diet forum is there, but this could be focused more to the nutritional requirements of men? For training etc?

We could keep it to items broadly available in Ireland! I often find some of the ingredients recommended on the nutrition and diet forum are completely alien to me. I wouldnt know where to buy them or what they are.

norrie rugger

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Not so much a how-to with pictures, but a recommended link/guide/schedule/whatever for checking yourself for testicular cancer. It shouldn't even be perceived as an old person thing these days, testicular cancer gets the young folks too (as do most other cancers). It's something that's oft overlooked by a lot of gentlemen, and it shouldn't.

Any excuse whatsoever to post this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu2K4eIqxd4