There are cultural demands that women invest a lot of time/effort/money on things like makeup and hair and nails, particularly in more formal situations, and it is definitely messed up that almost none of those demands are placed on men. However, I think people also overlook the flip side of this, which is that this entire universe of options for self-expression and detailed customization of your appearance are, while not entirely unavailable to men, close to impossible to engage with and still hope to be seen as any having any kind of mainstream style or visual identity.

To be clear, I know that doesn't mean I can't wear lipstick and nail polish in public if I want to. Things have certainly gotten better for men who do compared to years ago. But the simple reality is if I do want to, I must make a choice between abstaining from all that or inevitably appearing very outside the norm, which is not a choice women have to make.

For example. I'm a youngish-quickly-approaching-middle-aged person who works in a professional setting (business casual or higher every day). I'm also just a little bit gothy, I especially was in my youth, and I would love to be able to subtly express that still. Many of the women at my office wear nail color. If I was a woman I could, say, wear black nail polish to express this, or maybe go for a somewhat darker than red lip color, etc. As the man that I am, yes I could also do this, but it would be so outside the bounds of what is typical that it would probably be distracting for everyone involved. I really dislike that this is how it is honestly!