5 Indian Male Beauty Influencers Nailing The Internet: Normalize This Please!

“You don’t have to be of a certain gender to follow your passion. No matter even if it is precisely done by a man or a woman”.

Makeup or the use of cosmetics on the skin is still considered “Female Like” is not just in India but many countries. What do we do, if we feel like watching tutorials on them exclusively available on YouTube? We look forward to Female featured channels because we have this notion in our minds that only Women can do makeup and not men. As we move forward with modernism the gender demarcations that were once restricted under certain norms are slowly easing, vanishing and people have started to accept themselves and things that gives them happiness. 

The social media age and proliferation of our thoughts have played a huge role in breaking the ground records. We all remember the magazine “CoverGirl” when it announced James Charles as its fresh face. 

Would you believe that 2 0ut of 10 Beauty Influencers in the World are male? Not because they find themselves feminine but the answer to it is that “they simply love doing makeup”. 

Have you ever noticed that nowadays, when babies are born, he or she is assigned colours according to gender? Blue for a boy and colour pink for her. Well, how can we decide that he or she is going to like a certain colour and not vice versa? Yes, that is what society does to all of us, it sets a benchmark right from our childhood of what to do and what not to. Men are expected to be stiff, hard and not cry or break down whereas, women are considered to be graceful, implicit and soft-spoken.

A brief look on the history: Makeup was never feminine, instead in 4000 BC men used almond kohl to create eye extensions and design it in whichever way they felt was suiting them. But after modern history, Men in Rome used to dabble their face with powdery substance mainly known as highlighters now. Limiting to not just this, they used to apply nail extensions and beautify them. 

Now, in today’s urban era “women culture and femininity” has taken away the lead and male grooming is considered a “not so normal phenomena”. Male’s skincare is acceptable to a fact that it shouldn’t reveal he has worn some “made-up” stuff. Thankfully, something which was considered before the advent of the internet and social media trend as “Girl-Thing” is now coming out as “My-Choice” with many backings, support and hashtags to the culture of this gender stereotype. Now the industry selling male grooming products is a multi-million worldwide. 

TSA brings you 5 most EYE-CONIC Indian Social Media Beauty Male Influencers who have “Knocked The Culture” with their style and nailed it by kicking the stereotypical society out!

• Siddharth Batra: A 26 years old guy coming from Delhi, raised in the suburbs of ‘men doing physiques’ emerges as a beauty vlogger sounds strange right? That’s what exactly the journey so far been for Siddharth when he in February debuted via his videos for the first time in his life with a hashtag that said #GuyBeautyVideos on Instagram. It could be rare that he was accepted then, chances fairly less but he continued to do what he was there for. For a change and to tell people, the netizens that ‘Beauty and Makeup has NO GENDER’. He received hate, most of it follows even now as he says in most interviews that goes candid on him but what kept him alive, optimistic and determined to go on with the page was only that he can do makeup, teach makeup and influence others like any other female artist on the internet. On February 28 when he released his first video he captioned it “Should anyone and everyone use makeup? Hell yes!”. 

Batra is amongst the top Indian male influencers searched daily on the internet for his eccentricity that sets him apart. 

• Ankush Bahuguna: An Architect student drops engineering to pursue his dreams of Content Writing, is now an Instagram sensation Ankush, who grabbed the limelight through his makeup videos lately. The only motive behind this was to break stereotypes and normalize the gender-based culture. His works speak volumes of him and the techniques he shares on his channel is widely appreciated but as you say, where there is appreciation, there is criticism that stays too. Bahuguna in an interview with Brut shared his experiences of being called by derogatory names that questioned his sexuality. He to haters only said that it’s not the eyeliners that scares them, but his confidence. He posts videos regularly and has always been vocal about him getting attracted to makeup since the start.

  

• Shakti Singh Yadav: Shakti is another male beauty and lifestyle influencer on social media who thinks that makeup has an ability to elevate stress and boost confidence in men, just like it does to any woman. Makeup has no gender and male grooming is important, is what he has been rightly preaching since the start. Shakti’s top videos include Korean makeup tips and tricks in which he confidently teaches people how makeup can hide flaws of the skin. He advocates that cosmetics heal you, your skin and shall never be associated with any gender. It is open, and there is always a need for certain acceptance.

  

• Jason Arland: An internet sensation who is India’s top beauty influencer reveals that he was 14 when beauty and cosmetics first attracted him. He didn’t really plan this career and it just happened with time. He did everything that came as a culture shock to many, modelling in a feminine appearance and even stitching his own clothes when needed. He was a man who was battling gender stereotypes which were socially constructed when a man did makeup. He uploads makeup tutorials and poses for a lot of magazines wearing makeup, confidently. He started his brand career with Lakme in Bombay and is today amongst the most viewed influencers on beauty and male grooming.

  

•  Zeeshan Ali: You might have noticed this man posing beautifully for Sabyasachi in the red outfit that Actress Priyanka Chopra wore at her wedding ceremony. Recreating the feel for a shot was done alarmingly well by Zeeshan and people had mixed responses, a fact that a guy could do that. A student of medicine drops and pursues his dream of beauty, fashion and later influencing, might sound strange but his videos and photoshoots, gracing the cover pages of several magazines do not. He made videos and uploaded which went viral in no time. His Insta handle has every bit of detail on his life that revolves around fashion. He has nothing to do with blatant opinions and is stiff when his happiness comes as a priority. He does makeup, goes out and flaunts exactly how he is. He is most active on Instagram and Facebook with his make tutorials and has kicked the society made gender choices.