David Ignatius devoted his Oct. 31 Washington Post column to the increasing narcissism of the American male. Reporting from the health spa of a Beverly Hills hotel where an attendant is stripping the hair from his back, Ignatius says he can't "help thinking that something bad is happening to men in our culture." No kidding. Ignatius pouts as the fur is torn from his shoulders, "It will be weeks before I can even look at a candle without cringing."
Too bad Ignatius missed David Skinner's prescient report on male vanity in these pages, "Notes on the Hairless Man" (June 21, 1999). But here's a tip for future reporters wanting to do the first-person angle on male vanity: You don't need wax. A mirror will do just fine.