从护肤开始 重新定义男子气概
David Yi had an early introduction to beauty regimes.
戴维•李(David Yi)很早就接触到了美容之道。
“Growing up in a Korean household, my mother would give us facials,” said Mr. Yi, the founder of Very Good Light, a website about men and grooming that goes online this week. “She’d put all these creams on me, and I dreaded it. But I started to realize it was indicative of how important it was to present yourself to the world.”
“我是在一个韩国家庭长大，从小母亲就会给我们做面部护理，”本周上线的男士美容护理网站Very Good Light的创始人戴维•李说。“她会给我涂各种面霜，我当时很讨厌。但我慢慢意识到，这说明了向世界展示自己是多么重要。”
His parents, who moved to Colorado from Korea in 1983, were also vigilant about his daily application of sunscreen, he added with a laugh, threatening punishment if he skipped it.
戴维•李的父母于1983年从韩国移居到了美国的卡罗拉多州。他们很注意让他每日坚持涂防晒霜，还威胁说如果他不涂就会受到惩罚，戴维•李笑着说。
Mr. Yi, 29, sat at a table at Dimes Deli in Chinatown, eating a gluten-free peanut butter cookie and drinking coconut water mixed with chlorophyll. He wore generously ripped black pants, a black T-shirt and a tattoo in script on his arm that read “elevate.”
现年29岁的李坐在唐人街的Dimes Deli餐馆里，正在吃无麸质花生酱饼干，喝着添加叶绿素的椰子汁。他穿了一条有很多破洞的黑裤子和一件黑色T恤，胳膊上有“elevate”（升华）字样的纹身。
After stints as a writer and editor for The Daily News, WWD and Mashable, Mr. Yi decided to lend his expertise to guys who didn’t grow up with an education in personal-care products. “Men are just supposed to figure it out,” he said. With Very Good Light, he hopes “to Redefine masculinity and to redefine men’s beauty.”
戴维•李此前在纽约《每日新闻》报(The Daily News)、《女装日报》(WWD)和新闻博客网站Mashable做过撰稿人和编辑，后来他决定拿自己的专业知识为不曾在小时候接触过个人护理知识的男性服务。“人们觉得男人应该自己去搞明白这些东西，”他说。他希望可以通过Very Good Ligh“重新定义男子气概和男性之美。”
The timing may be right.
这个时机或许是对的。
“A lot of guys resort to asking questions on Reddit, because they don’t know where else to go,” said Emily Weiss, the founder and chief executive of Glossier, a site that, along with Man Repeller and Refinery29, served as inspiration for Very Good Light. “The younger generation of men are embracing beauty and skin care in a more open-minded and forward-thinking way.”
“很多小伙子会跑到Reddit上提问求助，因为他们不知道还可以上哪儿问，”Glossier创始人兼首席执行官艾米莉•韦斯(Emily Weiss)说。这个网站连同Man Repelle和Refinery29都是Very Good Light的灵感来源。“更年轻的一代男性正在以一种更开放和更超前的方式接受美容与护肤理念。”
Chris Salgardo, the president of Kiehl’s and author of “Manmade: The Essential Skincare & Grooming Reference For Every Man,” said: “Now is absolutely a great time for a site fully dedicated to men’s grooming and skin care. Over the past year and a half, there’s been a growing conversation in our stores, and on my own social media, as men reach out with questions beyond basic skin care or shaving to learn more about anti-aging and ingredients.”
契尔氏(Kiehl)总裁、《肤在人为：男性基础护肤与个人护理指南》(The Essential Skincare & Grooming Reference For Every Man)一书的作者克里斯•萨尔加多(Chris Salgardo)说：“现在绝对是创建一家完全专注于男性个人护理与护肤网站的好时机。在过去的一年半里，在我们的店铺和我个人的社交媒体上，此类话题都越来越多，男士们提出的问题已经超出了基础护肤或剃须的范畴，而想了解更多有关抗衰老和成分的知识。”
Mr. Yi envisions his start-up capturing the spirit of skin care and grooming. “Big brands and media outlets are too afraid to push the envelope,” he said. “They are stuck in 2014 still talking about beard oil when no one has beards anymore.”
李设想自己的创业公司会捕捉到护肤与个人护理的精髓。“大品牌和媒体机构太害怕，不敢挑战极限，”他说。“它们停留在2014年，还在谈论须油，而现在已经没人留大胡子了。”
In one column on the site, influential men — the Diesel creative director Nicola Formichetti, editors and sports stars — talk about their skin-care regimen. (LeBron James is Mr. Yi’s dream interview.) There are stories on how to properly cover a hickey, an introduction to BB creams, and something titled “You’re Actually Parting Your Hair All Wrong.”
在网站的一个专栏中，他们会邀请有影响力的男性——迪赛(Diesel)服装设计公司创意总监尼古拉•福尔米凯蒂(Nicola Formichetti)、以及多名编辑和体育明星——谈论自己的护肤之道。（勒布朗•詹姆斯[LeBron James]是李最想采访的对象。）也有文章教你如何正确地掩盖吻痕，介绍BB霜，还会有这样的文章标题：“你分头发的方式实际上完全是错的”。
There are also features that take a broader approach to personal care, culture and what it is to be a man.
其中也会有一些专题文章更宽泛地探讨个人护理、文化，以及何为男人。
Six American Sikh men are interviewed about turbans, with photographs by Mike Tessier and styling by Christopher Kim, a former Carine Roitfeld assistant.
有六位美国锡克教徒就缠头巾的问题接受了该网站的采访，文中配有迈克•特西尔(Mike Tessier)拍摄的照片，造型师则是曾担任卡琳•洛菲德(Carine Roitfeld)助理的克里斯托弗•金(Christopher Kim)。
There is an essay called “Why I’m Not Afraid to Be Called Feminine,” about masculinity in black culture, and; a story about a biracial man who came to understand his mother through Korean skin care.
有一篇名为《为什么我不怕被人说女性化》(Why I’m Not Afraid to Be Called Feminine)的文章谈论了黑人文化中的男子气；另一篇则讲述了一名混血男子如何通过了解韩国护肤知识，渐渐理解了他的母亲。
Eventually there will be sex and dating. “We’ll talk about kissing and seduction, but it will be very PG-13,” Mr. Yi said.
最终还会有关于性和约会的文章。“我们会讨论如何接吻和诱惑对方，不过内容会是非常限制级的，”李说道。
Another eventuality is advertising. Right now, Very Good Light is a labor of love. “It’s not funded at all,” Mr. Yi said. “I have called in a lot of favors.”
另一个最终会出现的东西是广告。目前Very Good Light的工作是没有回报的。“完全没有资金投入，”李说。“我欠下了不少人情。”
The target market is Generation Z. “Sixteen to 26 is our sweet spot,” he said. “They are the first generation to be completely born on digital and the web. They’re savvy with social media and its risks.”
它的目标市场是Z世代。“16到26岁的男性是我们的理想受众，”他说。“他们是第一代完全成长于数字和网络时代的人，非常了解社交媒体及其风险。”
He considers this audience fearless and sexually fluid. His inspirations are the rapper Young Thug and the actor Jaden Smith. “They are so secure with themselves and their manhood that they will wear, quote-unquote, women’s blouses and skirts.” David Bowie “was very Very Good Light,” he added.
他认为这部分受众无所畏惧，在性别认知上也比较灵活。给他启发的是说唱歌手“青年暴徒”(Young Thug)和男演员杰登•史密斯(Jaden Smith)。“他们自我感觉很好，不担心自己的男子气受损，会穿所谓的女性衬衫或裙子。”大卫•鲍伊(David Bowie)“就非常Very Good Light，”他接着说。
Mr. Yi spoke of his own struggle to come into his version of manhood. “My masculinity was so different from the Western ideal,” he said. “Pampering yourself was seen as so effeminate. That’s what girls did.”
戴维•李也谈到了他在形成自己的男子气观念中遭遇的困难。“我所认为的男子气与西方的理念非常不同，”他说。“精心呵护自己当时被看作是非常女性化的，是女孩才会做的事。”
Korean pop (or K-pop) stars helped. “Looking at them, they wore guyliner, they had smoky eyes, they wore foundation and BB creams,” he said. His love affair with K-pop was such that his parents let him stay with relatives in Seoul while he was in high school so that he could try his hand at pop stardom. After a few months, he was signed but realized he yearned for the life of an American teenager: getting a driver’s license and going to the prom.
在这方面，韩国流行歌星帮了他的忙。“看看他们，他们涂男士眼影，化烟熏妆，也会用粉底霜和BB霜，”他说。他对韩国流行歌星的喜爱如此强烈，以致他的父母让他在上高中时留在首尔和亲戚一起住，以便他能尝试当流行歌星。几个月后，他签了约，但他意识到自己其实渴望过美国青少年的生活：拿驾照，参加舞会。
Still, he has kept one foot in Korea, which is now known worldwide for its multistep skin care. “I do seven steps: cleanser, toner, a mist, a serum, an essence, a moisturizer and sunscreen,” Mr. Yi said. “If I’m meeting someone special, I’ll do a cushion or concealer, maybe a highlighter.”
不过，他依然保留了与韩国的关系。这个国家如今以多步骤护肤为全世界所知。“我有七个步骤：洁面乳、化妆水、喷雾、精华乳、精华液、润肤霜和防晒霜，”戴维•李说。“如果要见什么特别的人，还会上气垫粉或遮瑕膏，或许再打一个提亮。”
