IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Macho gives way to metrosexual as Filipino men challenge stereotypes

By Cheryl Ravelo, Reuters

Beauty clinics catering to men are thriving in the Philippines, part of a booming market for male cosmetics in the Asia Pacific region.

Expensive facial treatments, pimple injections and whitening products are not within everybody's price range, but even rural menfolk are making an effort.

"We already have dark skin, we'll be ugly if we get even darker," said Romeo Apelado, 59, a fisherman wearing a worn-out mask made of pieces of fabric sewn together and a long-sleeved shirt to protect his skin from the sun, as he set out to fish for six to eight hours every day.

Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog

Fisherman Ompong Vargas, 39, who wears a facial mask made of fabric to protect his skin from getting darker, holds a fish in his mouth as he searches a net at Laguna de Bay in Taguig City, Metro Manila. During the dry season, fishermen earn $2 to $7 (70-300 pesos) per day.
Fisherman Ompong Vargas, 39, who wears a facial mask made of fabric to protect his skin from getting darker, holds a fish in his mouth as he searches a net at Laguna de Bay in Taguig City, Metro Manila. During the dry season, fishermen earn $2 to $7 (70-300 pesos) per day.Cheryl Ravelo / Reuters

EDITOR'S NOTE: Pictures taken May 22-27, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Cheryl Ravelo, Reuters