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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To tell DH I hate his new look?

256 replies

topazyouth · 07/11/2022 06:25

Name changed for this because I feel like a bitch (and also in case anyone recognised the description!)

DH has recently decided to sort of grow his hair out and grow a long straggly beard. He's fair so his beard is red. I've attached a Google image to illustrate the sort of look he's going for although he does not look like this... he's the 'nailed it' versionHmm

I hate it. I don't find him attractive at the moment and now go out of my way to avoid sex because it actually turns me off. I am embarrassed to be seen out with him- as is DD1 who is 15. For the first time in 17 years I have started looking at other men and fancying them (I wouldn't cheat).

WIBU to tell him how much I hate it? I love him to pieces and if it were a disfigurement he had no control over I would feel differently but he's choosing to look like this. I have told him I think it looks silly before- as have his mates - but he doesn't seem to care...

To tell DH I hate his new look?
OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Antaboo · 08/11/2022 11:28

To offer an opinion on if it appeals to them yes, but not to say it looks stupid. That's just being a cunt
**
On balance I'd appreciate my spouse telling me if they thought I looked stupid; I wouldn't call them a cunt.
**

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 08/11/2022 11:29

Antaboo · 08/11/2022 11:28

To offer an opinion on if it appeals to them yes, but not to say it looks stupid. That's just being a cunt
**
On balance I'd appreciate my spouse telling me if they thought I looked stupid; I wouldn't call them a cunt.
**

No? Well they would be

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 12:15

Antaboo · 08/11/2022 11:28

To offer an opinion on if it appeals to them yes, but not to say it looks stupid. That's just being a cunt
**
On balance I'd appreciate my spouse telling me if they thought I looked stupid; I wouldn't call them a cunt.
**

Or they could just tell you that they, personally, didn’t like a certain look. I can’t imagine DH telling me I ‘looked stupid’ because a certain aspect of my appearance wasn’t to his taste.

But, then again, he loves me and he isn’t an arsehole. So, I suppose there’s that.

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 12:16

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 08/11/2022 11:29

No? Well they would be

This made me laugh. But, also, very true.

Charcy · 08/11/2022 12:19

saltinesandcoffeecups · 07/11/2022 20:21

Good luck with OP. I totally find that ultimatums are the bedrock of a healthy relationship.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

potniatheron · 08/11/2022 13:43

thelobsterquadrille · 08/11/2022 10:55

If OP's DH looks stupid, of course she's right to tell him. That is what a loving wife does.

But it's only her opinion there's he looks stupid. Why does she get to decide for him?

Not just her opinion. His mates have also told him that it isn't the right look for him.

Fattoushi · 08/11/2022 14:00

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 12:15

Or they could just tell you that they, personally, didn’t like a certain look. I can’t imagine DH telling me I ‘looked stupid’ because a certain aspect of my appearance wasn’t to his taste.

But, then again, he loves me and he isn’t an arsehole. So, I suppose there’s that.

Can you imagine him telling you that you looked stupid because you did in fact look stupid though? Because that is the point here.

ReneBumsWombats · 08/11/2022 14:04

If he really does look like a homeless Ian Beale then yes, he looks stupid by common consent. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but there'll be a general consensus. His wife is the one who has a sexual relationship with him so if she finds it repulsive, that's her prerogative and right.

The Viking in the OP isn't my type, but it's obvious he's nailed the aesthetic.

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 14:15

Fattoushi · 08/11/2022 14:00

Can you imagine him telling you that you looked stupid because you did in fact look stupid though? Because that is the point here.

There is no look that is objectively stupid. There’s only subjective opinion.

If someone is wearing something that they think looks great and you think looks stupid, there is no metric that decrees your opinion is the correct one. It’s simply your opinion. Which, as an adult, you should be able to convey without insulting your partner. Unless you’re an arsehole.

That is the point.

ReneBumsWombats · 08/11/2022 14:45

If you look like a man who has been deliberately styled to look as if he's homeless and unkempt, most people are going to think you don't look good.

Fattoushi · 08/11/2022 15:00

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 14:15

There is no look that is objectively stupid. There’s only subjective opinion.

If someone is wearing something that they think looks great and you think looks stupid, there is no metric that decrees your opinion is the correct one. It’s simply your opinion. Which, as an adult, you should be able to convey without insulting your partner. Unless you’re an arsehole.

That is the point.

True of course, but if everyone who looks at you thinks you look stupid, that is a lot of subjective opinion. At some point you just have to accept that you look stupid.

Other people are the ones looking at you, not yourself. Why do you imagine your opinion on how you look is the most important?

CFLandlordStory · 08/11/2022 15:10

I hope my DP would tell me if he didn't like a look i was choosing and I'd like to think id tell him if it were reversed.

How did it go OP?

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 15:11

Fattoushi · 08/11/2022 15:00

True of course, but if everyone who looks at you thinks you look stupid, that is a lot of subjective opinion. At some point you just have to accept that you look stupid.

Other people are the ones looking at you, not yourself. Why do you imagine your opinion on how you look is the most important?

True of course, but if everyone who looks at you thinks you look stupid, that is a lot of subjective opinion.

So what, though? It’s still just other people’s opinions. Also, we’re not running a survey on everyone that looks at us, but unless you live in a particularly parochial hellhole, it’s unlikely that everyone has the same view on any given subject.

At some point you just have to accept that you look stupid.

No, you do not. Absolutely no counterculture or counterculture fashion would exist if this were the case, and the world would be the poorer for it. Nobody has to accept that they look stupid because other people think so. One’s appearance is fortunately not subject to democratic vote.

Other people are the ones looking at you, not yourself.

Mirrors exist. Most people know what they look like.

Why do you imagine your opinion on how you look is the most important?

That is a truly bizarre question, that indicates a troubling mindset and quite a lot of entitlement. A person has full agency with regards to how they present themselves and no responsibility to please others with said appearance.

In this specific instance, OP is entitled to her (subjective) view on her husband’s appearance and should communicate that to him. However, there is no objective metric by which her view is ‘right’ and he’s under no obligation to agree.

SleeplessInEngland · 08/11/2022 15:37

You can tell him but be prepared not to make any drastic changes to your apperance in the future as he'll certainly have something to say about it too.

Fattoushi · 08/11/2022 15:53

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DarkKarmaIlama · 08/11/2022 15:56

Good lord that’s grounds for divorce 😂😂😂

Icantthinkwhat · 08/11/2022 16:03

I agree with the stance of what looks stupid to one person may look lush to another. That is not the point here.

I can look at someone in the street covered in piercings and think wow.. we would that obviously attractive man/woman do that to themselves and in my subjective view make themselves look deeply unattractive. Yet I can also understand that to many people it does the exact opposite and makes the person an object of extreme desire to many. Horses for courses.

However, this is not about subjective opinion of the many. This is about sexual desire between spouses. People get together with their other halves initially because they find them sexually attractive. Then following (for want of a better word ) courtship, they may find the surface attraction extends to character making it likely a relationship that will continue if these feelings are mutual. That's how relationships last. That's how love begins and develops.

If after a time that person changes that initial attractive persona be it in physical appearance or character then there is a very strong chance the sexual desire will diminish. BUT that has a HUGE amount to do with intent.

If my husband developed (God forbid) diabetes and ended up losing a leg, having kidney problems and subsequent ED.. would I leave him ? Hell no. It's not a choice . My love for him would mean I would support him and care for him and continue to love him. Likewise, should I develop breast cancer and need a mastectomy, would he fuck off with the next woman with breasts . No of course not. But when your spouse deliberately goes out of their way to make a radical change to their appearance out of CHOICE, that renders the partner sexually turned off, then of course it's her choice not to have sex with him.

What would be hugely unfair is the idea NOT to tell him. They are both adults with autonomous behaviour. To refuse sex but not to tell him why is an awful way to go and leaves everyone confused. The wife for failing to understand his lack of Will to change and the husbands lack of understanding as to why his wife no longer fancies him.

It's NOT an ultimatum. It's a statement of fact. I hope everyone on this forum agrees that no one. Married or not has the right to expect sex. Or indeed is required to have sex when they don't want to. All Topazyouth needs to do is state her truth. His new look turns her off. Her husband is then a complete liberty to make any decision he likes based on that knowledge.

He may well find his 'quasi Viking-homeless-Ian Beale' look is liberating and so important to him that it is more important to him than his wife and marriage. Or he may be mortified that she is turned off and decide a wife who fancies him is a much more life fulfilling situation and decide to get a shave and a haircut.

His choice at the end of the day. We none of us have control over what we find attractive. It's one of the few things where are basic biological instincts are still very much in play.

MrJi · 08/11/2022 16:08

Madamecastafiore · 07/11/2022 06:58

Can you just be completely honest and tell him you love him and of course fancies him but he doesn't have the necessary attributes (thick lustrous hair and the body of a god) to carry this look off but does in fact resemble Ian Beale during his homeless phase, cat weasel or perhaps the older of the Steptoe characters?

Made me laugh a lot but I would do this too..
DH has thinning hair and if it gets too long it looks terrible. I tell him, because he is always busy and doesn’t really care much about appearance yet I do. That may make me shallow but it is how I feel. The same as I would tell him if he was stinky (he isn’t ). Personality makes us love someone, but aesthetics count towards attraction. Putting on a bit of weight, or ageing generally, eg losing hair, all those things are normal and fine, but unkempt and looking like a tramp is different, unless you aren’t well.
There are lots of unattractive things DH could do, he could grow really long nails, have a bald patch with long stringy hair, wear ripped jeans and double denim… any of these would make him deeply unfanciable ! I think he would feel the same about me if I became a middle aged goth, or had lots of plastic surgery.
Just tell him Op. then he can make the choice, keep his look, or be fancied !

itsjustnotok · 08/11/2022 16:08

@Isittrueornot she then went on to say she couldn’t take him to black tie events for work. So I’d say she’s embarrassed by it not just finding it unattractive!

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 16:21

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Oh please! How self absorbed are you?

You are a person who says things like “Other people are the ones looking at you, not yourself. Why do you imagine your opinion on how you look is the most important?” I’m not the one that is self absorbed.

If you do not care in the slightest whether your look is appealing to at least your partner, if you don't give a crap whether they find you attractive, your relationship is dead. It's over, you;re too self absorbed, you don't care about them.

I neither stated nor implied anything of the sort.

You seem very stressed out by the idea that opinions are subjective and that it’s possible to express said opinions to one’s partner without being an arsehole, which is what this exchange addresses. That is very weird, indeed. My relationship is excellent, thank you. How’s yours?

I suppose it’s fortunate that neither your capacity for rational thought nor your reading comprehension impact me.😊

5128gap · 08/11/2022 17:22

In an effort to demonstrate how cool and non controlling they are, some people are being a little disingenuous I think.
If the look in question falls within your own range of acceptable its easy to get on your high horse. But I'd be amazed if those people have literally no line over which their partner could cross before they were turned off or embarrassed by them.
Coco the clown outfit in Tesco?
Adult baby at parents evening?
Hair grown out and styled like Barbie, worn with a beard?
If there is literally nothing your partner could do to his appearance that you'd object to, you're very rare indeed. Otherwise you just have a line that's in a different place to the OP, but the principle remains the same.

Fattoushi · 08/11/2022 17:27

Of course they are. None of these cool wives would be seen dead with Catweasle, in real life!

RishisProudMum · 08/11/2022 17:45

5128gap · 08/11/2022 17:22

In an effort to demonstrate how cool and non controlling they are, some people are being a little disingenuous I think.
If the look in question falls within your own range of acceptable its easy to get on your high horse. But I'd be amazed if those people have literally no line over which their partner could cross before they were turned off or embarrassed by them.
Coco the clown outfit in Tesco?
Adult baby at parents evening?
Hair grown out and styled like Barbie, worn with a beard?
If there is literally nothing your partner could do to his appearance that you'd object to, you're very rare indeed. Otherwise you just have a line that's in a different place to the OP, but the principle remains the same.

Speaking personally, if my DH did something to his appearance that I found unattractive, I’d tell him. And I’d expect him to tell me if I did.

However, I wouldn’t tell him he ‘looked stupid’ or any other pejorative (I understand that this isn’t what you are advocating, but a certain pp seemed to have some difficulty with this), because that’s not how we speak to each other. I’d say I didn’t like it.

I would also be fully aware that it was my subjective opinion, not some sort of universal truth. I’d expect my opinion to be important to him, but that still doesn’t make me the arbiter of good taste or his appearance.

LookItsMeAgain · 08/11/2022 17:52

@MonkeypuzzleClimber - I am literally breaking my sides laughing at a man that looks like a cross between William Shakespeare and Worf! What a combo!!! My ribs hurt from laughing.

That photo you posted in your opening message @topazyouth - that bloke is really attractive. Is it the red hair in the beard or the thickness/growth quality of the beard that your husband is growing that you're not attracted to? I personally didn't like kissing blokes with facial hair (still don't when my DH grows a beard). I don't like the feeling.

If the hair is an issue too, can you 'treat' him to a pampering day in a barbers or hair salon so that he can have some treatments done and perhaps it might make a difference?

NahBro · 08/11/2022 18:04

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