Did you know that Lume was for women?

Story: Ralph Greco, Jr.

It’s bad enough we have all been seeing these commercials for this cream deodorant for the past year or so, making us all wonder how smelly we all must be. But it seems that the original Lume formula was made kinda, mainly for ladies.

The company’s new product, Mando! has been born, as the Lume site states:

Because we had so many customers asking for a men’s line, we simply had to find a way to make it happen. Plus, it was difficult for Dr. Shannon Klingman to keep a straight face while saying, “Trust your gynecologist guys, Lume is for you too!”

It seems guys were demanding a stronger scent to Lume, more masculine scents and more masculine packaging. God knows, all the guys I knew were talking about this, 24/7…

NOT.

Whether it’s Lume commercial or the ones where we are treated to D-list celebs going on about house scent machines that exude perfumes to make your dwelling smell like your most favorite hotel, I have been contemplating the self-hate we seem to have for our smells. Lucky Mando, with its signature scents of “Bourbon Leather,” “Mt. Fuji,” and “Pro Sport,” and “Heading,” will keep men smelling ok. Then again, men and women or even thos of us who identify as a tree, we all just might want to take to shower every so often.

Just sayin’.

It’s a funny old world we live in folks. And funnier still, is the human, trying like all hell to get along, find groups to belong to, not succumb to its frailties and occasionally rise up with what can sometimes be, some great achievements. Along the way, we get tripped up listening to other’s opinions or worrying over what others convince us we should be worries about.

So, go out and get your Mando, your Lume, your room sprays, you won’t get far from what you are…which, I don’t think is a very bad thing at all.

Thank you G.H for the idea.

Ralph Greco, Jr. is the devilishly clever nom de plume of professional writer/musician Ralph Greco who lives in the wilds of suburban New Jersey. He is also a podcast co-host, but as everyone has a podcast these days, this fact is of very little consequence.

Ralph can be reached by writing [email protected]