It’s hard to avoid being hypocritical here. On the one hand, as a man I feel a lot less pressure to fit myself into a particular mold or standard of appearance. I’ve been going gray since my 20s, so I’ve had time to accept that, and I’ve been more or less completely gray for over ten years. And I’m not bald, so I don’t ‘need to’ accept that, either – or deal with it in any way. But I think that what has allowed me a certain freedom from over-concern about my own appearance is that… women accept me for who I am, and men don’t care what I look like, nor do I care if they do.
On the other hand… I like young and young-looking women. I don’t deny it. I don’t always even recognize the art and artifice that makes them appear to be so delightful to my eye, but I have to say that I often do appreciate the result, even if I know that expensive surgery, cosmetics and even chemical alteration of scent is involved. And I know that other women usually know, and comment.
Which is not to say that once I’m attracted to a particular woman I don’t notice her charms beneath the edifice, and the ones that have nothing to do with physical appearance. At that point ‘what she looks like’ matters little to me, or at least “much less”.
Maybe G.K. Chesterton’s advice was best here, @seazen: “The best thing that that a man can do for his children is… love their mother.”