Let’s state the obvious here. Guys are so different than girls.
Maybe that’s why opposites attract, why iron (man) sharpens iron (woman), why a husband and wife balance each other out in a marriage.
So take a wild guess. Which one (the guy or the girl) is more likely to try natural remedies for wellness and support?
Yup, it’s the girl. And that’s just the way it is.
Now, why is that? What is it about women that’s more receptive to start using natural remedies for their family’s health, yet it’s commonly difficult to convince the man that this is a good idea? This is a roadblock that most women have faced with their husbands, boyfriends, or significant others, including with me and my family.
I’ve interviewed my husband (Blaine), my brother-in-law (Thomas), and my father-in-law (Neville) concerning this very issue. All are very different in personality and age. However, they had one thing in common: they ALL made fun of us girls during our shift to the natural side.
After speaking with all three of them, here is a list of reasons why they didn’t hop on the “nature train” until it was already chugging at full-speed.
#1: Mainstream Advertising
Neville: “Whenever I got hurt playing sports in my younger years, or if I was ever in pain, I just used whatever everyone talked about. Slapped on whatever balm or pill was given to me. And it was usually the most popular, doctor-recommended and advertised meds. We’ve been pounded with these mainstream medicine advertisements all of our lives to take this pill, take that pill.”
Blaine: “I always just used whatever was around. If I was in pain, I’d ask for your normal over-the-counter pain pill. It’s just ingrained in you.”
Thomas: “Most meds appear and seem more widely accepted and researched since you hear about it more and since you know more about it.”
If it’s on TV, in magazines, on billboards, or on display at the doctor’s office, more people are likely to use it. Just like anything that fights for more attention, it’ll get more attention. After all, that is a marketing/advertising professional’s job, is to make the product look more appealing and better than any other competitor.
#2: Side Effects? Who Cares, It Works!
Neville: “Most of the time, drugs worked for me. We don’t pay a lot of attention to consequences or side effects to using drugs. As long as it helped my pain, I didn’t care. The consequences and side effects of chemically-filled medications were secondary to the fact that it relieved my pain.”
Blaine: “I think people now are so accustomed to hearing ‘side effects may include’ and the long list that occurs after. Most people don’t know of many who have actually suffered horrible side effects to a drug, so you don’t really think about it. You just take it.”
Thomas: “Yes you’re taking a leap of faith with all of the side effects of many medications. But for me it worked, and didn’t cause problems, so it didn’t really matter.”
We’ve all seen the commercials. The beautiful woman frolicking in a meadow, dancing around flowers, trees, and wildlife, and acting as if her seasonal allergies aren’t bothering her one bit because of a pill she took. Then we hear the narrator talking (very quickly, I might add) about what the side effects may include (nausea, abdominal pain, headaches, increased risk for stroke, and in some cases….death, etc.). Yet, she looks so happy and so beautiful, surely we’ll be just as happy as her if we take that medication! Isn’t it funny how people are more apt to grab a bottle of chemically-filled meds with long lists of side effects, but natural remedies are held at arms length?
#3: Resistance to Change
Neville: “Of course, I’m not the type of person that is real receptive to change, at least that’s just how I am. I don’t even try new stuff when I go to a restaurant, I order the same thing every time. I think I can speak for a lot of guys who believe that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. If we find something that works, we’re going to stay with it.”
Blaine: “Most people think the ‘chemicals’ in medication are what helps them. I think it was hard for me to believe that the natural remedies could work the same if not better for my ailments.”
Thomas: “I was always just more comfortable with other over the counter meds. I knew what worked for me, and I just wanted that alone. And if I know it works, why would I change it?”
Anything new is unfamiliar. And when it’s unfamiliar, most of the time guys aren’t interested. They love continuity, they love being comfortable with things that are familiar to them. So is most things in life, but concerning natural remedies, that’s in a whole different category of unusual. That’s why people are most comfortable using their favorite meds and hesitant to try something natural. They’re afraid it won’t work as well, won’t bring the same effect, or that they simply won’t like it as much.
#4: Dude, Quit Being Weird.
Neville: “Guys don’t just sit around together and say ‘Oh, use this plant, man.’ You won’t go into a sports bar and hear a guy say ‘Hey man, did you try that natural remedy out?'”
Blaine: “It just sounded very voodoo-ish to me at first. I mean, I’ve just never heard of using natural remedies for wellness. I’ve seen people use essential oils as fragrances or perfumes, or to be anointed with at church - but using plants for anything beyond that was just odd to me.”
Thomas: “It was definitely outside the box. To me, it pretty much fell in line with the braiding of the armpit hair kind of thing.”
Clearly, natural remedies are out of the comfort zone for some guys. If they are not familiar with the product, it’s not something they are too comfortable talking about with their buddies or trying out themselves. Many who use holistic approaches are commonly viewed with the stigma of being “hippie-like,” overboard, or just flat out weird. But like anything that is not popular or widely accepted, there is going to be hesitance, criticism, and false assumptions.
#5: Lack of Knowledge
Neville: “To be honest, I’ve never even heard of people using natural remedies in this day in age, not until recently. Even once I started reading about them, it didn’t do much for me until my daughter experimented on me. And that’s what got me. When the women get us to use it, and if it works, then we’ll become faithful to it. It said something to me when I had my own personal experiences.”
Blaine: “I’ve always been open to alternative stuff, but I started noticing that natural products were becoming more mainstream lately. For me, the lack of understanding, not really knowing that plants were created by God for our personal use to help our bodies, was something I just didn’t get until later.”
Thomas: “Men tend to be more logical buyers. They’re just logical thinkers in general. So to spend money on a product I didn’t really know about was hard for me to agree on.”
The reality of it is, most men have “see-it-to-believe-it” personalities, and it’ll take a little pushing to get them there. More than likely, they have not researched the power of essential oils, making them more hesitant to give them a try.
So what do you do if your man is simply not buying it? Show him the research. And most effectively, USE NATURAL PRODUCTS ON HIM! Let him be your guinea pig, and let him see for himself how nature can help his mind, body, and health.
So. What do our guys think about it now, you may ask? Are they all aboard the nature train?
Oh. They’re not only on board, they’re pulling other guys they know on this train too.
Who’s laughing now, gentlemen?
For more tips, tools, videos, and ideas on how to get your guys to try out nature for a change, connect with Healthier Hannah by clicking on the social media icons below and select "follow."
