Try chucking out his woolly pullies

DOM SAYS:

Well, first, I’d say good for you that you’re still so into maintaining your looks.

Many of us — myself included — hit a certain stage in our lives when we feel supremely comfortable in our own skin and the opinions of others simply become less important.

I have to say, it’s a rather nice feeling, but I suppose one can take it too far.

And I can see that if you’re still making a huge effort to stay beautiful, groomed and trim, then it might be a little galling that he’s chosen to give up.

There’s nothing wrong with being a bit old- school shabby, but we all know someone with overly abundant ear hair and that’s definitely not acceptable. So, on to a solution. It seems to me that it wouldn’t be too awful should you accidentally ‘lose’ one or two of his older woolly pullies. And maybe the trousers or jeans that he’s worn for three weeks on the trot could find themselves walked into the wash or — worse — shrunk in the machine. These things do seem to happen sometimes. Baffling as it is, we chaps have to accept it.

(That said, if my wife is reading this, I have several favourite shirts which are only slightly frayed on a collar or a cuff and I would be very disappointed to find that they had mysteriously vanished overnight.)

Another option is that you could choose to withdraw certain services. So you could say that you will only cook supper if he puts on a clean shirt or has a shave or whatever. And, of course, there are other things you could tell him you’ll be withdrawing, too, unless he smartens himself up!

Joking aside, this could actually be a serious business.

At 54, I’m aware that midlife men can get little bit lazy, and fingers crossed that’s the case here, because the alternative is that your husband is, in fact, feeling depressed.

If you do feel that he is down, then I’d strongly suggest a trip to the doctors to make sure that all is well.

My sincere hope, though, is that actually, his self-esteem is a little too high and he simply doesn’t care.

In which case, either try not to care yourself, or simply snaffle the offending clothes and book him a trip to the barbers.