How YouTube Taught Me to Tie a Tie

Photo by William Stitt on Unsplash

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror. A bead of sweat formed at the side of my temple as I focused on the two of the tie in my hands. My phone sat on the shiny marble-top counter holding the sink. A paused Youtube video displayed on the screen. The search “How to tie a tie” had rendered numerous results; I tapped on a random one.

I didn’t venture in to “grown men” things like cologne and nice dress shirts until I was in college. My first cologne was a blind buy off of a friend’s recommendation. Luckily for me, I loved the scent. I scored a couple of ties from a monthly subscription box I received a discount code for. However, I lacked a proper teacher. Most young men learned about these types of things from their dad when they were growing up. It could have been a dad, an uncle, or an older brother. A big, wise pair of hands would guide them through the steps. Here I was, with only the pastel green walls and my own pair of hands trying to guide me through the process of trying to achieve a successful Windsor knot.

I would watch five seconds of the video and then pause it so I could try to replicate what the man in the video did. Then I’d un-pause it and watch the next step. Eventually, I got the tie tied into something that looked nothing like a Windsor knot. It looked like a kids’ shoelace after they hurriedly tied their shoe before resuming play. It was…