Men put best face forward
NEW YORK – Alex Grossman heads to the gym four mornings a week for an hour-long workout and shuns most carbohydrates to keep himself looking fit and vibrant.
The 35-year old advertising executive has a regimen for youthful skin as well: In the morning, he washes his face with a soap-free cleanser followed by a moisturizer and then a sunscreen. At night, he dispenses with the sunscreen but adds an eye cream. Every week or so he scrubs with an exfoliant.
“Your face is what people see, so I want to look as youthful and healthy as possible,” said the San Francisco resident. “There are a bunch of 25-year olds that would love to take my job. So to keep it I want to look as good as possible, but I also want to look good for myself.”
Whether they are prowling for promotions, business or mates, men are becoming more concerned about their appearance, driving up sales of male skin-care products and sparking the development of new lines in the process. While dismissed in some quarters as a metrosexual fad when it first surfaced in the late 1990s, the trend has shown staying power.
Sales of men’s skin care products sold in department stores jumped 13 percent last year, more than twice the total growth for the overall and women’s skin-care markets, according to NPD Group, a marketing information company. In 2003, revenues from men’s skin-care products rose 10 percent while the women’s and total market advanced only 6 percent.
The growth in the market isn’t relegated to the high-end products. Sales of men’s skin-care products surged 68.6 percent at mass market retailers compared to a 6 percent increase for women’s products, according to the research firm ACNielsen. Men’s shampoo and conditioner sales rose 17 percent while the market for women and unisex hair products was flat.
Expanding sales are driving cosmetics companies to introduce new men’s products, including department store brands such as Shiseido and Estee Lauder Cos.’ Clinique and mass-market lines from Avon Products, Gillette Co. and L’Oreal.
In September, drugstore chain CVS Corp. will introduce an exclusive line. The company quadrupled its shelf space for men’s grooming products last year and sales are up over 20 percent this year, said Suzanne Hock, CVS’ category manager for men’s grooming. The brands don’t seem to be swiping customers from one another because the category is growing rapidly, she said.
“There is just more cultural pressure on men to look good,” said Karen Grant, a marketing expert at NPD Group.
Former professional football player Fred Barnett said he really starting paying attention to his grooming products in the early 1990s.
He was being interviewed on a TV show, and “I was horrified by how I looked,” said the TV show producer and radio host.
Even though he is no longer in front of the camera, the 39-year old Philadelphia resident says he is constantly trying new products to keep a youthful appearance.
“I go through so many products,” he said.