Trading Faces, the Latest Wrinkle

By J.D. Reed

After the shave, men are putting on masks and moisturizers

"Are you man enough to send for a free book on a very delicate subject?" asks the ad in a men's magazine. Bad breath? Dandruff? Body odor? Not quite. The latest wrinkle in self-improvement for men is skin care. It seems that after kidding the wife about all that goop she put on her face, some husbands were sneaking the stuff themselves. Now many men are coming out of the water closet and openly buying pricey new shave creams and such exotic accompaniments as toners, tightening masks, bronzers and even under-eye cream.

The estimated $45 million annual business in upscale conditioners, lotions and moisturizers is still only a small part of the $1 billion-plus men's grooming market. But it has tripled in size since last year. Customers are crowding a silver-gray men's skin-care counter in Chicago's Marshall Field for shaving tips by white-smocked saleswomen. Estee Lauder, which already had the Clinique and Aramis labels, this year added Lauder for Men. A $20 sampler kit of the new Lauder line sold out in less than a week at Bullock's in Los Angeles. Says Baxter Finley, who for two decades has marketed his Baxter of California men's line: "In the last four years everyone and his dog is into skin care."

A salesman's natural exaggeration, no doubt-Rover, get your paw out of there-but clearly there are new face values. "It's an attitude," notes Mark Searcy, co-founder of Interface, a California concern that expects to peddle $6 million worth of men's skin-care preparations this year. "Ten years ago, it was sissy to use a blow dryer. Now policemen and truck drivers use them." The new adventurers in the skin trade see it as an obvious outgrowth of, or perhaps they would prefer to say a smooth supplement to, the health-and-fitness craze.

Most aficionados are first attracted by the promise of closer shaves. Shoe Salesman Marte Mejstrik, 27, of Lincoln, Neb., tried Clinique's "allergy tested" shaving formula on his sensitive skin; it worked so well he went on to a variation of the twice-a-day, three-step regimen of complexion soap, "scruffing lotion" and moisturizer. Special creams like Solutions for Men shave gel complete with aloe vera sell for $7.50 for 3 oz., compared with $1.59 for a 7-oz. can of Gillette Foamy. The new products "give smoother results because they contain more lubricating emollients and fewer air bubbles than most foams.

Many new lines go well beyond the razor's edge. They contain everything from jojoba or wheat-germ oil to elastin or collagen, and most have no added fragrance. Lauder's top-shelf stuff includes Men's Skin Repair Complex ($35 for .87 oz.), which promises to produce younger-looking skin. Interface offers a beefy $44, four-product Work-Out Kit, including an eight-page illustrated brochure on when and how to apply such items as the Gripper tightening mask (twice a week) and PCA Day Moisturizer (outward strokes each morning and evening). A less costly label, Skin Control Systems, is co-owned by ageless TV Personality Dick Clark and is found in chain drugstores and military PXs.

In most stores, the majority of buyers are yuppies who want to shine up that fresh-faced look for their race up the ladder. "My father thinks it's awful. He uses Ivory," says John Gormley, 26, who is working for his architecture degree at the University of Texas at Arlington. "But it seems like in my age group everybody is using a lot of men's skin-care products." Blacks are among the most enthusiastic fans. J-Christopher Phelps, 22, a Chicago modern dancer, started with a shave cream to reduce the irritation of razor bumps, a curse of black shavers, and now buys products from different companies. "Once you get into the routine," he says, "you're hooked."

Dermatologists are among those not buying. The new goos may give smoother shaves, they concede, and they actively approve skin treatments with sun blocks, to head off wrinkles. But doctors say the moisturizers, tighteners and abrasive scrubs make little discernible difference. "It's more hope than help," says Beverly Hills Dermatologist Arnold Klein. "Most products will do only one thing: make the people who manufacture them wealthy."

The men's industry was more than inspired by the women's: in some cases the product is exactly the same. Crisp packaging and manly monikers have been critical, however, in attracting most male customers. Entrepreneur Jan Stuart's mail-order mixtures like Obsessive Nectar and Treasure were renamed Honey-Almond Scrub ($12.50) and Jojoba/ Elastin Under-Eye Creme ($15) and put up in clinically white jars for department-store counters. A new blush on the market is makeup for men, but it is not expected to make the same splash as skin care. Marketing strategists for the industry are concerned about avoiding a gay image and like to talk of how often their products turn up at the health club or the gym. Not in every locker room, of course. Los Angeles Raiders Head Trainer George Anderson says firmly, "I haven't seen any of it here, and I hope I never do." But the winds of change are blowing, and they can really dry out a guy's face. -By J.D. Reed. Reported by Thomas McCarroll/New York and Mary Wormley/Los Angeles

With reporting by Thomas McCarroll/New York, Mary Wormley/Los Angeles