Would John Wayne have used a moisturizer? Do real men care about their skin or worry that age is creeping up on them? From the amount of money men are spending on skin care products the answer would appear to be yes. Contrary to the stereotype that only women worry and primp about how they look, men are becoming more self-aware about their appearance and trying to fend off the affects of aging. You can call it submitting to ones vanity but the simple fact is that by some accounts, men are spending over close to ten billion a year on personal skin care products.



The notion that men want to look their best and forestall the aging process is not a new concept. After all, Ponce De Leon, a man, was best known for traveling the seas in search of the fabled fountain of youth. Does anyone think that he was doing it for women? Hardly the case it would seem since most wealthy men of that era were known for primping like peacocks as a way of showing off their social status. The search for the youthful fountain did not start with De Leon and stories of other quests for eternal youth can be found in the ancient Koran.

So the growing demand by men for personal skin care products has not been lost on the cosmetics and salon business. In the late nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies, salons that catered to men began to spring up offering many of the same services once reserved for a womens beauty salon. In addition to haircuts and styling, many salons started offering facials, manicures and lines of skin and hair care products designed and marketed to men. Now the packaging and fragrances may have been different but chances were that the same skin cream designed for women was the same skin cream sold to men.

The battle against skin aging in men is being waged on the marketing front. More and more advertising is showing up on television and various print media targeting a decidedly male demographic. Like the proverbial fountain of youth, the baby boom generation has discovered all manner of products designed to give the skin a more youthful appearance. Creams, moisturizers and skin toners, once thought of as only appealing to women, can now be found right along side the shaving cream, razors and aftershave. Not satisfied with just buying a good anti wrinkle cream, some men are even going the extra mile by submitting themselves to injections of botox and collagen in an attempt to hide wrinkles and other facial features once thought to give men a look of maturity.

So what can be driving men to seek the potions and treatments once thought of as the exclusive purview of women? Many theories have been advanced to explain this behavior and it may actually be a far more complex phenomenon than the explanations for why women seek to enhance their natural beauty. One possible explanation may lie in how the employment market has changed over the last several decades.

Occupations once dominated by men have increasingly been rendered gender neutral as more women have entered the work force. The result has been an increased competition for available jobs and men have found it necessary to gain an edge in the hiring process. Some experts contend that men also face more competition from younger workers. So it would seem that the skin care industry is responding to an increased demand for anti-aging products rather than creating that demand.

Whatever the reason, men have jumped on the beauty band wagon and do not appear to be getting off any time soon.