Why Men Don’t Care about their Skin
In all of the professional articles you read about men’s skincare, they always start with the data on how men’s skincare is ~booming~. These posts are an attempt to normalize men’s skincare just by talking about it. But here’s a tough pill to swallow: men just don’t care about their skin as much as women.
Sure, the statistics on men getting into skincare may be increasing year over year (largely due to beard care), but if you think about the men in your life are their skincare routines even remotely close to the average women’s? Of course not. This is not to say that all men don’t care about their skin (myself as living proof), but the benefits of skin health has yet to reach the mainstream man.
Are men a massive untapped market in the skincare industry? Absolutely. Can men eventually care about their skin? 100%. But marketing to men the benefits of ingredient XYZ that will cure their wrinkles and fine lines is not the way to reach men. Remember: men just don’t care (as much). Men don’t see their fine lines or dark circles as underlying health conditions let alone unwanted features to spend money on removing.
Three Traps of Lazy Marketing to Men
- The “Skincare is Manly” ApproachSeriously? Who approved that message? And yet we’ve all seen the hypermasculine ads of a man washing his face. Oftentimes this messaging is coupled with extrinsic motivation that women loooove a man with good skin. Downfall: Health should be intrinsic. Keyword: health—not appearance.
- The Magic ElixirThese ads are promoting all of the solutions to problems men did not know existed or even recognized as problems. Downfall: Expensive serums that solve unknown problems are not a solution.
- “Men’s Skin is Different”You’re a licensed esthetician. You know that skin is skin. “But men produce more oil than women.” Maybe on average, but I guarantee you have treated men with dry skin and women with oily skin. Downfall: Skin is universal and an esthetician needs to treat skin types not skin “genders.”
The Only Way to Approach Men’s Skincare
Now that we have identified how not to approach men’s skincare, let’s talk about what really matters. What men fail to see in their lack of care for skin problems such as dark circles or breakouts is that these are all signs of something else going on inside the body.
The skin is just a window into the health of what is going on inside. Want healthy skin without a healthy body? Forget it.
As estheticians, you have the unique opportunity to connect men’s skin health with the overall health of their bodies. And this is crucial for a group of people that are significantly less likely to see a doctor than women; for a group that goes to therapy at a far lesser rate than women. And yet, this is a group that on average does really care about their health.
The only way to normalize men’s skincare is to do the hard work in connecting it to holistic health. Understand what your male client’s diet is, how much sleep he gets, his daily stress levels, his work environment, and how much exercise and vascular activity he is getting.
Are eyes puffy in the morning after a bad night of sleep? Face breakout after eating ice cream? Most brands say they have a product for that. We say that we have a lifestyle for that. Brands that do not address the underlying problems only care about how you look. But how do you want to feel? That’s the difference we care about. Because an entire life and framework can be built inside the difference between look and feel.
You already know that these all play a role in the health of the skin. When you take the time to connect these dots for men you will truly be doing the work that it takes to change habits and lives. Connect with us at GM Revolution to help you make a difference in men’s skincare.