Cosmetics for Men?

MSNBC.com had an article on cosmetics for men—and I don’t mean women’s cosmetics for transgendered men—in the April 19, 2007 edition. The article was written by Lauren Sherman. Her lead sentence began thusly: “Hey, men: Don’t be surprised if very soon your toiletry kit contains not only shaving cream, deodorant and toothpaste, but concealer, oil-absorbing face powder and brow gel. That’s because guys are relying on an increasing number of made-for-men products like these to put their best face forward.”

This article didn’t surprise me because I’ve read similar pieces going back twenty years about how men are coming around to the idea of using cosmetics to enhance their natural masculine selves. Who knows, maybe this article on MSNBC.com will be the one that hits the nail on the head. But don’t bet on it.

It is true that certain hitherto femme-only cosmetic techniques have gained a fooththold in male society, namely “fake” tanning and facelifts. But even those are confined to a very select group of appearance-queens. And if you’ve seen photos of Kenny Rogers recently, you know how that can turn out for guys.

Still, the cosmetics industry believes it is reaching only half of its potential audience by appealing to women exclusively, so every decade, some enterprising cosmetics visionary decides to appeal to male vanity. Now, crossdressing aside, as men, we know that we have no vanity. Ahem. But wearing cosmetics in public … yeah, I don’t know, darling.

“I think men are much more receptive to the whole grooming concept from start to finish. Makeup is sort of the final frontier,” says Wendy Lewis, a beauty consultant and author of The Beauty Battle: An Insider’s Guide to Wrinkle Rescue and Cosmetic Perfection from Head to Toe. “They’re certainly concerned about camouflaging imperfections. The idea of a little light dusting of powder is no longer an extreme measure.”

Wendy, I don’t know what neighborhood you’re working in but a light dusting of powder on a man’s face in most workplaces—even in upscale, cosmopolitan workplaces—would probably create problems once the office rumor mill got going full steam.

Ah, but Wendy and the rest of the cosmetics industry is here to sell… cosmetics. So the rationalizations are flying fast and furious. According to the article’s own statistics, $4.8 million was spent last year on male “grooming products”. That is a mere drop in the bucket to a multi-billion dollar industry and probably less than they paid just one or two female, celebrity cosmetics endorsers. One independent cosmetics entreprenuer said her male line jumped 30% last year. That could mean selling one extra bottle of $30 male concealer to some unlucky sot but who’s really keeping track?

No, as I said at the beginning, I’ve been reading these articles about how male cosmetics are finally ready to break into public acceptance for a very long time–only to find that nothing has changed very much. Think of it: do you know any man who would go to the bother of applying makeup just to look better?

OK, present company excluded. Case closed.

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