Every company that sells something to men has an ideal customer: Centrum has its active septuagenarian, Coors Light its twins-ogling frat boy. If the skin-care giants L'Oréal and Shiseido have their way, they will have Jim Muehlstedt.
Mr. Muehlstedt, 38, is a sales operations analyst for a computer company in Anaheim, Calif. More to the point he has spent "countless thousands of dollars" by his own estimation on facial cleansers and shaving creams. And he is now the right age to begin using skin creams formulated to fight wrinkles and other signs of age. He confesses to keeping an eye on his face, thanks to what he calls "the whole getting close to 40 thing." "You see one bad picture, one bad mirror," he said, "and you think something really went wrong."
Men like Mr. Muehlstedt are clamoring for anti-aging products, according to cosmetics makers. "Men were asking for them at stores," said Anthony Sosnick, the founder and chief executive of Anthony Logistics, a men's grooming-products company, which in June unveiled a line of anti-aging products called Solutions Based. "But there was nothing geared toward or priced for men."
Now there is. Anti-aging creams, lotions and gels for men, which started showing up in late 2003, are proliferating this spring. In March alone three men's labels rolled out age-fighting concoctions for men's skin, which is thicker and oilier than women's: Men's Expert, a child of L'Oréal, offers anti-wrinkle and skin-saving gels (available at CVS stores). Shiseido Men makes a "total revitalizer" (now sold at 77 department stores, like Barneys New York, but expected to be widely available by August). And Skin, a new label from the fashion designer John Varvatos, created in Shiseido laboratories, has a men's concealer as well as moisturizing and wrinkle-smoothing products (only at Saks, Nordstrom and in Mr. Varvatos's boutiques).
In the last five years men have been branching out beyond shaving cream and face cleansers, which explains why the larger market for men's grooming products has grown by 28 percent in that time, according to the NPD Group, a marketing research company. Last year "age specialist" products accounted for one-third of sales, said Karen Grant, a skin-care analyst at NPD.
The men's products have plain-spoken names like Hydrating Lotion, Circle Eraser and Stop Lines. The pots, bottles and tubes they come in have a no-nonsense look, all neutral colors and sans-serif fonts. And the products generally cost less than their counterparts at the women's counters. The most expensive item thus far is Skin's Face Revitalizing Gel, at $65 for 2.5 ounces. Shiseido's similar product for women, Future Solution Total Revitalizing Cream, lists at $225 for a measly 1.7 ounces.
L'Oréal, for its part, is even taking a macho approach to marketing: part advertising and part subtle terror campaign. Visitors to the Web site for Men's Expert (www.lorealparisusa.com/men/mensexpert/index.asp) are treated to a video simulation of a man's face aging from dewy teenager to jowly, sallow retiree. The accompanying message is chilling: "Face it. You're getting older. Don't ignore it."
But what is meant to be most manly about the new potions is how they are made. Hormones, the very things that make men men, make men's skin oilier and as much as 20 percent thicker than women's. "Testosterone production overwhelms the skin's sebum glands, which then produce more oil," said Scott Michelle, a chemist who helped develop Solutions Based. That also makes men's pores larger and more prominent and their wrinkles deeper.
The daily act of shaving complicates matters, said Dr. Sandy Tsao, a dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "Men need to shave constantly, so that irritation can lead to some discoloration and ingrown hairs," she said.
A women's product, which contains a lot of oil to treat women's drier and thinner skin, can irritate men's skin and clog their pores. Men's products "have to be easily absorbed and can't be greasy," said Alan Meyers, a senior vice president for research and development of L'Oréal.
Men's anti-aging products are thus notably lighter than their female counterparts but still share many of the same active ingredients. Of these science gives most credence to antioxidants - chiefly, vitamins A and C - which can help slow the development of wrinkles, splotchiness and roughness by preventing damage from free radicals and by exfoliating the skin. (Note to men who may not yet know that term: Exfoliate means to slough off weathered and damaged skin cells so that new ones can grow in their place.)
Below the surface these vitamins are said to stimulate the growth of collagen, a protein that gives skin shape and keeps it firm. But whether vitamins can actually be absorbed deeply enough to do this is a matter of debate among dermatologists.
The most borrowing from women for men occurs in Men's Expert and Shiseido Men, brands from companies with a long history of cosmetics research. Men's Expert's VitaLift face gel, for example, contains Pro-Retinol, a vitamin A compound, and Par-Elastyl. The second is a paraffinlike substance, which L'Oréal says can firm skin by inhibiting the breakdown of collagen and elastin.
Likewise, Shiseido Men products contain ononis extract, derived from the membrane that separates the epidermis (the top layer of skin) from the dermis. Shiseido says it can help strengthen that membrane if applied in a cream or gel.
To Dr. Monte Meltzer, the chief dermatologist at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, such ingredients are needless dressings. "As long as it moisturizes and it doesn't irritate, it's pretty much all the same," he said. "In my pediatric practice I tell parents to use Crisco. It's cheap, it's safe, and it works."
But if there is one thing the beauty industry has shown, it is that expert skepticism does not hurt sales. And while it is still early to see how well the new men's products will sell, they are said to be doing fine so far. "It's only just hitting the stores now, but Men's Expert is selling as well as Revitalist, our No. 1 women's skin-care business," said Rob Robillard, a senior vice president at L'Oréal Paris. And Shiseido Men is said to be selling faster than expected.
Business may be brisker still when the younger generation, which has demonstrated its greater willingness to spend money on grooming, comes of age. Joey Suchodolski, 18, a Philadelphian, has been buying skin-care products for a few years. He sees the day when he will buy more. "If I ever see the crow's-feet or the smile lines," he said, "I'm absolutely going to take preventive measures."