MEN’S GROOMING
be an opportunity to put in some extremophile plant extracts - after all this is the kind of product designed for the kind of guy who boldly goes where nobody has gone before. So, protection against extreme environments would really be appropriate. It would also need to use mainly green ingredients. If you are out documenting the disappearing planet you do not want to be destroying it while you are there. Palm oil free would be good, and certainly responsibly sourced as a minimum. Carbon neutral would also be logical. Innovative packaging would also fit the bill - not just recyclable, but fully compostable so that you do not leave behind a trace of your presence.
Long laptop session eye cream This is aimed at the budding tech entrepreneur who is still at the stage of staying up all night coding his start-up’s revolutionary new web service. There is no way to avoid a lot of screen time if you want to conquer the internet. There are already plenty of female orientated eye creams out there which would be a good model for this product. But this would be optimised for performance. You can get great glide across the skin with silicones nowadays, and maybe even fluorocarbons. This kind of consumer will be more interested in how well it works than how natural it is and will be interested in active ingredients with strong science stories behind them.
Indoor pollution protection face cream Nobody smokes anymore, except for the kind of bohemians who hang out in cool late night clubs. If you are the kind of guy who spends most of his disposable income in the night-time economy, then this will protect you from the worst effects of living on the edge. Face creams have always been about barrier function to keep the water in. Here we also want to prevent the particulate matter from smoke adhering to the surface. It would also be good to have a protective layer to prevent nicotine from penetrating the skin. This would be a good application of silicones.
Yacht owner’s sunscreen Very high SPF, very high water resistance. If you are on deck you need to protect against the sun and the spray. You should probably be getting used to it now - you can buy the yacht later. Water resistance instantly suggests silicones to the formulator, and they do a great job. Do not forget though that beeswax is pretty effective at that role too. A stick formulation might be helpful - you can keep it in your pocket for easy re-application.
Racing driver’s grip hand cream This will enable you not only to keep a firm hand on your steering wheel and gearstick, but you will also moisturise while you are at it. Motor enthusiasts might well know about additives to gearbox fluids that modify the rheology to prevent scratching. They would be open to the same idea in their hand cream. The product would contain powders incorporated to increase grip and so improve driving performance. This product could be a rare instance where the formulator’s choice of suspending polymer could actually form part of the marketing story. I would also imagine that hi tech actives like peptides would go down well with the kind of man who likes to know how things work.
www.personalcaremagazine.com
23
War paint Colour cosmetics are never going to suit the male level of patience. Most men have only the haziest notion of what any colour product more sophisticated than a tube of lipstick even is. They certainly are not going to be interested in colour palettes or blending. But they might, just might, buy into a colour range that is easy to use. They might be persuaded to take a photo of their face on their phone to send in to an expert. They can then work out what they need and send it straight back to them. The difference between the formulations for men and women would be minimal - largely just a matter of the colour palette. But the packing would be radically different. Bigger pack sizes, so you do not have to buy the things so often. Easy to open and use would be a prerequisite, to reflect the male impatience with anything to do with personal care. And there will be absolutely no point in spending money on making the pack look elegant or appealing.
Bike saddle chafing cream Cycling is huge nowadays and feeds a large market not only for bikes themselves but also for ancillary products. You do not just get on a bike and peddle somewhere anymore. You need a full lycra outfit complete with funny looking sunglasses and enough data gathering equipment to require a PhD student to analyse the statistics when you get home. It would be easy to include various personal care products that lend themselves to this kind of thing - particularly those that involve skin contact and friction. The saddle is the obvious pressure point, but grip products for the handle bars would make sense too. This could be positioned either as a way of minimising discomfort or of enhancing performance, or both.
Multipurpose Hair Gel This product plays into the male desire to free up time for important things by cutting down on routine activities. If you are going to use hair gel, why not include an insect repellent, something to prevent grey hair like bismuth sulfate and a pheromone to enhance your appeal to the kind of person you want to attract. That would naturally come in three varieties depending on whether you want to attract women, men or both. Microspheres offer almost limitless options for additives so no doubt even more functionality could be added.
Food Repelling Beard Oil The trend for extravagant and highly groomed beards has abated, but even the slimline versions that have followed them have the drawback that they can trap bits of your latest meal. This is pretty much the biggest drawback to full facial fluff. But maybe incorporating a quaternary compound into the formulation could provide sufficient anti-static action to keep your mane crumb free. This is, I will concede, not a straightforward thing to do. Oil is not a good medium for positive charges, so the trick would be to come up with a water- based product that nonetheless looked and behaved as if it were an oil. Rheological challenges are generally tough work for formulators, but beard owners will be grateful if it succeeds.
Conclusion Obviously some of these products are a bit far-fetched and to a greater or lesser extent a bit tongue in cheek. But I do not apologise too much for this. Skincare in general and male grooming in particular are likely to fragment into numerous niches. Products are going to need to become more and more specialised. They are going to need to appeal to narrower interests and needs, and so both the marketing people looking at the graphs and formulators working on the bench are going to need to think a lot harder about the kinds of products that are being sought. We will also need to work hard to deliver specific benefits for specific needs. We probably cannot expect too much in the way of feedback from the men themselves. Unlike the other half of the species, males do not tend to be very good at articulating what they are looking for in the way of products. Speaking personally, I am hoping someone will bring out a hard thinking forehead cream I can slap on when I get a particularly difficult brief I need to meet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colin Sanders is a formulator, beauty blogger, personal care business watcher and beauty futurologist. His lab is Colin’s Cosmetic Consultancy which focuses on skincare and regulatory support and is located in West Sussex, UK. His blog is
http://colinsbeautypages.co.uk
September 2021 PERSONAL CARE
PC
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
