Men And The Cosmetics

1.1. Background and problem:

Every one wants to be beautiful. The global world we are living in sets stereotypes that

become models. Models that are over represented all around us: in the magazines, on the

television, in the fashion shows, in the commercials, in the streets and even at work or at

school. It is a fact, everybody wants to look like the magazines’ figures, men as well as

women: a perfect skin and a perfect body for a perfect life.

This growing concern is a gold mine for the cosmetic brands.

But how to define cosmetics? Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the beauty of the

human body. It implies psychologically that you are compensating for something you do not

have.1 Cosmetics include products such as shampoos and soaps as well as make-up, hair cares

and perfumes.2

The women market is running since a large number of years whereas the business of selling

cosmetic for men is booming since a couple of year. The male body, before eclipsed by its

female counterpart, is more and more shown off in the media, advertisement or the cinema.

Nowadays, men are more conscious of their body and the need to conform to the injunctions

of youthfulness, healthiness, and thinness which make them go from “sanitarians to body

aesthetics”3. The development of fashion magazines for men reinforces this new concern of

the men for their appearance. The explosion of the male press in general goes hand in hand

with the one of consumption of beauty products for men. Thus, the men conform more and

more to certain patterns of beauty and are more sensitive to the cosmetics, like products

enable them to improve their appearance, to put it in scene, to dramatise it.4

However, although men use more and more cosmetics, it is estimated that their products are

still bought at 80% by their wife5. But, even if market research suggests that the women

expect their companions to take care of their appearance also, some still fear that the purchase

of cosmetic products call into question their virility, associating them to a female, effeminate

or homosexual universe; the stereotypes seem to have the hard life! Indeed, the body,

appearance, and the beauty reflect to the game of seduction and consequently with sexuality

and the object or rather about the desire: women versus men. Therefore, as research remain

relatively seldom when talking about cosmetics for men, it seemed important to understand

what

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