But guys are less likely to accept product claims at face value

Eva Friede, Gazette Fashion Editor

Let’s call him Marty.

He spends $300 to $400 a month on skin care, including a $290 cream by Valmont and a regular facial at the gentle hands of his favourite esthetician.

Why?

“Because I’m vain,” said the 60-year-old estate planner, who changed his mind about being identified in The Gazette soon after our interview.

He also works out four times a week, watches what he eats and takes supplements for his skin. “My face is excessively good.”

Irene Yiannatsoulia, owner of Spa de Molinard on Laurier Ave. W., agreed that her client looks a good 10 years younger than his age. “My kids call me a metrosexual,” Marty said. “I should have been born a woman.”

Everybody wants to look younger, he said, but he hasn’t had plastic surgery or injections at least not yet. He does not have the nerve for that, he claimed.

“He doesn’t need to,” Yiannatsoulia chimed in.

Marty might be the rare man who spends that much, but men are buying into skin care big time.
Sales of men’s skin-care products in Canada grew from $5.1 million in 2001 to $12.5 million in 2006, an increase of 142.8 per cent, or 19.4 per cent compound annual growth rate. In the same period, overall sales in skin care rose to $955.5 million from $656.2 million, or 46.8 per cent, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

Men are looking for the finest products, clinically proven results and clean packaging without any frou-frou, said Euromonitor research analyst Virginia Lee. And whereas women will put up with initial tackiness in their skin creams, men insist on a lightweight feel and no greasiness, she added.

“It remains to be seen if they will pay as much as women,” she added, noting premium brands have only recently added men’s lines.

Yiannatsoulia said her clients believe in the expensive products. It’s a matter of trust, she said.
“Your skin talks to me,” she said, recommending certain products from her arsenal of lines like Esthederm, Darphin, Valmont, Cellcosmet and Ishi.

It’s very tempting and expensive to try her regime. Yiannatsoulia, 35, who trained in Paris with Darphin, has flawless skin.

“It’s all about hygiene,” she said. That, sunscreen and the proper mix of exfoliation, whitening, collagen and tightening products.