Do you still exfoliate?

Metrosexual man is fast becoming an endangered species, with the average British bloke spending only £2.50 a year on skincare products such as cleansers and facial scrubs, according to new research. The figure does not include basics such as soap.

The Mintel figures are dwarfed by the outlay women spend on skincare products; a whopping £602m a year compared to just £57m for men.

The news will come as a blow to cosmetics companies such as Estee Lauder with their Clinque's skin supplies for men, Beiersdorf's Nivea for Men and L'Oreal Paris' Men Expert brand, which have all invested millions in this burgeoning market in recent years.

Have you recently ditched your scrub for good old fashioned soap? Is the credit crunch forcing you to cut back on non-essentials or have you never felt the pressure to moisturise?

Do you buy expensive skincare products for your boyfriend? Do you expect the men in your life to use skincare products? Let us know.

 

I'm an unashamed traditionalist I'm afraid -- badger-hair brush, Trumpers shaving soap, old-fashioned single blade manual razor by Edwin Jagger, followed by a smidgin of E45 as moisturiser. Why pay nigh on £8 for four all-singing, all-dancing, triple-blade disposable razors when you can get 10 Gillette blades for £2 or £4 for a can of shaving gel when a £14.95 bowl of Trumpers will last about 10 months and gives a much better shave?

I'm a bit worried, my boyfriend exfoliates more often than I do and even caught him using a moisturiser with a hint of fake tan the other day! No need for me to buy products for him.

I think the problem is that the advertising around 'male grooming products' is so 'naff. The Pierce Brosnan ads are the worst I've seen since David Ginola was washing his hair on TV.
There are some really good reasons to seek out better male grooming products - those with sensitive skin who shave every day will need no prompting, but the generic, razor blade ads etc, just don't help.

The rictus of contempt those kind of ads make my face spasm into will probably mean I'll have to get me some metro creams soon enough. Til then, it's a bit of moisturiser once every three months or whenever I remember I have some Nivea that I was given in 2005. Leave it out Pierce, it's not worth it. 

And all the skincare ads for women are so great and not in the *least* bit patronising.

"Do you worry about what the skin on your armpits is like? Even if you didn't worry about it before, maybe you can start worry about it now. But then stop worrying and be confident with Super Lovely Armpit Cream."

And they're still hunting for bits of body to look after. ARGH.

I'd like to congratulate L'Oreal on their re-introduction of the almost extinct word 'tauten' as in 'tautening gel' - makes my moisturiser free upper lip tauten into a curl everytime I hear it.  

My ex never washed, he still doesn't - hence the 'ex' part!  So there are some men out there that couldn't care less - even some to that worryingly unhygenic degree!

I'm a woman, I've never exfoliated in my life, and I rarely shave. Terrible, eh?

I rarely moisurise unless my skin needs it, I am 32 and people think I look between 22-25 so why moisurise my skin when it doesnt need it?

If I had wrinkles or bad skin maybe I would do, but saying that I still spend a fortune on haircare, aftershave, tooth products a varetiy of shower gels, so the big boys still benefit from my "pampering" spends

There are some really good reasons to seek out better male grooming products - those with sensitive skin who shave every day will need no prompting.

 my man, exfoliates using the rough side of the sponge, I use liz earles cleanse n polish and really the only major difference is that he uses soap and I use the cleanser (oh and the nice cloth). However he is loyal to nivea for men for his shaving products including moisturiser, the first christmas we were together I bought him some clinique and he pretty much snubbed it with a fake smile.