Macho Is Only Skin Deep
You'd never know it to look at him, but hard charging Chicago attorney Ken Moll has a softer side.
He even has a skin care regimen.
"Aftershave balm, face lotion, and, uh, eye cream," Moll bashfully tells CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.
He adds, "My wife is happy that I'm using them and I think that's the most important part."
Results aside, it's clear this former college wrestler is a bit touchy about exposing his feminine side. Among the guys, Moll dreads the teasing. "I'll be hearing about it for a long time," Moll says.
Wife Mary Claire finds nothing effeminate about a man caring for his face.
"I think it's just like taking care of yourself. I mean men brush their teeth. I think it's just the next thing. People are taking better care of themselves all the way around. So I don't think it's too feminine," she says.
Neither does Kelly Dondanville of suburban Wilmette; she's more than willing to share the bathroom mirror with husband, Joe.
"I don't think anybody wants to look 80 years old when they're 40," Kelly says.
Just don't expect a man to elaborate.
"I can guarantee you that this is the most I've thought about it probably," Joe admits.
But before you write these guys off as girlie-men, think again. It's estimated that American men spent nearly $67 million on skin care products last year, an increase of 14 percent from the year before.
Trend tracking marketer Jennifer Haid of Iconoculture says it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "face time."
"The standards that were typically held up for women are now applied to men. So we're seeing aging baby boomers. They have traditionally wanted to redefine the whole notion of aging. They don't want to age, but what they wake up to every morning in the mirror says a different story. So they do want some help along the way," Haid says.
It wasn't so long ago that comedian Billy Crystal parodied sleekly pampered actor Fernando Lamas on "Saturday Night Live."
But along came TV's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and suddenly male makeovers became a hit.
And when Country Music singer Steve Azar needs a little help for the next gig, he turns to Nashville-based make up artist Michele Probst and her Menaji skin care products to camouflage the toll of life on the road.
Probst, who has long helped beef up the manly appeal of country music beefcakes, is on a one-woman cosmetics crusade to take touch-ups to the average Joe.
"Getting it into the bathroom is half the battle," Probst says.
"The guy that's digging a ditch and he's got dirt all over his face and I could take five years off him if he'd just put one of my products in the shower with him and exfoliated," Probst says.
It's clear that when you're talking about men and beauty products, you have to choose your words really carefully. For example, don't call "cover-up" cover-up. That'll make men blush. Call it Camo.
Lip-stick is lip balm or lip agent, making it sound utilitarian. Names that men can relate to, more hardware store than haute couture.
Even the haughtiest couturier, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier's new line of men's make-up has stealth packaging designed to fly under the regular guy's radar. Gaultier rep Rochelle Kwiatkowski says that's deliberate.
"We call it men's grooming essentials, and basically it changes the face of who's today's man," Kwiatkowski says.
But will today's man buy into a product line that includes mascara, eyeliner and tinted lip stick?
"Absolutely," Kwiatkowski says. "We are seeing men from 17 to 70."
Although he hasn't yet crossed-over into the realm of "grooming essentials," Ken Moll says, "Never say never."
"I never thought I'd be putting this on every morning but I am, so I guess who knows," Moll says.
Indeed. Who knows? At this rate Father's Day could one day wind up looking an awful lot like Mother's Day.