Boys' turn for beauty products

By RICHARD KELLY

Clairol, the staid manufacturer of women's hair dyes, tried something new this year - they went after kids.

And though girls are part of the target market, they have set their sights on the largely untapped market of boys aged between 13 and 24.

Before their new hair dye, XtremeFX, was even released in America, Clairol took it to the Gravity Games, an alternative-sports competition for skateboarders, BMX stunt-riders and the like.

At their company booth they offered free hair colouring. The response was overwhelming. "They were lined up five deep," says Karen Murabito, XtremeFX product manager. "People were waiting for hours." Demand was so great the company ran out of water and had to scramble to find alternative ways to service those who had waited for hours in the sun. "I thought we were going to have a riot," she says.

And it wasn't just the demand that surprised executives, but who was standing in line. "We had parents pushing their 5- and 6-year-old kids to the front," she says. "That's when I realised times have really changed."

Indeed, the world of young men is changing dramatically. They are more fashion and brand-conscious than ever and are preening in ways once seen as exclusively female.

Clairol isn't the only company to take notice. L'Oreal, Tommy Hilfiger, Aramis and even Proctor and Gamble have introduced new products geared specifically at boys.

"This is a growth area for everyone," says Murabito. "It's really virgin territory."

L'Oreal's Feria hair dyes for men have exceeded sales expectations and now the company is working on facial wash and moisturisers for young guys.

L'Oreal started investigating when it discovered younger men were increasingly buying women's hair colour, not the traditional products for men..

"Younger men were looking to make a fashion statement," she says.

"They wanted a 'notice-me' colour."

Most observers concede that guys are no more vain than they have been in the past, just more willing to admit it and take action.

"Boys today are not afraid of the word fashion," says Jeff Csatari editor of the newly minted MH-18, an off-shoot of Men's Health magazine. "And that's a little different from older guys who see it as a women's world."

Csatari calls his magazine the male version of teen publications such as Cosmo Girl or Seventeen. It focuses on "fitness, sports, girls, gear and life" but as Csatari readily admits, most of those topics can be distilled to just one thing - girls.

The increased attention to beauty and fashion is largely attributed to many of the biggest stars in male youth culture who have paved the way. MTV mainstays like 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin and celebrities like Brad Pitt and Dennis Rodman are all clearly fashion-conscious and not the least bit shy about dyeing or coiffing their hair.

"Teens recognise it's important to look fit and look good and they don't have a problem with that," says Csatari.

By all accounts it is an appealing market. There are 16 million boys aged 12 to 19 in the US and they spend an average of $101 a week - that's more than $84 billion annually, according to Teen-age Research Unlimited, in independent market research firm.

But the beauty market for males is so new to most manufacturers they are still learning how to tap it. Terminology can be critical. Aramis, for example, which manufactures Tommy Hilfiger beauty-care products - about 35 per cent of which are sold to males - launched its own line of male cosmetics, called Surface. In its work with focus groups the importance of terminology became immediately apparent, specifically what terms to avoid.

So the Aramis line is called "grooming products." "We are not saying makeup, says Terry Darland, Aramis marketing vice-president.

"It's very manly," says Darland. "We tried to keep all the names in man-speak, so they wouldn't think there was anything feminine about them." The Surface products come with names like Skin Smoothing Gel, Healthy Look Gel and Shine Erasing Gel and include a line of instant correcting sticks to "help hide certain [skin] imperfections."

The line is targeted at men in their 20s and older and is designed to "give men an edge" - to compete in romance and at work.

"Our research told us there is definitely an easing of attitudes about what's acceptable for men," says Darland.

Want evidence of a seismic shift? Sheldon Jackson, 24, a pro football player with the Buffalo Bills, paints his fingernails before every game. The colour depends on his mood and while reporters have eagerly written about it, on the field and around the clubhouse, he says it's been a non-issue. In fact, the National Football League has included him and his pre-game ritual in a TV advertisement.

"There is no way a guy would have got away with that 20 years ago," says Mike Freeman, sports writer for the New York Times. "His own team-mates would have probably beaten him up. Now, no one thinks twice about it."

Many sociologists see this as part of a greater trend in which distinctions between swaths of culture have become increasingly blurred, including entertainment, politics, religion and even accepted distinctions between men and women.

For many that's a good thing. "What's encouraging to me is that the mosaic is getting richer," says Julie Halpin, CEO of Gepetto Group, a New York advertising and consulting agency for teens. "Part of the idea of being well-rounded is being comfortable with your total self, and that includes your appearance."

For high-schoolers especially, the favoured hair colours are bright and artificial. Clairol's XtremeFX comes in five "colour shocks" - orange, red, purple, blue and bleach blond. Hardly what the company, which has been making women's hair dyes since 1931, is known for.

"They don't want natural colour, softness or vibrant shine, or any of those other attributes typically associated with our products," says product manger Karen Murabito.

Victor Hill, an 18-year old African-American student at Gallileo High School in San Francisco, dyed his hair a golden blond before last year's graduation dance. He's ready to do it again. "I've got to touch it up," he says, noting it has lost some of its brilliance.

"Some people think it's kinda weird," he says. "They think you're into punk rock or you're gay. I just think it's another form of expression, like getting your tongue pierced or getting a tattoo."