Toward More Feminine Ways of Buying: Men and Grooming
That men are starting to flock to grooming blogs/sites like groominghealth.com and menessentials.com (as per a recent Iconoculture newsletter) should not come as a big surprise. If you’d paid much attention at all, you’d have noticed the subtle shift in content of the established titles (my personal favorite – Esquire), and in the launching of more new men’s magazines in general (Men’s Vogue). In all cases, the magazines have started to reflect more typically feminine interests (or assumed feminine interests) to varying degrees – as in “beauty,” fitness, nutrition, relationship tips.
The trend may have sparked in Europe, or it could have been urban men the world over who took the first steps toward paying noticeable attention to their appearance, despite the snide comments from their less-risk-taking buddies. But, the bottom line is that it is happening.
From what I have noticed, this is just the beginning of a larger trend toward men “allowing” themselves to follow formerly typically feminine paths in what they buy and how they buy it. In the case of the men’s grooming trend, and like any other mass movement in a new direction, the more content and media attention it gets, the more other men will join in. Those who are interested in such things (and by no means is that all men everywhere) are taking small steps for man/giant steps for mankind in pursuing a valid interest they may have long kept to themselves.
Why should women be the only ones who can explore the possibilities or perhaps, mainly, lessen wrinkles for just a tad longer?
Anyway -there is one part of Iconoculture’s take on what this means for business with which I don’t fully agree, and that is:
They may be after the same result, but men and women have different ways of going after the same thing. Women hang around, beehive and rant, while men go straight in, gather some honey quickly and go about their busy way.
Men and women definitely get from the same point A (I need it) to the same point B (the perfect-to- them product) in different ways. But, the number of sites/magazines that cover men’s grooming/fashion, and the discussions within/letters to the editor and such, make it seem as though men are just as likely as women to be “hanging around, beehiving and ranting” (is that really how we’d describe what women do?) about skincare, haircare and fashion.
There is very likely more to come as men start to explore and process more of their purchases, for whatever, the way women have been known to do.
