Real men exfoliate

Eric Rollins' idea of skin care was washing his face with the same bar of soap he used to wash the rest of his body -- until five years ago when a girlfriend reacted with horror to his daily regimen.

''Hopefully, it wasn't that my skin was so bad," Rollins said.

As the women's market becomes saturated with every kind of product imaginable to eliminate wrinkles and shed dead skin cells, companies are looking to men like 23-year-old Rollins to drive sales. From Boston's Gillette Co. to Britain's King of Shaves, companies are pushing cleansers, moisturizers, antiaging lotions and body sprays made just for men. Meanwhile, retailers like CVS Corp. are quadrupling shelf space for men's skin care.

At $108 million last year, the men's market is a relatively small part of the $8 billion total skin-care market. But that's changing quickly in an age when makeover show ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" has turned style and smooth skin into virtues. Men's skin care is the fastest growing segment in all of personal care. While sales of all skin-care products increased less than 5 percent last year, men's skin care grew at a 16 percent clip, according to New Jersey consulting firm Kline & Co.

Indeed, the market is alluring enough to have attracted the attention of the nation's biggest consumer products company, Procter & Gamble Co. The Cincinnati giant is not only moving into the realm of men's skin care with its Old Spice body washes, but it is also paying $57 billion to acquire shaving giant Gillette to gain a foothold in men's personal care.

''P&G is a titan in all the categories it competes in," said Anna Wang of Kline & Co. ''With Old Spice and Gillette, it'll have an even better stronghold. That means everyone else is going to have to work even harder to compete in that market."

P&G has size and scale on its side. With brands like Olay and Noxzema, it also knows skin care. ''Brands that resonate with men for men are the ones with the highest right to win in this category," said Alexandra Lipinski, P&G's marketing director for Old Spice.

Gillette is the nation's number one men's brand. The company has studied their grooming habits, facial hair and skin for more than a century. When it launched Gillette Complete Skincare a year ago, it kept it simple: a choice of two cleansers, two shaving gels, and two moisturizers. The message: Wash, shave, and protect.

''We're starting from zero," said Mary Ann Pesce, president of the personal care business at Gillette. ''We didn't want to overwhelm these guys."

L'Oreal is now introducing a new Men's Expert line of skin-care products, including a Power Clean Anti-Dullness Face Wash, a Power Buff Anti-Roughness Exfoliator, and a Vita Lift Anti-Wrinkle & Firming Moisturizer. In September, European skin-care brand Lumene introduces its Skin Tech For Men line, to be sold exclusively at CVS stores, with products such as face scrub and advanced C-energy renewing face cream.

''The men's skin-care market is absolutely bursting," said Gillette's Pesce. ''It's all incremental growth because you're getting people who don't use a product to use one. In other personal care categories, gaining market share means stealing it from someone else."

But marketing these products is not without its challenges. Marketers need to convince men they need cleansers and lotions they've gone their entire lives without. And to do it in a manly way.

Gillette enlisted British soccer star David Beckham to convince the masses that primping doesn't make you any less of a man. L'Oreal is advertising during Major League Baseball games, in men's magazines and at gyms. Companies are using masculine colors like steel gray, blue, and orange on packaging, and language that emphasizes strength.

''I don't think you've come to the point where you're going to sell a whole bunch of moisturizers based on a soft look," said Sharlene Hesse-Biber, a Boston College sociology professor. ''We're not ready to give up those traditional roles yet."

Bravado aside, L'Oreal believes ignorance keeps men away from the skin-care aisle. According to its research, 20 percent of men already use a moisturizer and another 30 percent say they are likely to try one in the next year. Citing market research by AC Nielsen, L'Oreal said it is focusing in on the fastest-growing segment of men's skin care -- cleansers, moisturizers and scrubs -- while fulfilling an unmet need for a men's line of antiaging products.

Though analysts and consultants say men using moisturizers often buy ones that are not gender specific, L'Oreal claims there are differences between the sexes that need to be considered when choosing skin-care products. Men's skin is thicker, and they secrete twice as much oil as women and large amounts of testosterone.

Among the men's skin-care products at CVS stores, King of Shaves pushes the envelope more than most. But in Britain, where men's skin care got an earlier start, its tinted moisturizer is one of the brand's top sellers. And Will King, the company's founder and chief executive, is confident American men will catch on soon enough.

''All the competition is fabulous because that's how things change," King said. ''Imagine how quickly attitudes will change when P&G starts spending in this market."

Naomi Aoki can be reached at naoki@globe.com.