Manly products for manly men - an overview

My dad was a manly man. He liked manly things like plumbing and/or pipefitting, hockey, drinking alcoholic beverages, and bubble baths. Whaaaaaat? Yep, almost every man I know enjoys a good bubble bath from time to time, and why shouldn't they? It's an enjoyable experience!

I didn't get to share any of the products I make with my dad as he died 9 years ago, but I do get to share my products with my husband, my best friend's husband, and other men in my life. So let's take a look at what differentiates a manly product from a non-manly product.

In commercial products it's about the name and fragrance choice and calling things other things to make it more manly. Apparently men have "man-hides" instead of skin, use pouffy scrubby things called "detailers", and they "hydrate" rather than moisturize their skin.

Creating products for men isn't really all that different than creating products for women. Men tend to like drier feeling lotions, like "hand cream that won't make you break out if you accidentally touch your face or cause you to wreck from the steering wheel slip" (love that comment, Patrick!), and they tend to like multifunctional products, like 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner or 2-in-1 body wash and shampoo products. I've heard from men they want more products for shaving, and they want things that don't sound girly.

Here are a few ideas for products men might like to use...

• Solid shaving bar
• Shaving lotion
• Another shaving lotion
• After shave lotion (and moisturizer!)
• Beard conditioner
• After shave spray (like a toner)
• 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner (liquid)
• Body wash (do a search for other ones, I have tons of recipes!) 
• Bubble bath! 

So let's see how we can modify a few of our products for manly men who want manly products over the next few days! But first, let's take a short look at the differences between men's and women's skin!