A mini survey

I would like to conduct a mini survey, mainly geared at the men, but certainly not limited to males. Women are also welcome to participate as I'm sure often, they are the ones in the household that buy this tyype of product for their partners and spouses.

As a hobby I make my own creams for personal use. My husband has recently become quite a fan and likes the citrus based and sandalwood scented ones. Prior to using these creams, he used to use the store bought after shaving creams. Now he's really hooked on the creams as they've all got ingredients that are natural and you can really add a lot of exotic oils to these creams depending on your skin type. They are not by any means 'cheap' to produce.

1. Do many of you men use moisturizers after shaving?
2. Do you care what you use?
3. Are you open to trying a new product if you felt the ingredients were natural based, free of synthetic preservatives, and had a very 'pleasing' smell?
4. If these moisturizers also contained some sunscreen agents, would this be an added bonus for you?
5. If the product felt good on your skin, are you prepared to pay a higher price for the product vs. just picking up a product on sale at your local Walmart?
6. Would you purchase these products online?
7. What would convince you to change brands?
8. What is your age range? under 30; 30+; 40+

If any of you wish to email me directly, I look forward to receiving your comments.

Thanks as always to all those who have been contributing to my posts.

Regards,

Eliz.

Hi Elizabeth,

> As a hobby I make my own creams for personal
> use. My husband has recently become quite a
> fan and likes the citrus based and
> sandalwood scented ones. Prior to using
> these creams, he used to use the store
> bought after shaving creams. Now he's really
> hooked on the creams as they've all got
> ingredients that are natural and you can
> really add a lot of exotic oils to these
> creams depending on your skin type. They are
> not by any means 'cheap' to produce.

Elizabeth, I think creams and lotions - if you can make them - can be potentially very lucrative. The main benefit is that these are "repeat purchase" products. If you have a customer who likes your product, they'll buy from you again and again! You don't just sell something once, but it becomes a continuous stream of income.

I can't help much with your questions, because I've got a beard and just use a beard-trimmer to keep it neat. :) But when I've shaved in the past, I didn't use moisturizer.

In general though, I think men are using more moisturizer and other similar products nowadays than they used to.

I have quite dry skin, and when I was a teenager I used to wash my face with normal soap. Unfortunately, I found this made the skin around my nose peel due to dryness - it looked pretty awful, like some kind of terrible skin disease. My mother suggested moisturizer as a solution, and it worked. So I would wash my face with soap, then put moisturizer on my nose, and the skin stopped peeling - I looked normal again. Nowadays, I use a moisturizing soap to get the same effect. However, this is specific to me, because I seem to have quite dry skin in general.

Good luck with your business, Elizabeth! I think you're probably getting into a potentially very lucrative area, because of the repeat-purchase nature of the business. :)

- Dien Rice

will only use products on their faces (or anywhere else for that matter) if it's for curative purposes. In other words, they aren't into prevention. Three of the four (my husband and 2 of my sons) all have eczema, and they are only willing to apply creams on active, outbreak areas. They aren't interested in taking the time to apply creams and/or lotions to prevent ANYTHING - except for a bit of sunscreen in the summer IF they are planning on being outside all day.

I used to be a dealer for Mary Kay Cosmetics, and they have an excellent skin care line for men. One of the best in my opinion. But sales resistance by men who thought it "too feminine" or just too time-consuming to use these products was so high that my only customers were wives buying it for their husbands. And even then the husbands rarely used the products, so repeat purchases were next to nil.

I recommend you get Gordon's "Remote Hypnosis" so you can learn how to sell to this "hard sell" crowd, and I hope you have better luck than I did!

Best wishes,

Anya.

Thank you for your excellent comments and support. And all the other avenues I could use to promote my products. I think they are all very doable and I've actually been giving some of your ideas a great deal of thought over the last couple years.

I've had an interest in aromatherapy and cream making for over 10 years. So why have I not turned this into a business? I think mainly because this is a very labour intensive type of operation, very manual, which is why I've kept it as a hobby rather than a business. One also needs a cool area or extra fridge to store the ingredients. All not entirely possible when we live in a condo, with limited room for expansion.

I actually have a friend who runs her own shop as well as sells her creams via mail order. She appears to be doing fairly well, but were it not for the school that she runs, where she actually gets her students to help with the making of the products, she could not produce enough product for retail sale, on her own. She would have to hire a couple employees to make the products.

Shelf life is also a big issue. While some of the essential oils and other ingredients are in themselves natural preservatives, for the most part, the shelf life of the products is 8-12 months max. You can still maintain 'natural' on the label by using ingredients that will allow for a longer shelf life, but this is an integrity choice I would have to make whether or not I want to compromise quality for longer shelf life. I have yet to experiment with the longer lasting preservatives. The recipes that I have and the products that I buy from my supplier are all as natural as one can get. As some of the purists say, "if you can't eat it, you should not use it on your skin :-)"

I like Anya's idea of teaching others how to make the product, as one actually gets to take home a product. This is probably a good way to start off small and see how things develop from there.

I got a couple people who sent their comments directly to my email box. It does appear that targeting the women to buy for the men, is a good marketing strategy. I think this is a tried and proven strategy that works, which I had not thought of, but stares me right in the face every time I walk through the cosmetics counters at the major dept. stores that sell men's body care lines. There's no doubt that today, there are many more companies specificallly promoting body care prods. to men and they're buying it up. If the average man is any indication of what my spouse is like, i.e. if it smells good and the product delivers on its promise, men will buy it, at any cost. I think selling to women is much harder work, as on average, we do a lot of price comparison shopping, read labels, and are not as quick to part with our dollars as the men are.

And if I'm wrong on the last sentence, I apologize in advance :-) This stat. is based on a survey of 2, me and my sister.
Regards,

Eliz.

Hi Elizabeth,

I say go FOR IT! I have been using moisturizers amongst other products for years. ESPECIALLY after shaving. It was a habit the my mother instilled in me at a VERY young age.

In my experience most guys (in the under 30 catgegory) do not even think of using these type of products on their own.(So you will have to CONVINCE THEM more on this later)...

However I do know of some male dominated MARKETS that are booming in this industry.

1) Male Baby Boomers want to look younger and better. Do you know they even have lipstick for guys. (Saw it on TV)

2) Sports Guys like skiers are wearing these moisturizers and lipstick because of the cold weather

3) Under 30 guys? (Tough Sell?...Not really) tell them that women enjoy the SWEET SCENT of these moisturizers and will just want to EAT YOU UP!

Take it from me, I've gotten more compliments from wearing a peach sented moisturizer, than some of the more MANLY colognes

Another market you might want to POSITION your product for is the HOMOSEXUAL market.

After working in the Hospitality industry for a while, I have noticed that a lot of Homosexual men tend to take better CARE of their bodies and faces than their Heterosexual counterparts. So you might have a HUNGRY Market right their waiting for you.

I agree with Anya. Read Gordon's remote hypnosis. It will give you more than enough ideas about how to make your prospect DESIRE your Creams.

P.S
Homemade Soaps are HUGE (There are classes on it)

Homemade Scented Oils are bigger (There are classes for it)

HOME MADE HERBAL CREAMS??? Enter "ELIZABETH'S HOUSE OF HOMEMADE CREAMS"

Hope this helps.

Duane Adolph

> I would like to conduct a mini survey,
> mainly geared at the men, but certainly not
> limited to males. Women are also welcome to
> participate as I'm sure often, they are the
> ones in the household that buy this tyype of
> product for their partners and spouses.

> As a hobby I make my own creams for personal
> use. My husband has recently become quite a
> fan and likes the citrus based and
> sandalwood scented ones. Prior to using
> these creams, he used to use the store
> bought after shaving creams. Now he's really
> hooked on the creams as they've all got
> ingredients that are natural and you can
> really add a lot of exotic oils to these
> creams depending on your skin type. They are
> not by any means 'cheap' to produce.

> 1. Do many of you men use moisturizers after
> shaving?
> 2. Do you care what you use?
> 3. Are you open to trying a new product if
> you felt the ingredients were natural based,
> free of synthetic preservatives, and had a
> very 'pleasing' smell?
> 4. If these moisturizers also contained some
> sunscreen agents, would this be an added
> bonus for you?
> 5. If the product felt good on your skin,
> are you prepared to pay a higher price for
> the product vs. just picking up a product on
> sale at your local Walmart?
> 6. Would you purchase these products online?
> 7. What would convince you to change brands?
> 8. What is your age range? under 30; 30+;
> 40+

> If any of you wish to email me directly, I
> look forward to receiving your comments.

> Thanks as always to all those who have been
> contributing to my posts.

> Regards,

> Eliz.

that want to do this for themselves and the men in their lives.

I'm sure they would love to make these moisturizers for themselves, Since a common complaint from my female friends is that they break out with certain products from the stores.

Hey look at your own situation. YOU made the creams and gave it to your husband to try. NOW HE loves them.

Imagine what would happen if ladies around the country started doing that. With YOUR Creams.

Just another Market for you Elizabeth.

Duane

> I would like to conduct a mini survey,
> mainly geared at the men, but certainly not
> limited to males. Women are also welcome to
> participate as I'm sure often, they are the
> ones in the household that buy this tyype of
> product for their partners and spouses.

> As a hobby I make my own creams for personal
> use. My husband has recently become quite a
> fan and likes the citrus based and
> sandalwood scented ones. Prior to using
> these creams, he used to use the store
> bought after shaving creams. Now he's really
> hooked on the creams as they've all got
> ingredients that are natural and you can
> really add a lot of exotic oils to these
> creams depending on your skin type. They are
> not by any means 'cheap' to produce.

> 1. Do many of you men use moisturizers after
> shaving?
> 2. Do you care what you use?
> 3. Are you open to trying a new product if
> you felt the ingredients were natural based,
> free of synthetic preservatives, and had a
> very 'pleasing' smell?
> 4. If these moisturizers also contained some
> sunscreen agents, would this be an added
> bonus for you?
> 5. If the product felt good on your skin,
> are you prepared to pay a higher price for
> the product vs. just picking up a product on
> sale at your local Walmart?
> 6. Would you purchase these products online?
> 7. What would convince you to change brands?
> 8. What is your age range? under 30; 30+;
> 40+

> If any of you wish to email me directly, I
> look forward to receiving your comments.

> Thanks as always to all those who have been
> contributing to my posts.

> Regards,

> Eliz.

I for one LOVE learning how to make soaps and home-made cosmetics, and so do a lot of other women. Why not TEACH others how to do it in a night-school class? That would also be a great way to promote your products (the ones you don't give out the recipes for, heh heh....)

And like Duane said, people appreciate knowing what ingredients are in their skin products - as so many people have allergies and skin sensitivities. If they could make their own "designer" skin care products, under your tutelage (or is that tutorage?) and you establish yourself as an expert in your field, you could have a lot of happy, repeat customers on your hands.

Anya.

> that want to do this for themselves and the
> men in their lives.

> I'm sure they would love to make these
> moisturizers for themselves, Since a common
> complaint from my female friends is that
> they break out with certain products from
> the stores.

> Hey look at your own situation. YOU made the
> creams and gave it to your husband to try.
> NOW HE loves them.

> Imagine what would happen if ladies around
> the country started doing that. With YOUR
> Creams.

> Just another Market for you Elizabeth.

> Duane