The Wieden & Kennedy creative campaign has been a wild success, with a series of ads promoting “the perfect man.”  The handsome, buff, naked-from-the-waist-up Mustafa addresses his rapid-fire Barry White dialogue to women: “Hello ladies, how are you?  Fantastic. Does your man look like me? No! Can he smell like me? Yes! Should he use Old Spice Body Wash? I don’t know – do you like the smell of adventure?  Do you want a man who smells like he can bake a gourmet cake in the dream kitchen he built for you with his own hands? Of course you do…” and then it goes on.  Mustafa moves from a beach to a kitchen to the woods where he dives off a waterfall into a hottub that falls away to show him sitting on a motorcycle.  Another commercial has him moving seamlessly from the shower to a boat to sitting on a horse, with costume and prop changes dropping in – all the while telling the ladies that since we can’t have him, we should encourage our men to at least smell like him.

The social media strategy is nothing short of brilliant.  The Old Spice man posts video answers to selected questions on Facebook and answers Twitter messages on YouTube.  One video shows him standing outside the shower, hands on hips, reciting his 140 character response to @wspencer:  “Am typing while running from stampede of scantily-clad female admirers who appeared after trying #oldspice. Is there an antidote?” Another has him apologizing that he can’t answer everyone who writes because “after all, I am just one ridiculously handsome man.”  On Facebook, he has agreed (in theory) to adopting someone and gives advice about facial hair.

This new cult status, however, does not seem to be the reason for an uptick in Old Spice sales.  In fact, year-to-date figures, compared to other men’s personal care products who don’t own ‘the perfect man’ are flat as the arches in my feet.  Advertising Age reports that several men’s products – sibling brand Gillette, Beierdorf’s Nivea,  Dove and Axe, have made the same, if not better gains over the last few months, giving away high-value coupons and through unremarkable advertising. “Consider the four weeks ended June 13, possibly the best month ever for P&G body wash. Old Spice’s sales were up 106% from the prior-year period, jumping 4.8 share points in a category that grew 17.7%. But sales of Gillette body wash, also backed by buy-one-get-one-free coupons and by TV ads (but not Mr. Mustafa), were up a lot more, 277% and 3.9 share points, though it’s by far a smaller brand in the category,“ reports the trade magazine.

Men’s personal care products are on the rise, but whether or not Mustafa is selling more Old Spice is a mystery.  What is not a mystery is that women LOVE him.  The former wide receiver may have had a hard time landing in a permanent football franchise after gigs with the Seattle Seahawks, the Tennessee Titans, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns and finally Barcelona for the NFL Europe, but this guy is a keeper in Hollywood and has put Old Spice back on the shelves.

But watch out – OHDOCTAH has launched a counter-ad for Dove, based on the theory that “ladies don’t like sleeping on bricks…they like more cushion” and therefore will go with a guy built like a Sumo wrestler who uses Dove Body Wash.

This whole advertising campaign is the best entertainment this summer has to offer.

Men, on the other hand, are perfectly happy to be groomed by a woman. Even a fake one, if Gillette’s new campaign is to be believed.

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The campaign is titled “What Women Want,” and presumes that men will groom the way an automated video response system tells them to.  The interactive service offers models Heather, Tulana, Jacqueline, Mikayla, and Adriana, aged 19-23, prompting guys through styling decisions.  First, you choose a gal who will offer her opinion.  Then your model has you choose the venue you are planning to attend – i.e. a graduation, a concert, job interview, even a “meet the parents” plan.  You’re offered pictures of twelve different hairstyles, while the model waits at the side of the screen, fidgeting, until a choice is made.  Hairdo and face hair decisions are guided the same way until ultimately your model tells you what she thinks and offers suggestions.  If you choose really goofy looks, like a Pompadour hairdo and a Van Dyck shave, your automated system will try to encourage you to change your mind.  “It’s not your best,” sultry Jacqueline told me of my fake choices.  “Shall we give it another go?”  Or sweet Heather, who frowns so cutely and remarks, “It’s not working for you, let’s do this…” to get me to try a different style.  It all results in a prompt to upload a personal picture to “try on” the new look.

I think this is a swell way to guide people into making the right decisions for businesses.  I’ve had some experience with the automated phone system of a cable company recently while trying to get my phone, Internet access and TV activated in my new home.  If it had only been some cute young man’s recorded voice on the phone, saying things like “I know you’d like to talk to Technical Support, but wouldn’t you rather just fantasize about what I look like and call it a night?”   Or, “My supervisor would just love to talk to you, but press 2 if you’d rather have an email picture of me sent to your cellphone, brought to you by Comcast.”

Perhaps if I had been given the kind of choices Gillette is offering to men, you wouldn’t be reading this now.

Any woman in your life will tell you how good it feels to scour away the dirt, grime and oils that are the remains of the day.  Scrubs and exfoliants contain mild abrasives to slough off dead skin cells and clear pores. By exfoliating once a week or more, your face will not only start feeling softer, odds are the new skin you’re revealing will be brighter and clearer too.  Blackheads, whiteheads and those yucky little white things growing on your eyelids that are really just layers of trapped dead skin cells, will all start to disappear.  And guys, with clearer pores, you’re less likely to have ingrown hairs as well. Bonus!

With more men taking their skin care and grooming seriously, there are plenty of scrubs out there to choose from. At GroomingLounge.com we found about 30 scrubs, some engineered just for men and some that are gender-neutral from companies like Dermalogica, MD Skincare and Alchimie – more familiar to the women’s market.

Reading about Urth Scrub (4 oz/$36) made me wish briefly that I could “man up” and try it, but alas, I don’t think I’m tough enough. GroomingLounge calls it “hands down the most unique and rewarding exfoliating experience around.”  This once-a-week product uses micro-fine, sand like rice granules mixed into a soft mud to get rid of the bad stuff, then soothes and detoxifies with green tea extract and ginseng.

For a more gentle, or gentlemanly, choice there’s the Menaji Polishing scrub (4 oz/$24), which, according to the website uses just five ingredients:  jojoba beads and aloe vera in addition to the “Menaji trois” of ginseng, sea kelp and grapefruit.

Menaji and MenScience Microfine Face Scrub (4.4 oz /$29) both tout themselves as shaving prep products, as well as exfoliators. MenScience includes glycolic acid and salicylic acid, two ingredients that add brightness to dull-looking skin.

And of course there’s Jack Black. The company offers a face scrub, but more interesting (to LookinGood anyway) is the Jack Black Body Rehab Scrub & Muscle Soak (12 oz/$35). Made for the body, not the face, it uses eucalyptus and rosemary to ease sore muscles and salts, shea butter and glycerin to exfoliate and soften.

Not sure you want to invest that much? St. Ives Apricot Scrub, Invigorating was one of the first exfoliating products on the market. If you’re the kind of guy who needs a couple of dates before you can think about a bigger commitment, St. Ive’s is only about $4.29 at your local pharmacy.

Dear Men:  First of all, we know you are almost as obsessed with your hair as we are with ours.  This is not a secret.  Second of all, just like bald can be beautiful, we think gray can also be hot (case in point: Anderson Cooper, Victor Garber, Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield).  We’ll even say ‘distinguished’ if you’d prefer.

However, if you must color your hair, please get professional help, advice at least, if not full service coloring. A bad dye job is not hot (see: Donald Trump, Rod Blagojevich, a younger Ted Koppel).

Thank you, The Women

As much as we talk about equality between the sexes, sometimes things are and should remain separate and unequal. Like coloring one’s hair. There’s a big difference between women covering their gray and men doing it. And guys, unless you’re in the 16-21 age demographic or Adam Lambert, you can’t just go grab a box of Garnier Nutrisse off the shelf of the local pharmacy and think it’s going to turn out OK.

According to Esquire and my own hairdresser, more men are coloring their hair these days and even more ask about it but aren’t ready to take the plunge.  The trick is doing it right, and that means blending natural color into the gray.  About.com’s men’s hair expert Dave Alexander and my hairdresser Tara both mention Redken Men Color Camo, and Esquire also suggests Clairol Natural Instincts for Men if you do want to try this at home.  The Redken Color Camo is a salon process that adds about 10 minutes and $20 or more to your cut and takes years off your appearance. The color comes out blended and even, and fades as your hair grows out. Clairol is for beards and mustaches as well as the hair on your head, and is designed to color about 50% of the gray.

If you’re going to risk the DIY, Esquire had some good advice.  Don’t go more than a couple shades away from your normal hair color.  “Too dark looks like shoe polish (Wayne Newton); too light and your hair will look gold (Donald Trump).”  And on highlights?  “Unless you’re leading an aerobics class in 1987, don’t.”

Salons are seeing more men who want to reduce the gray area, but the guys in our local barbershops say their clients aren’t asking for that service. Those guys want a shave and a haircut and the barber’s thoughts on the Red Sox starting rotation.

And if you don’t have a stylist? Talk to the women in your life and find out who they entrust their hair to. We’ve been hitting the bottle for years and would recommend our hairdressers in a heartbeat. Odds are your female friends and family would too.

With a host of new products and clever ads, men’s grooming is the hot marketing topic. Forget Coke vs. Pepsi. It’s Old Spice (“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”) vs. Dove (“Manthem”) and Gillette vs. Schick, according to a recent article in Advertising Age. But duh, you really only had to watch a little TV to figure that one out, didn’t you?

In 2008 and 2009, the heart of the Great Recession, sales of men’s grooming products increased by less than 1 percent, according to researchers at Mintel, who follow that stuff.  Considering that personal care sales overall dropped 5.1 percent during that time says Information Resources Inc., that’s pretty darn good.

And the big three: Unilever (Dove, AXE), Procter & Gamble (Old Spice and Gillette), and Energizer Holdings (Schick) are jumping on the bandwagon.  Again.

Marketers tried this before, back in ’02, when L’Oreal, Nivea, Gillette and Neutrogena tried to develop men’s lines and the ad people tried to make “metrosexual” a household word. Oh, you vaguely remember?  Yeah, that’s kind of the point.  They receded more quickly than a hairline.

Until now.  Men’s grooming products are moving forward and everybody has come out swinging.  In drug and grocery stores across the country, they’re starting to carve out sections on the shelves again.  Grooming ads are showing up next to those for sports drinks and cars in men’s magazines like Sports Illustrated and Men’s Health. (And by the way guys, if you really do sweat like those guys in the Gatorade ads, whether or not it’s purple, we would really appreciate it if you pay close attention to the body wash ads.)

Unilever gets much of the credit for the boom, thanks to AXE. The company’s VP of personal care-North America, Kathy O’Brien, says that except for shaving products, Unilever has captured two-thirds of the growth market in the last 5 years.  (Gillette still has 70 percent of the shaving and razor market.)  Dove+Men was the next logical move for Unilever because those guys using AXE have to grow up sometime, don’t they?

P&G wants a piece of the action so badly it seems like the marketers have resorted to the kind of mudslinging usually reserved for political ads. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” takes a poke at “lady-scented body wash.”  Unlike political ads, it’s funny and the guy is truly hot, so we’re OK with that.

But not all men’s grooming products are mass market, find-it-at-the-pharmacy types.  Another testament to the growing market is the number of smaller luxury-brand companies out there such as Jack Black, and the websites dedicated to them, like GroomingLounge.com and TheMetroMan.com.  Also telling is that drugstore.com recently launched AtHisBest.com, dedicated to “health and grooming essentials for men.”

Hopefully, this latest incarnation of men’s grooming products has more staying power than a creative services manager on Viagra because aside from a sale at Sephora, there’s nothing we at LookinGood appreciate more than a well-groomed man.

Hey guys, it’s time to get down to the details. Or The Detailer. And through March 14, you can try one for free if you tell them the size of your balls.

The Detailer, a handheld washing tool with a mesh side and a scrubbing side, is basically a shower scrubby with a grip, designed to work best with liquid soap such as the Axe body washes.  It cleans places a bar of soap just can’t get at. And it has actually gotten some good reviews from bloggers, generally of the “I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but …” type.

But the information a man must give over the phone is, how shall we say this, REALLY personal.

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You can get one for free by calling 1-877-329-3225.  A sultry-voiced siren will ask you about the size of your balls – “Small, press 1; Big, press 2; Old, press 3; Need your entire ball sack cleaned?  Press 4.”  It is occasionally tough to get through on the line because it is so popular, we warn you, so you can shortcut the decision by watching the other part of the ad campaign on www.cleansyourballs.com.

Either way, it’s a riot.  Axe has built its brand suggesting that their body products will help get guys laid, or at least, give them options. The prop and online advertising approach is hilarious, albeit borderline stupid.  The video of cleanyourballs.com [above], features a lady golfer washing sporting equipment including golf balls (small), tennis balls (fuzzy) and a “sack” bag of soccer balls.  I admit that I laughed out loud when an elderly gentleman handed her what appeared to be a couple of aged, wrinkly, dirty, leather rugby balls for help.

It made me want to drink cheap beer, scratch myself in the privates, then take a hot shower, but I’m not exactly the target demographic. And here at LookinGood, we think the Detailer ($19.96/4 pack at Amazon; about $5/single in stores) is just plain cool looking, with its bold colors and high-performance tire shape.  Other reviewers have given it high praise for the rubber grip that makes it easy to hold, which that actually interests me as well.

And in case you were wondering about the phone call, I pressed 2 when I made the call, even though I am a woman.  A few years back, when I gave up a position of assistant sports editor in an all-male department, one of my co-workers hugged me goodbye and said “It’s too bad, because the person with the most balls is leaving.” I cherish that as a compliment.

Axe is giving away 1,000 coupons for free Detailers every Monday morning through March 14, so get your balls in order.

Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating.  That which goes beyond the normal needs to regulate your body temperature, meaning when you sweat, it’s not small stuff. Most afflicted areas are underarms, face, hands and feet. It’s a common condition, estimated to affect 2.8 percent of Americans. It affects men and women equally; occurs across all races and ethnicities, and though it isn’t a serious medical risk, it often significantly impacts a person’s quality of life. Excessive sweating can also take a toll on your skin, making it clammy, dehydrated or even causing infections.

The good news is there are several treatments for the problem, from topical antiperspirants to oral medications to surgery. One of the best developments in the last few years is the use of Botox injections to freeze the nerves, effectively cutting off the signal to the sweat gland. Voila, no sweat.

Botox, or Botulinum toxin type A, is well-known as an injectible facial filler, effectively reducing lines and wrinkles around the forehead, eyes and mouth. The treatment for hyperhidrosis in the armpit involves multiple shots to inject about 50 units of Botox under EACH arm.  The cost will run anywhere from $500-$1,500 for a treatment that lasts an average of five months or so, although it is sometimes covered by insurance plans as a medical treatment, usually after another treatment has been unsuccessful.

Before turning to Botox for hyperhidrosis, doctors will usually recommend trying a clinical strength antiperspirant that contains aluminum chloride hexahydrate first. These are now available over the counter at pharmacies and grocery stores (Drysol, Clinical Secret).  In severe cases, endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy – a minimally invasive chest surgery in which the problem nerves are either clamped or cut – has been a solution.  This is usually a last resort and should always be performed by a board-certified thoracic surgeon.

Botox as a medical treatment added another option to treating excessive sweating, and while it is primarily requested by patients with hyperhidrosis, anyone can use it to stop perspiring. It won’t be covered by insurance, but you won’t be sweating the small stuff anymore, either.

For more information on the symptoms and solutions, we recommend:

• Hyperhidrosis.org
• A Sweat Management site out of Canada (do they ever get warm enough to sweat?)
• RealSelf always several doctors who give different perspectives.
  

According to gadget-maker Conair, there are about 22 million men between the ages of 22 to 65 shaving their heads regularly.  That’s a lot of chrome domes. It seems like there are nearly as many websites, blogs and books dedicated to shaving one’s head. And though the vox populi seem to lean toward razors, most turn to an electric shaver like the Norelco Advantage ($31.95), Braun Sychro ($199.99), Wahl Pro 8061 ($54.99) or Panasonic 8023 Wet/Dry Linear ($69.99), especially when time and sensitivity are an issue. The electrics are less likely to leave razor burn, and inexperienced head shavers have fewer nicks and cuts. One cannot claim to be bald or beautiful with little bits of toilet paper stuck all over one’s scalp.

The debate is whether or not an electric shaver can actually get a head smooth enough, and the consensus is pretty much “no.” Most men want just one unit to handle hair from the neck up, most devices are geared toward beard and mustache maintenance and are designed as such. They have pop-up trimmers for sideburns and mustaches. But even without consulting Gray’s Anatomy (or watching “Grey’s Anatomy”), we know that you shouldn’t shave a round head with something tailored to a square jaw.  When they need more power, those men who are really serious about their baldness seem to like Conair’s fairly new Clean Head Head Shaver ($36.88), which claims to have the first shaving apparatus to follow the unique angles of your head.

If Conair’s numbers are right and that many men are taking it all off up top, their head shaver might be the first, but you can bet it won’t be the last.

There are numerous sites out there to help you with product and technique.  Here are just a few:

• HeadShaver.org
• Men’sFlair.com
• TheBrotherhoodofBaldPeople.com
• Surviving-Hairloss.com
• CoolMensHair.com

And just for fun — http://www.balderazzi.com/

1.  Pedicure, manicure or both.  We have known countless men who just would never do such a thing unless someone bought them a gift certificate. Now they would not go two weeks without hitting the salon.  It feels good. It looks good. And they don’t have to admit they do it.

2.  Nature Calls Toilet Drops, by Ritual ($9.00 per bottle.) This is probably the greatest invention since the bathroom fan, but more effective.  It’s a little black bottle of magic potion, and just two drops of the liquid into the toilet water will destroy any smell, no matter how much chili was consumed.  Grooming Lounge even has whole kits dedicated to grooming disasters.

3.  Menscience Daily Body and Hair Wash, by Menscience Androceuticals ($59)  You can’t get a man a basket of bathroom goodies like you can a woman, but this kit has just three simple products:  Body Wash, Hair Shampoo and a pair of Buffing Gloves that are worth the price of the kit.  Refreshing, clean smells for a manly man.

4.  Liposuction. If you have the disposable income, why not?  More than 30,000 men had lipo of some kind in 2008 and the results for 2009 aren’t in yet.  How about little off the love handles to greet the spring of 2010?  Maybe slim down that belly over the belt for summer?  Or a shave off the double-chin so that he can shave that beard?  He can learn all about it here.

5.  “Age Erasers for Men” by Joel Weber, and the editors of Men’s Health. Thirteen chapters of advice for stripping away years, such as The Age Eraser Workout, The New Science of Hair Growth, with some good suggestions about hair dyes (use women’s); skin care, back and prostate information and of course, a chapter on sexuality that has this clever chart describing Penis Ages, using little colored balloons. That alone is worth the price of admission, though they ain’t admittin’ it ages.

So, LookinGood advices that you pamper men just like you might pamper yourself.  Remember one of Mae West’s great lines – “It’s not the men in your life that matters, it’s the life in your men.”

You want your man’s body shaved?  Take the survey.

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Land sakes, Gillette is at it again!  They want our men to shave every inch of their bodies, and they are not giving up until we have a nation of hairless hammerheads!

First came the manscaping campaign telling our boys they should shave their privates because “The tree looks taller when there is no underbrush.”   Evidently that metaphor didn’t work, because now, Gillette’s launching a new campaign called The BodycruZade, recruiting women to demand that men “make life smoother” for them.

“Entourage” actress, Emmanuelle Chriqui, is the campaign manager, and encourages women to join the campaign by sending a clever, customized video to that special someone, giving them a fake award for “The perfectly groomed man.”

My-oh-my, just look at that video, it must be downright torture for men not to run right out and shave themselves like sheep!  Why, the BodycruZade campaign office looks like a Playboy bunny audition room!

But according to Gillette, surveys on male body grooming uncovered that only one-third of men age 24-34 shave, wax or trim below the neck – BUT – that 57 percent of men would, if they received a negative reaction from their sexual partner. Further:

• Sixty-three percent of American women are turned on by a well-groomed chest.
• Sixty percent of men say one of the best reasons to bodygroom is to appear more attractive to a potential partner.
• More than half of all men surveyed feel most comfortable seeking body grooming advice from their significant other.

Well, this is almost too much pressure for real men, with real body hair.  And what about us women who go for the Neanderthal look?  If Gillette wins and all our men start going hairless, what happens when our he-man gets old and the thickest hair he has is coming out of his nose, anyway?  My man’s gonna look like an aged Silver-Surfer from the Fantastic Four, when he used to be my Wolverine!

Times are changing, friends, but here is what I want to know from our female audience:

1. Have you ever had a negative reaction toward a man because he was too hairy?
2. Exactly what part of his body was too hairy?
3. Did you suggest to him that he manscape?
4. Did it work?

Click here to answer.