The Men's Skin Care Myth:

"The best men's skin care products are only sold at the finest department stores where their employees are skin care 'experts' and will recommend the right products for your skin."

Fact One:

The people deciding which men's products a store will carry usually never have tried the products themselves.

Plain and simple: The people that make the decision to carry specific products in a department store are usually women. Now we love women just as much as anyone else, but in most cases they simply don't have the same skin care needs and habits that men do (for instance, it would be hard for them to relate to the difficulties encountered when shaving one's face or with chaffing during the summer months). We are pretty sure that a woman would not buy panty hose based on a man's recommendation.

Fact Two:

In many cases, men's skin care brands are introduced in department stores based a company's size and their ability to offer them "financial support."

Yes... that is the reality. Most department stores are very conservative and will only carry brands and items that have been "around" a while and that are sold by their competitors. This reduces their risk when introducing new products. What this means to a customer is clear... superior products are not guaranteed to be in these stores... just the "same old, same old."

In many instances, the department stores are more interested in how much money a company is willing to pay them to offer their products in their stores and are less concerned about how well the item preforms. They sometimes charge fees in order to introduce new products which some companies are more willing to pay (they say it is necessary to cover "new item introduction costs" or for advertising... we think of it more as "financial aid" and still believe in the idea that stores should just offer their customers the best, most effective products that are available on the market). That is one reason you see all the same brands at most large department store chains.

The result is this: you, the customer, end up paying more for these products due to these fees and companies that refuse to pay them are not represented on their shelves regardless of how superior their products may be.

Fact Three:

Many of the store salespeople are not actually employed by the department store... they are actually employees from the vendors that supply the products.

So next time someone approaches you in the men's skin care department and asks "May I help you?", ask yourself this: Will this person really recommend the products that are best for your skin or just the ones from the company that pays their salary?

Fact Four:

Department stores do offer some great men's skin care products.

While many department stores do engage in these practices, that does not mean that there aren't some good products on their shelves. What it does mean though is that there may be better, more effective products that you simply won't find there.

Fact Five:

Matte For Men products can only be found at retailers that truly want to provide their customers with the best skin care products available and that don't have to rely on the policies described above.