February 27, 2006

“Investigation of the awareness of skincare and the actual state of skin inmodern-day Japanese men”
Mandom’s first investigation into men’s skin

Mandom Corporation (headquarters: Osaka City, President & CEO: Motonobu Nishimura; hereinafter referred to as“Mandom”) is reporting its investigation on the awareness in Japanese men of skincare and the actual state of their facial skin.
In Japan, market expansion for male cosmetic products has primarily been a result of haircare and hair-growing markets.
However, lifestyle changes such as late-marriage and non-marriage have resulted in changes in fashion awareness andbehavior in men; these alterations have therefore, activated the skincare market. Currently, however, when compared to female
skin, little research has been conducted on male skin. Our firm’s core business is male cosmetic products, and for us to provide
products and services that are better suited to our customers, research on men’s skincare awareness and skin conditions thatdiffer from those in women, have been performed. Our plan is to continue similar research in the future.
Method of investigation
1.
Investigating the awareness of facial skin problems
 Subjects: 800 male subjects (25 to 44 years old)
 Method: Internet-based questionnaire; of the total subjects, 427 revealed they had an issue with the skin on
their face (grouped for every 5 years of age, approximately 100 subjects each).
Questionnaire(s) related to the types of issues and their causes.
2.
Investigating skin measurements and lifestyle habits Period: November 10, 2004 to March 25, 2005
 Subject: 49 male subjects (19 to 62 years old; Average age, 39.6 years old)
 Measured parameters: Water content, barrier function, sebum level, firmness/elasticity of the skin in eachregion of the face Measured regions: Forehead, nose, corner of the eyes, above and below cheeks, jaw/chinStudy results■ Awareness1. Fifty percent of men enrolled had a problem with their skin.
2. Regardless of age group, men worry about “Oil” and “Dryness”.
3. Men worry more about morphological changes “wrinkles/tension (sagging)” with age, than color changes(spots/darkening; opposite to women).
4. Upon reaching 40, men ascribe all issues related to skin such as “Oil” and “Dryness”, to “Aging”.
■ Skin measurements
1. Men possess a high mixture of skin types; T-zone is oily skin while U-zone is dry skin.
2. Sebum levels remain high in men even after 60 years old.
Contact

mandom corp.
Public Relations Div.
mail: press@mandom.co.jp

URL: https://www.mandom.co.jp/en/

Please contact us in Japanese or English.

-1-3. Skin aging in men starts with “Hardness of skin”; for women, this begins with sagging.
4. Forty % of all men had skin that appeared either younger or older than that expected for their age.
5. Skin aging in men is caused by UV rays and T-shaped razor blades. Therefore, maintenance (skincare) is
required just as for women.

30
Years

35
Years

～

～

40
Years
～

25
Years
～

1. <Presence/absence of problems> -- Fifty percent of men recognizeda problem with their skin.
In this investigation, approximately fifty percent of men in each age groupwere aware of an issue with their skin (Graph 1).
In both young and middle-aged men, a degree of interest on the skin wasobserved.

Awareness (%)

Chapter 1. Men’s awareness of skin problems

44
Years

Graph 1. Age and awareness about skin worries

2. <Details of the problem>(1) “Oil” and “Dryness,” respectively, are the first two issues.
Regardless of the age group, men were highly aware of “oil” as a skin problem, with approximately 75% of men
indicating that they worry about oil. A recent Mandom investigation revealed that the rates of use of men’s oil wipes
were 68%, 44%, 16% and 15% in the 20+, 30+, 40+, and 50+ age groups, respectively (all working people); our resultsfrom the current study aligns with this data. Women are more aware of the evident signs of aging such as “Spots andwrinkles”; however, men are overwhelmingly more worried about “oil,” stickiness, and shine etc. as oil has become aneveryday problem.
In addition to “stickiness and shine due to oil,” men also worry about “dryness,” regardless of age group. Particularly, weobserve that many people worry about dryness after washing their face or shaving (Graph 2).

Pimples

Oil

Face wrinkles

Corner of theeye wrinkles

No skin tension

Spots

Darkening

25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40
Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs

25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40
Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs

~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

Dry skin during
the day

~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

Dry skin after
washing faceand shaving

45
Yrs

45
Yrs

45
Yrs

45
Yrs

45
Yrs

Graph 2. The worries of men relating to facial skin and the causes

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45
Yrs

45
Yrs

45
Yrs

Worry rate
Proportion of men attributing
problems to aging

45
Yrs

(2) Awareness of skin aging starts at age 40
Although many men are aware that “Oil/Dryness” is an issue, many attribute all other skin problems to “Aging” after 40
years old. As will be discussed later, men have high oil levels on their face even when they age; however, theirrecognition and awareness of skin issues change with age. Men began to ascribe the high level of oil present on the faceto aging.
(3) For skin issues, “Worries about wrinkles/sagging” > “Worries about spots” in men
The three main worries regarding skin by women, “spots, wrinkles, and sag”, do not significantly differ from men. Theirworries also increase, as in women, with age. For example, 50% of subjects between the ages of 40 and 45 with skinproblems said that they were now worried because of “poor skin tension.”
Furthermore, whereas color changes such as “spots and darkness” were greater
worries than morphological changes such as “wrinkles and tension (sag)” for women,
the opposite is true for men, with relatively higher number of men worrying about“wrinkles and sag” thanGraph“spots2.andThedarkening.”
worries of men relating to facial skin and the causes
As such, the questionnaires indicate that even though men are not as deeply
concerned as women, they certainly worry about their facial skin, with the severityof worrying increasing with age.

Chapter 2. Elucidating a man’s face
Although there have been many reports of measurements of skinproperties in women, this study by Mandom is the first to record measurements andreport values for each region of a man’s face; these results are meaningful as they
“Elucidate a man’s face”.

T-zoneMeasured
U-zonesite
Around the eyes

A: Forehead

Figure: T-zone and U-zone

B: Sides of the nose

C: Center of the jaw

D: Below cheek

E: Above cheek

F: Corner of the eyes

1. <Water content, oil content> -- Greater amount of mixed skin than women. Oily T-zone and dry U-zone.
We found that the water content in a man’s U-zone (cheeks/jaw) was approximately only half that of the T-zone(forehead/nose) (Graph 3). Sebum level was highest on the nose, with a four-fold greater secretion than that on thecheeks (Graph 4). We found that difference in sebum and moisture levels between the T-zone and U-zone was greater in
men than in women. In particular, a man’s lower cheek had the lowest levels of water content, moisture barrier strength,
and sebum, and could be referred to as a desert. This was unrelated to age and was seen across all age groups of men(Graphs 3, 4, and 5).

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Jaw

Below cheek

Above cheek

Eye corner

Forehead

Nose

Low

Graph 5. Moisture barrier strength by site

ForeheadNose

Eye corner
Below cheek

Above cheek
Jaw

More

2. <Sebum level> -- The oily state in the T-zone continues even afterage 60--“Oil on face” or sebum level, the most frequent worry among men regarding
the face, did not change even with age. Although oil secretion declines
dramatically in women after 30 years of age and despite the slight decline inoil secretion with age in men, the forehead and nose continue to secrete large
amounts of oil even after age 60 (Graph 6).
Based on the data collected, we now have a better understanding of the oily
face that persists throughout the life of men and worries them. With
designation of the T-zone as “Oil” and U-zone as “Dry”, we have elucidated
the status of men’s skin, which supports the results of questionnaires that
depicts the worries of men regarding facial skin.

Less

Graph 4. Sebum level by site

Jaw

Below cheek

Above cheek

Eye corner

Nose

Forehead

Jaw

Below cheek

Above cheek

Eye corner

Nose

Forehead

Less

High

More

More
Less
Graph 3. Stratum corneum watercontent by site

20’s

30’s

40’s

50’s

60’s

Graph 6. Change in sebum level by age

Chapter 3. Changes in the skin of men with age
Thus far, we have provided suitable explanations for the state of the skin for an average man. We will now present thechanges that occur to a man’s skin with age, and the factors that promote these changes.
The present study revealed that to determine the aging status of a man’s skin, instead of considering the moisture andsebum levels, our focus should be on the changes in skin properties, such as hardness and elasticity.

-4-1. <Hardness of skin> --- The surface of a man’s skin hardens and loses elasticity with age
We found a decrease in the ability
Above cheekof a man’s facial skin to stretch
Below cheek
Below cheek
Above cheek
Jaw
Jaw
with age. The surface of the skinalso appears to harden and stiffen(Graph 7). The decline in skinelasticity
with
age
was
remarkable. Quite often, pillows
tend to leave a wrinkly “mark” on
the face immediately after wewake up and with age, reversionof the skin to its original state has
20’s 30’s 40’s 50’s 60’s
20’s 30’s 40’s 50’s 60’s
proven difficult. The results
reported herein support such
Graph 7. Change in skin stretchiness with age (hardness)
Graph 8. Change with skin elasticity with age
aging phenomena as depicted inGraph 8. We believe that hardening of the skin surface in men is related to low water content in the stratum corneum on
the skin’s surface. With lower water content, the skin surface loses its flexibility and tends to harden. The skin tissue
called dermis, located several hundred micrometers within the skin surface, significantly influences the skin’s elasticity;
however, our results suggest that dermis tissue in men deteriorates with aging, and loses elasticity. The histologicalcondition of the cheeks may therefore serve as the barometer to determine aging in the facial skin of men.
Forehead

Eye cornerHigh

Eye corner

Low

Does not stretch

Stretches

Forehead

Does not stretch

Stretches

2. Changes in elasticity with age <State of skin aging differs whencompared to actual age>
We have explained that with age, the skin of men hardens and thus, loses
its stretching ability even when pulled. Graph 9 shows the relationshipbetween actual age and ease of stretching the skin on the lower cheeks.
Although the difficulty to stretch is evident with age, Mandom is more
focused on variations in the extent of this difficulty from person toperson. Based on our data, approximately 6 of 10 individuals showed
Non-agin
g aging
Steadyskin aging aligning with their actual age (hereinafter referred to as
Aging“steady aging”), while the remaining 4 had either enhanced aging(hereinafter referred to as “aging”) or non-advanced compared to actualage (hereinafter referred to as “non-aging”). What is the cause of thesedifferences? Based on a detailed analysis, we now understand that
Actual age (years old)
differences in the lifestyle habits of individuals have led to the differences
Graph 9. Stretchiness of skin below cheekobserved.
“Aging in men’s facial skin is greatly influenced by external factors such as UV rays”
The aging phenomenon for the skin of women is significantly influenced by two factors, physiological (internal) aging(e.g., fluctuation in hormone balance) and photoaging due to UV rays. What is the situation with the skin of men? As
previously mentioned, men’s skin “Do not stretch even when pulled” with aging. This contradicts the “Sagginess” of theskin reported in women due to physiological aging; however, this indicates that for the skin of men, the skin aging
process is accelerated by external factors such as UV rays, instead of physiological aging.

-5-Enhanced changes due to aging from exposure to “UV rays” and “Use of T-shaped razor blades”
What are the lifestyle habits that may promote skin aging? We discovered that men with harder skin (i.e., aging skin)compared to men of the same age group did not use enough sunscreen when engaging in sports and leisure activities
accompanied by exposure to UV rays (Graph 11).
Furthermore, many men who have aging skin shaved with T-shaped razor blades when compared to men of the same agegroup; men with youthful skin tend to shave with electric shavers (Graph 10). Therefore, we believe T-shaped razor
blades result in a stronger physical irritation of the skin than electric shavers.

Low Stratum corneum
moisture content High

Usage (%)

Usage (%)

T-shaped razor
Electric shaverNon-aging

Steady
aging

Aging

Graph 10. Relationship between
shaving method and skin aging

Non-aging Steady
aging

Aging

Graph 11. Relationship between
sunscreen use and skin aging

Non-aging

Steady
aging

Aging

Graph 12. Relationship between stratum
corneum water content and skin aging

Furthermore, men with aging skin had lower moisture barrier strength and water content (Graph 12). Large individual
differences in skin conditions may exist among men in the same age group due to lifestyle habits; therefore, appropriate
UV-protection and skincare before, during and after shaving is important to reduce such adverse effects.

Chapter 4. Conclusion
Men’s skin is truly unprotected and requires skincare
Despite skin exposure to various agents such as UV rays and razor blades etc., many men do not adopt countermeasures;
instead, they leave the skin unprotected at all times. Results of the present study indicate that daily maintenance of skinby skincare is important in the maintenance of youthful skin in men.
Approximately half of the men in our study did not worry about their skin. However, actual measurements suggest thatmany men do have issues with their skin. Compared to women, men do not adopt routine sunscreen application; theyrarely use basic cosmetic products including skincare after shaving; and overall, have poor awareness with respect toskincare. These results suggest that men should be more aware of the importance of skincare.
In the future, Mandom will continue to be the company that best understands and conducts studies on the skin of men,and provide new skincare products to resolve issues and worries regarding the skin of men.

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