Have you ever watched American Psycho? Do you remember the beginning? Come on, a little effort, Christian Bale naked in the shower soaping every defined muscle of his body, water running on his shiny smooth skin, while he unveils the secrets of his manly beauty, from ice mask to hair-activating shampoo? At that specific moment, Patrick Bateman might be the most virile man of all film history. Yet men do not reveal their beauty tricks usually, do they? If you find a man who openly confesses he uses moisturiser, you might already call it a miracle!
What is it that prevents men from allowing themselves to be interested in beauty products? They will talk cars, rolex and professional cards, but beauty products remain taboo... too woman-centred. Or remained, until now, because like shoes and couture, the beauty industry is under man assault; and let me tell you one thing girls, when these men are the two behind the new Kyoku beauty line for men launching in February, it can only be called a great step for humanity.
Asim Akhtar came up with the idea: 24, born and raised in Chicago, he recently moved to London after graduating as a heart surgeon and found his place in the capital’s party scene. This is how he met with Livio Bisterzo, the handsome founder of Alvaro and commercial director of Kyoku, who is not too far from opening the hottest restaurant in town but shhh – I cannot reveal anything about it just yet. Together, they intend to revolutionize the world of men.
Asim’s family has been in cosmetics for the last 35 years, manufacturing all kind of wonder products from shower gels to anti-wrinkles and medicated burn creams for companies ranging from Johnson and Johnson to Elizabeth Arden. A researcher himself, cosmetics are like bread and butter for him: the basis of the knowledge he put into action to build on Kyoku. Combined with Livio’s marketing knowledge, they are about to take the world of men by storm.
Where did Kyoku start and how did your medical experience interact with it?
Asim: I don’t think you can talk about a real interaction per se but it definitely helped in applying scientific facts to my knowledge of cosmetics. Kyoku was inspired by a fact I came upon some time ago. It was discovered that one of the reasons that Japanese people have such a beautiful skin is because of the high concentration of hyaluronic acid in their body. Everybody produces this acid in minor quantities, and as you know, the skin balance has a lot to do with the diet you observe. There are also ancient skin care rituals that were observed over generations in certain parts of Japan, using products like Adzubi beans, volcanic ashes, bamboo, camomile, etcetera. We took all this knowledge and combined it into a natural product contained in a micro particle in form of a ball, which penetrates and explodes inside the epidermis, releasing itself inside the skin instead of evaporating in the air like regular beauty products.
It is the result of two years of research. I am a scientist, a doctor at heart, and it was very difficult on me and my team to make sure we would deliver what we wanted. It is a real achievement to be ready to launch Kyoku today.
Would you say that beauty is as important for a man as it is for a woman?Asim: Let me ask you this: as a woman, you want to look good for your own sake, right? You look good, therefore you feel good. Similarly, a man doesn’t want to look unmanaged, and if it is not true in every part of the world, it is true in most cosmopolitan cities. Man has always been perceived as a utilitarian being: he would bring the money back home, lead the family, be expected to play sports; now that society progresses and sex roles are levelled, why would a man not want to be an object of desire just like a woman does?
Having said that, beauty is not perceived by a man in the same way than it is by a woman. A man will not look into accentuating his best features with make-up, but into looking better naturally. Ultimately, Kyoku is about helping men to look more handsome and feel more confident.
What does Kyoku stand for exactly?Asim: Kyoku is a Japanese term that means ‘climax’: it is the top of any kind of experience.
Livio: Whenever a man uses Kyoku, we want him to feel regenerated: it will be his Kyoku moment. Kyoku is an amazing product, and the climax of masculinity.
Seeing as men are shy about using beauty products, how do you propose to seduce the male market?Asim: As it is, there is already a male market for beauty products: Lancome, Hugo Boss, Clinique. However these luxury beauty products are exactly the same a brand will put on the market for women, only re-marketed and fragranced for men. When they meet up, men do not speak about beauty products as they would about cars, suits or watches, because the beauty industry is not defined as masculine. Men do not want to buy Lancome: their girlfriend wears Lancome. It is time for a real man’s line to break into the market. Kyoku has been designed exclusively for men and it is a brand that men will be able to call their own, a brand that fits their needs. Since men do use beauty products, Kyoku should become the brand they can open up about.
Livio: Kyoku is about so much more than the product itself. It is a philosophy on its own. It should be normal for a man to look after himself. We are trying to educate the male consumer through the brand: to make him more competent, more aware of his right to be as handsome as he can. The brand is just a channel.
So how do you propose to educate men?
Livio: One of our products is a lip balm that we called ‘lip fuel’. It is made of cocoa, mango, hem seed butter, pure peppermint and avocado oil. It is a very natural product, tastes great which should please women as well, and the name we gave it reflects its sexual potential. The first step into changing men’s mind about beauty products is to change the beauty terminology and make it manlier. We are counting a lot on word-of-mouth: Kyoku is not a celebrity-centred brand but quite a few trend-setters are already using it and love it. While people are learning about it, we intend to release our products gradually; we are beginning with six products and will break others onto the market when the brand has made it into men’s mind and everyday life in six months time. Men are more direct and straightforward than women: all you need is here.
What are your favourite products in these six?
The lip balm is amazing. In countries like Australia where the sun can be dangerously strong, it is an excellent protector against skin cancer. The moisturiser can be used every day and is extremely anti-ageing, even if it is aimed at all men, not middle-aged men only. There is a razor repair balm (all men will remember this excruciating moment when they were shaving and managed to cut themselves minutes before picking up a hot date), an exfoliating scrub, a daily face cleanser and an oil control lotion. They are all organic-based and the only fragrances you will find they have are natural.
How are you positioning Kyoku on the market exactly?Livio: There are three main trends in beauty for men at the moment: luxury products that sell on the brand (like Giorgio Armani and Hugo Boss), science-driven products, which are based on their utility; the third trend emerged recently with the new environmental movement gaining in strength. Kyoku is a combination of all: it is an organic-based science-driven product with a high-end feel.
Who would you like to see using Kyoku?
Everyone who buys into the philosophy. Every man. There are no male models, we just want to get through to men and remind them: ‘you are already you’.
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Back to the basics girls: this is a manly man line you will definitely want for your man! Do not repeat it, but since I really cannot help experiment, when I had a chance, I tried the products listed above, and if you want to know a little secret, the daily cleanser is the most incredible make-up remover ever invented... The more the Kyoku philosophy will spread around, the more likely you are to be able to steal your boyfriend’s lotion after a sleep-over, so start talking, and educating your man!
http://www.kyokuformen.com/Champagnista V
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