For several generations men have walked away from skin care products made specifically for them.

They might have spent money on a so-called "male" shampoo or under arm deodorant, or splashed on after-shave. But they haven't bought skin care for men packaged as masculine creams or robust lotions.

I know this because I remember the chuckles around the newsroom I worked in as a reporter in the 1970s when our chief reporter asked me to do a story and model a new product -- make-up for men. No one had marketed it before and next day the paper ran a big photo of me in the beautician's chair looking quite "different" in coloring and lipstick .

Well I lived down the sly jokes, and was not surprised when male make-up didn't take off as a roaring commercial success. Men were just not ready for that then.

Today make-up still doesn't sell to men. But skin care for men is a different story.

There's been a significant change in our society, and the creams that can transform your face and hands -- skin care for men in stylish, appropriate tubes and jars -- are increasingly making it out of the stores into the bedrooms of men.

And we're talking about skin care for men. Not the products our wives and girl friends leave on the bathroom counter. Because female skin is totally different and men's skin and creams have to deal with specific male problems. A woman's skin is less oily than a man's, thinner, the pores are smaller, and wrinkles and lines less deep (thank goodness!). They need different creams.

Specific male skin care products have been developed in the last 15 years that make positive, effective skin care for men a real possibility.

The better of these products address the three main causes of aging skin in men: a loss of collagen and elastin, lower levels of hyaluronic acid, and oxidation due to the presence of free radicals.

So as you look around for skin care products use these three factors as benchmarks. If a product doesn't attack one of these three put it to one side. And if you find one that addresses all three you have struck gold.

There are two ways to address the loss of collagen and elastin, which are proteins that give your skin it's youthful look when you're young but start to break down after some years and leave your face looking not-young (or, to put it bluntly, aged).

Most skin care for men products tell you can rub collagen in. This is the first attempt at this problem and its bad science. Because the molecules of this vital youth-giving protein are too big to be pushed through the pores in your male skin.

The best products go to this problem nature's way -- they have ingredients that will stimulate the body itself to start producing collagen and elastin again, and make your skin look younger from the inside out.

I'd recommend this second approach. And a specific newly-developed substance, called CynergyTK" that has proven itself in the lab as a particularly effective way of smoothing wrinkles in male skin.

Boosting hyaluronic acid is another helpful way to make your skin soft and less aged.

A good way to do this is to use a seaweed extract called phytessence wakame. This inhibits a particular enzyme that breaks down the natural hyaluronic acid in your skin. So as the extract blocks the steady breakdown of the acid, your skin will slowly take on a youthfulness again. This is also proven in clinical trials.

Finally, find a product that gets rid of free radicals.

There are lots of them out there. I would recommend CoEnzyme Q10, and a particular kind of Co10 called Nano-Lipobelle H EQ10 because is penetrates deeper than most others into the layers of your skin. Not all the Co10s will do this, so look around the labels. My recommended Co10 will vacuum up free radicals and since they are no longer influencing how your skin looks, it will take on a youthfulness again.

Your next step? To take what I've outlined here and start looking on the labels of skin care for men products. Don't settle for creams that claim to soften skin and give you a smooth young look again but don't address the three causes of aging in male skin.

If you'd like to read more, I have some extra information about this at my web site, elegant-skincare.com, and a recommendation of a skin care for men product. Click there now and get a really good understanding of what to look for on those labels as you hunt for good skin care products.