I Taught Six Estheticians How to Treat Men. Here's What Happened.

I opened Skin Factory in 2020 with zero male clients. Today about 70% of the people on my table are men. That didn't happen by accident, and it didn't happen because I found a secret men's protocol. It happened because I changed how the room works, how I talk, and how I get a guy to come back.

Here's the problem: I'm one person with one chair. I can't treat every man in Los Angeles who should be getting facials. So I started GRAIN, a small, in-person workshop that teaches licensed estheticians how to bring more men into their treatment rooms and keep them there.

The first one, GRAIN No. 01, happened September 27–28, 2026 at AMYO Studio in Chelsea, New York.

The thesis: men's skin is maintenance, not luxury

I opened with the idea the whole workshop is built on. Men aren't a niche market for facials. They're an underserved one. Most men already treat their bodies like a maintenance project: the gym, the haircut every two weeks, the same breakfast. Skin fits that pattern once someone explains it in plain language.

That's also why there's no such thing as a "men's facial protocol" in the way most people mean it. You treat the skin in front of you, not the sex. What changes is the conversation, the consult, the home care (three steps, maximum, for a beginner), and how you get him to rebook.

Day one: the room

Day one was about the client in the chair. I performed a full men's facial live on a model, start to finish, using the same equipment I use in Pasadena: the Zemits Verstand HD Pro, Vivalumix LED, and Le Mieux on the back bar. The whole thing was filmed on one phone, on purpose.

Then we got into the area most estheticians tell me they're unsure about: the beard. "How do I treat a beard?" is the question I get more than any other. We covered:

• Folliculitis, ingrown hairs, and shave irritation
• Barrier damage and seborrheic dermatitis in the beard zone
• Getting product through hair, and exfoliating around it

Guest faculty Guido Cuomo of Bareman Grooming closed the day with a two-hour intensive on the manzilian, male intimate waxing: protocol, draping, language, aftercare, and rebooking, demonstrated on a model. It is the service that makes most estheticians nervous, and the one that keeps a lot of men coming back.

Day two: the audience

A great facial doesn't help if he never walks in. Day two was about getting him through the door.

• The avatar. Every attendee built a profile of one ideal male client: where he trains, shops, eats, and spends.
• The audit. Menu language, website, and the space itself. Most "spa" language quietly tells men it isn't for them.
• The partnership map. Barbershops, gyms, men's retail, and wellness spaces in each attendee's own city.
• Content. A raw-phone workflow with no production budget: light, framing, editing, captions. Everyone left with at least one finished post.

Our surprise guest, Alyce Barrick, GRAIN's producer and the owner of Queen Cup Coffee, talked about growing a business through people instead of ads. Her assignment to the room: become the Queen Cup of your own town.

What everyone left with

• A complete men's facial protocol, demonstrated and broken down
• Written intake, extraction, and rebooking scripts
• A finished avatar workbook and a partnership map for their city
• At least one edited, ready-to-post video and a repeatable content workflow
• A prioritized list of changes to their menu, space, and website
• Six months in The Guild, GRAIN's members-only library of recordings and tools

Why this matters if you're a client

If you're a guy reading this because you're thinking about your first facial: this is the standard I hold myself to at Skin Factory, and now it's the standard six more estheticians are taking back to their own studios. Plain language. No pink. No upsell. A routine you'll actually keep.

Next: GRAIN No. 02, DTLA

The next workshop is February 7–8, 2027 in downtown Los Angeles, a few miles from where Skin Factory started. It's 12 seats, licensed estheticians only, application-only. If you're an esthetician who wants more men in your chair, apply at thegrainproject.co.