When You’re Ready to Move Beyond Irish Spring

When a new men’s personal care company called Huron recently asked CrossFit Union Square in Manhattan to test its products, some of the men there didn’t have much basis for comparison.

A few told Matt Mullenax, the 33-year-old founder of Huron, that they had never used a face wash. Eric Brown, one of the gym’s owners, said he doubted most could list five brands. And the products available in the gym’s locker rooms are sufficiently unmemorable that Mr. Brown couldn’t name them — and he’s the one who buys them.

“What guy is going to do research into the body wash?” Mr. Brown said. “There are so many guys — and I’m one of them — who are good about working out and eating healthy, but when it comes to our bathroom routine, it’s kind of pathetic.”

Huron is one of a handful of new companies hoping to change that — and cash in — by targeting men in untapped (at least for the beauty industry) places. For Huron, which began selling its products at the end of July, that’s CrossFit gyms; for a start-up called Bravo Sierra, it’s military bases. Neither is the sort of spot one associates with discovering a new moisturizer, but then again, many men don’t have a place to do that.

While a tiny fraction of men hunt for face masks (a growing category) at specialty retailers, the rest still stick to the essentials, mostly from legacy brands like Irish Spring, introduced in 1970, and the 81-year-old Old Spice.

Besides function, men prioritize convenience, so the marketing tactics of newcomers like Huron and Bravo Sierra make sense, said Larissa Jensen, a beauty industry analyst at the research marketing company NPD.