As interest in male personal care continues to expand, brands targeting younger consumers are navigating an especially wide gap between opportunity and engagement. Teen boys and college-aged men remain among the least consistent users of daily sunscreen, despite elevated long-term melanoma risk and growing awareness around skin health.
According to the most recently available data from the CDC, in 2020, 12.3% of men aged 18 and older reported always using sunscreen when outside on a sunny day for more than one hour, and the percentage of men who always used sunscreen was lowest among those aged 18–29 years (8.2%).
This disconnect is central to the creation of Skinmetal, a new mineral sunscreen brand founded by pediatrician and digital health expert Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson.
In this CosmeticsDesign US Q&A, Dr. Swanson discusses the factors that led her to develop a line built specifically for boys and young men, the role of user co-creation in shaping formulation and design, and the challenges of delivering cosmetically elegant mineral SPF within FDA OTC requirements.
CDU: What inspired you to create Skinmetal, and why focus specifically on teen boys and young men in a market traditionally dominated by female-oriented products?
Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson: I’ve spent more than two decades in pediatrics, digital health, and behavior change, and one truth kept standing out: boys were being left behind. Sunscreen and skincare were marketed, packaged, and designed almost exclusively for women.
Everything, from the language to the textures to the aisles these products lived in, signaled that skin health wasn’t “for” them.
At the same time, the data was sobering. Young men have some of the lowest rates of daily SPF use and some of the highest future melanoma risk. And when I was diagnosed with melanoma in 2012, even after catching it early, it sharpened my understanding of what was at stake.
I didn’t want to build another beauty brand. I wanted to build a brand that reflects who guys are: active, clever, intensely present, and increasingly wanting to be outside.
We will give them products that feel aligned with their identity, not at odds with it. Skinmetal is the brand I needed as a pediatrician, as a mother to boys, and as a person who understands the power of showing up for yourself early and often. Products with UV filters can obviously change lives and we’re here for it.
CDU: How does Skinmetal aim to shift the cultural narrative around skincare for men, and what role does masculinity play in your brand positioning?
Dr. Swanson: We’re not interested in outdated tropes around masculinity, nor in asking guys to adopt routines designed for someone else. Instead, we’re building a brand around strength, confidence, resilience, humor, and a life lived outside.
We refuse to use fear-based messaging; guys have had enough finger-wagging from parents, schools, doctors, and social media. It doesn’t build habits. And it certainly doesn’t build identity and trust.
Skinmetal positions skincare not as vanity, but as daily armor, metal…a habit that reinforces who they are and how they move through the world. When you teach guys that caring for their skin is simply part of caring for themselves, it shifts skincare from “beauty” to self-respect.
Masculinity, for us, isn’t about toughness. It’s about giving young men permission to feel good in their skin and strong in their choices.
CDU: What were the biggest challenges in formulating Daily Metal Stealth and Green Stealth to deliver both clinical efficacy and cosmetic elegance for daily wear?
Dr. Swanson: Mineral sunscreens are notoriously tricky. Zinc oxide is a phenomenal UV filter, but it’s also white, heavy, and can leave boys feeling like they dipped their faces in chalk.
If they don’t like the way it looks or feels, they simply won’t use it. That’s the honest truth. We listened to their biggest objections and designed around those.
The challenge was creating clinically credible formulas, using 12% non-nano zinc oxide, but still invisible and clean on the skin. We wanted something that didn’t sting, didn’t shine, didn’t clog pores, and didn’t feel like makeup.
We wanted to ensure that it provided immediate results and also lasting protection from skin cancer and unnecessary premature skin-aging.
We interacted with over 100 guys last spring on college campuses and in middle and high school. We posed ideas about products and asked about preferences and brand alliances. This helped us understand where they were coming from and where they were headed.
Our Foundry is in constant contact with our choices, and we follow their ideas and not only learn from them but wholly enjoy whenever they can join our meetings and decisions.
CDU: You co-created Skinmetal with teens and college-aged men through the Foundry. What were the most surprising insights from that process, and how did they shape product design and packaging
Dr. Swanson: Honestly, nearly everything surprised us. These young men made radically different choices than the adults in the room predicted.
They gravitated toward simplicity, boldness, humor, and a sense of movement. They wanted products that looked like they belonged in their gym bags or backpacks, not their mom’s bathroom counter.
They want immediate benefits, but they most certainly don’t (yet) want make-up.
CDU: As sunscreen is an FDA-regulated OTC drug, how do you balance compliance with innovation and appealing design for this demographic?
Dr. Swanson: FDA compliance is, of course, non-negotiable. As a pediatrician, parent, bioethicist, and melanoma survivor, I take that responsibility seriously. But regulation doesn’t have to limit creativity; it simply sets the guardrails and guidelines.
Inside those guardrails, we focused on innovation in every place we could play: texture, user experience, packaging, scent, tone, identity, and storytelling. Our product pipeline is full of incredible innovation and we are thrilled to bring more of our ideas to life in the next year or two.
Daily Metal Stealth and Green Stealth use proven, safe mineral filters and ingredients. We wanted to ensure we weren’t cutting corners and that guys were being given the best products to perform at the highest level. The innovation comes in how boys experience them, how they feel in the hand, how they disappear on the skin, and how the brand speaks to them with confidence, clarity, and respect.
CDU: What’s next for Skinmetal? Are there plans to expand beyond sunscreen, and how do you envision leading the conversation on prevention and confidence for young men?
Dr. Swanson: Sunscreen is our starting point, not our finish line. We’re building a brand that helps guys move through the world with confidence, strength, and a sense of belonging. That means exploring products and tools that support their skin, identity, and daily habits in ways that feel authentic to them.
We aren’t chasing trends. We’re building a category. What will stay constant is our commitment to listening to guys, co-creating through the Foundry, and rejecting fear-based messaging. We’re truth tellers.
We’re here to help and build confidence and a playbook that doesn’t serve boys only in vulnerability, but rather takes them from wherever they are and sees their potential. We’re here to champion a life outside, where confidence is built through action, resilience, and showing up for yourself.
Skinmetal is a movement toward healthier habits, stronger identity, and a more empowered next generation of young men. Sunscreen, UV filters, and prevention of skin cancer during a time in life when sunburns are common, is simply where that journey begins.
