ECOMENField manual for men who read labelsPublished independentlyREV 2026.08
PublicationECOMEN SKIN
Sections05
Articles34
Index categories12
Brands ranked00
Reviewed2026-08-01
Field manual

Read the back of the pack

A men's skin and grooming publication built on formulation transparency. What is actually in the bottle, what the label is legally allowed to claim, what the evidence supports, and what happens to the container afterwards. No ranked brand lists, because we have not tested brands.

Five sections

Formulation, routine, claims, packaging and clinic. Each answers a different question about the same product.

01 / 07 ARTICLES

Formulation

What is actually in the bottle

Open section
02 / 07 ARTICLES

Routine

The smallest routine that works

Open section
03 / 06 ARTICLES

Claims

What the label is allowed to say

Open section
04 / 05 ARTICLES

Packaging

Refills, materials and the recycling reality

Open section
05 / 05 ARTICLES

Clinic

Where treatment fits, and where it does not

Open section

Start here

Six pieces that between them describe the whole editorial position, in the order we would hand them to a new reader.

The transparency index

Twelve grooming categories assessed against five published criteria. Categories rather than brands, because we have not tested brands under controlled conditions and will not publish an assessment we did not make.

Open the index
C1

Formulation disclosure

Does the category routinely disclose more than the legal minimum: concentration or form of the active, pH where it matters, tested performance figures, period after opening.

C2

Claim substantiation

Are the category's headline claims testable and tied to a published standard or a defined test, rather than resting on undefined vocabulary.

C3

Packaging recoverability

Is the dominant format actually collected and sorted through UK household recycling, and is mono material construction common.

C4

Lower material option

Does a refill, concentrate or waterless format exist for the category, and does it work without trading away performance.

C5

Use phase burden

How much of the environmental impact sits with the user rather than the manufacturer, and whether behaviour change is available.

What this publication will not do

Five commitments, stated here rather than buried in a policy page.

01

No ranked brand lists

We have not tested named products under controlled conditions. Publishing a ranking would mean publishing an assessment we did not make.

02

No invented specifics

No study, author, sample size, effect size, price, clinic, practitioner or review is fabricated anywhere on this site.

03

No advertising network

Three declared revenue lines: a labelled sponsor slot, a labelled newsletter placement, and a disclosed affiliate layer on assessed categories only.

04

No unlabelled commerce

Four archive articles carry one disclosed editorial link each. Every other page carries none, and says so on the page.

05

No borrowed certainty

Where an evidence base is thin we say it is thin, rather than describing it in language borrowed from a stronger one.

06

No medical advice

We describe what published guidance says and point to the bodies that publish it. Anything clinical belongs with a pharmacist, a GP or a dermatologist.

How this is funded, in one paragraph

One category sponsor slot at a time, labelled and separated from editorial. One labelled placement per newsletter issue. An affiliate layer that may apply only to categories assessed against the published criteria, disclosed above the content rather than in a footer, and currently not live. No sponsor sees an assessment before publication and no sponsor can change one. The complete terms, including everything we decline, are on the sponsorship page.

Get the status changes

We email when a category status moves, a new assessment is published, or a regulator changes what a label may say.

One issue when a status changes or a regulator moves. One labelled placement per issue, nothing else sold. Unsubscribe from any issue.