Male grooming is booming in Yorkshire - but do men actually know their scrubs from their balms and their gels from their serums? JO HAYWOOD finds out.

SOMETHING strange is happening in bathroom cabinets across Yorkshire. Moisturiser is mysteriously disappearing from previously full pots; unidentified hairs are appearing in tweezers; toner is evaporating at a rate of knots; and cleanser is making a clean getaway.

Men have discovered skincare. But instead of putting on a brave (cleansed, toned and moisturised) face and buying their own grooming gear, some are turning to cosmetic crime and are nicking their partner's stash instead.

A recent survey, as part of Yorkshire Butter's Pride of Yorkshire campaign, found that nine out of ten men in our region regularly cleanse, tone and moisturise. Whether "regularly" means once a day, once a week or once a blue moon is not clear, but the fact that nine out of ten men had even heard of the three-step grooming routine was a surprise to many, particularly those Yorkshirewomen who thought the only moisture their men were interested in came in tins with Tetley printed on the side.

The only problem with this boom in male grooming is that some men would rather beg, borrow or steal their partner's products than buy their own. A big mistake, according to Gillian Casper, Clarins business manager at Fenwick in the Coppergate Centre, York.

Updated: 09:33 Tuesday, August 05, 2003