Vol. 01 · Fall 2026 A journal & workshop for the modern esthetician
Pasadena — New York — Los Angeles Issue No. 01

GRAIN

Against the grain.
Esthetician Jeff Mendoza laughing mid-treatment collaged over a foggy Manhattan skyline

Recap — No. 01 / New York

Facials, the manzilian, and the business of men's skin.

Two days in Chelsea on extractions, waxing, the conversation, and the part after the treatment that nobody teaches.

Read the issue →

Further reading

02The State of Men’s Skincare Services 03Seventy percent men, on purpose 04No. 02 heads to DTLA

01 — The Idea

An editorial position, not a vibe.

A lot of skincare talks down to you. The advice is too soft, the marketing is too pink. GRAIN is a workshop for the modern esthetician — built for licensed pros who want to bring more men into the treatment room and keep them there.

Men’s skin is a maintenance problem, not a luxury one. That single idea drives the protocol, the room, the conversation and the follow-up. We teach all four, in person, to small cohorts, with a real client on the table.

This site is where that work lives between workshops: the issues, the report, the archive, and the letter.

Craft

Trade-first. Protocol over product. The hands come before the marketing.

Interior

The room is part of the treatment. Light, temperature, sound, what’s on the walls.

Texture

Sensory, cinematic, a little analog. Skin should look like skin.

Counterculture

Polite pushback on the industry’s defaults. Respectfully, against the grain.

The Work

Plates from No. 01 / New York. AMYO Studio, Chelsea. September 27–28, 2026.

Model on the treatment table under a warm lamp, with two frames of extractions under magnification
Plate I.  Neck and shoulders, where men keep everything they won't say out loud.
Workshop attendees watching a demonstration among fiddle-leaf fig plants
Plate II.  The cohort. Six licensed estheticians, zero ring lights.
“Men’s skincare is a maintenance problem, not a luxury one.”

04 — The Workshop

Two days. A small room. A real client on the table.

No. 01 / New YorkConcluded
Two frames of Jeff working on a client's neck and jaw beside a Zemits machine

September 27–28, 2026 · AMYO Studio, Chelsea

Men’s facials and content creation, taught live. With guest faculty Guido Cuomo.

Read the recap →
No. 02 / DTLAApplications open
A skylit downtown LA warehouse studio with a treatment table and chairs, the skyline through an open roll-up door
DTLA No. 02

February 7–8, 2027 · DTLA

Application-only. 12 seats. Avatar, social media, men's facial demo & guest faculty.

Apply for a seat →
A GRAIN Industry Report2026

The State of Men’s Skincare Services

GRAIN

02 — The Report

The 2026 Edition.

Where men’s skincare services actually stand — who’s booking, what they’re booking, and what keeps them coming back. Written for the people doing the work.

Read The Report →
Jeff Mendoza in a black cap and glasses, explaining a treatment over a client
Jeff Mendoza, mid-sentence. New York, 2026.

03 — The Founder

“Seventy percent of my clients are men. I built that on purpose.”

Jeff Mendoza is a licensed esthetician with 13 years in the trade and the owner of Skin Factory in Old Town Pasadena, which he opened in 2020 with zero male clients. He spent five years in fitness before that, started GRAIN because he can't treat every man himself, and runs Dead Skin Club, an apparel brand for the esthetics trade.

As quoted inNBC NewsShop TODAYLes Nouvelles Esthétiques

05 — The Guild

The archive, for members.

Workshop recordings, protocols, tools and a room full of people who also think the industry could use less pink.

Enter The Guild →
An attendee listening beside a snake plant, with an inset of Jeff explaining a device
The Letter

First word
on everything.

New workshops, Guild openings, and the occasional letter on what we're building. The list hears first — before anything goes public.