Men’s market: overview and skin care predictions

There is a wealth of male orientated brands in the market place now from the more bespoke smaller brands to the globally advertised mass-market brands. With British department store retailer Debenhams indicating a growth of 24% in male grooming in the last year it is no surprise that this is viewed as an area of massive potential. Include fierce brand loyalty, a need for no hassle convenience products, a willingness to try something new and, if it works, continue using it – combine it with the rise of the ‘metrosexual’ and we now have a male population where 65% are interested in taking care of their skin, 74% attach importance to how their hair looks and 40% make time to take care of their appearance.³ Soon it becomes apparent that there is a huge customer base ready to interact with the cosmetics industry and what it has to offer. It was recently reported that although 90% of cosmetic surgery patients are women, middle-aged and older men are catching up at a rate that’s nearly three times what it was 15 years ago as older men strive to maintain their looks or, at the very least, look as good as they can.⁴ In this article we, together with distributor Cornelius, review what is out there for men in the current market and also offer our thoughts on what future trends may be on the horizon in the men’s arena.

Designed for mankind

In the past it may have been the case that the greatest difference between products for men and products for women was the packaging. However, this is certainly not the case today as a more scientific approach to formulating has revealed the importance of physiological differences between male and female skin. Cornelius’ technical business development manager, Daniel Whitby, spoke to Personal Care on this subject: “Men’s facial skin has increased vascularity, increased sebum production (leading many males to perceive skin care products developed for the female market as being tacky) and differing rates of fat and bone absorption. Hormone metabolism, hair growth, sweat rates and surface pH also vary between the sexes. Men’s transepidermal water loss (TEWL) tends to be lower than women’s and, perhaps related to this, males tend to have higher stratum corneum hydration than females.”