While the prevailing fashion for stubbled cheeks and beards of varying lengths has hit sales of men’s razors and blades and halted growth of shaving preparations, it has opened opportunities for a relatively new sector of the male grooming market – beard care products.
Despite reports about reaching ‘peak beard’ there are enough signs that the trend for beard growth is still going strong, with 43% of UK men and 42% of women thinking it is fashionable for men to have a beard and climbing to the highest proportion among young men (54% of 16-24 year-olds and 53% of 25-34 year-olds). Two in 10 UK men report they have not removed hair from their face in the last 12 months, climbing to 27% of 45-54 year-olds and 23% of over-65s.
Today, facial hair is no longer regarded as a sign of poor grooming; it is another area to care for. In the UK, 59% of consumers think it looks unprofessional to have ungroomed facial hair in the workplace and 39% of men say that they feel under pressure to keep their facial hair neat and tidy. It is a similar story in the US, where 35% of men who remove their facial hair say it is expected that they should keep their facial hair neat and tidy.
This is where the latest beard products come in. They form an interesting bridge between hair care and skin care regimens, providing a multi-step programme to keep the beard hair in good health. The new beard oils, for example, draw not only on men’s familiarity with pre-shave oils popularised by brands such as King of Shaves, but also on the new generation of face and hair oils that carry a complex fragrance as well as conditioning and anti-ageing properties.
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