That headline appeared in a recent edition of The New York Times in an article regarding Pharrell Williams’ new skin care line. It grabbed my attention because my initial reaction was: Are you kidding me? Self-care is the only thing guys care about!

Most men are self-centered and self-absorbed, due to lessons learned from birth that most of us take to our grave. Women have the kids, raise the kids, clean the house and work outside of it. In fact, women have been carrying the load for so long, that Procter & Gamble created the Share the Load campaign, which hits home with so many consumers. The Share the Load ad spots underscore the disparity between women and men when it comes to caring for the house and all the people in it.

The pandemic has made a bad situation even worse. Nearly one million mothers have left the work force, with Black mothers, Hispanic mothers and single mothers among the hardest hit. No7 CMO Anisha Raghaven discussed this “SHEcession” earlier this year in a Happi podcast.

Furthermore, almost one in four children experienced food insecurity in 2020, which has been linked to the loss of maternal income. No wonder that more than 75% of parents with children ages 8 to 12 say the uncertainty surrounding the current school year is causing them stress.

Self-care is top-of-mind for many during the pandemic, and skin care is obviously one form of self-care. Of course, the best way one can care for his or her skin is to eat right, drink water and stay out of the sun. This issue includes our annual look at the sun care market and, for the first time that I can remember, sun care sales fell nearly 9% in the previous year as consumers stayed out of the sun—and out of the store—for much of 2020. To find out how marketers plan to turn things around, click here.

As bad as the sun care market was last year, sales in many color cosmetic categories were worse; face masks put a crimp on lip color and foundation consumption. But when the pandemic is behind us, color cosmetics sales are sure to surge. Our coverage of the market starts here.

Finally, no category quite covers self-care like over-the-counter products. Whether for bumps and bruises, cuts and scrapes, or acne and eczema, when folks won’t go or can’t get to a doctor, they still manage to walk down the OTC aisle to find solutions to myriad problems. To read more about OTC, click here.

So please, let’s not worry about men and self-care; most guys have been doing whatever the hell they want since time began. It’s time we start caring about someone and something other than ourselves.

Tom Branna
Editorial Director
[email protected]