Few personal care product categories present as much opportunity for growth as male grooming, especially in Europe. Pride in personal appearance and the growing fashion for beards of varying lengths has created new possibilities, especially for the emerging beard care product category.

According to a 2015 Canadean survey, 58% of European men said that better-looking people have better opportunities in life, both personally and professionally. Their belief underpins the growing European trend for men to use grooming and toiletry products more often to help them improve their personal appearance and increase their confidence. Between 2011 and 2014, Canadean recorded a 1.4% increase in the male usage of grooming products, compared to 1.0% for women’s usage over the same period. However, 2014 data confirms that men’s overall usage of grooming products and toiletries in the major European economies (Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain) lagged behind women’s usage: there were 396 billion male usage occasions compared to 540 billion women’s usage occasions.

User Rates
Male usage of the more functional grooming categories is high, Kantar Worldpanel confirms. More than 4 in 5 (81%) of Europeans use shower products (rising to 90% of Spaniards), 74% use deodorants (only 65% of Italians) and 71.9% use shaving preparations (UK usage is just 66.7% reflecting the fashion for the bearded look).

Skin care is a category with considerable growth potential. Only 21% of European men use facial moisturizers, dipping to just 10% of Italian men. Polish men appear to be the most amenable, with 28% using facial care products.

According to Mintel, male facial skin care product sales posted the strongest growth rate during the past year, with sales up nearly 8% to account for 16% of the men’s toiletries market. Men’s use of more niche concepts, such as lip balms and eye creams, suggests that their skin care routines are becoming more sophisticated.

Male Makeup Mutates
No one really takes male makeup seriously; it is the least likely to be in demand, accounting for only 1.4% of European men’s personal care usage, according to Canadean. However, the French are relaxed in their attitude to makeup, accounting for 42.3% of male makeup occasions inside the major European communities.

But what is the definition of male makeup? While most men would shrink from using makeup as a statement, as in the late David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane” look, more are interested in using products that impart subtle color and coverage to produce a natural and healthy look. Mintel researchers regard white or transparent creams with encapsulated pigments that break open on the skin or that have smart pigments that fuse with the natural skin tone to offer the best bet for men. Male BB and CC brands are moving into this space with products that avoid the M-word, but for all intents and purposes work in the same way. An indicator of this trend has been the increase in UK men’s usage of BB creams that doubled between 2013 and 2014.

Beards Take Off
Turn back the clock to 2011 and any kind of facial hair was viewed as a sign of lax grooming. If you wanted to get on professionally or socially, the clean-shaven look was essential. Beards as a fashion statement were first spotted among young professionals in London’s hip Hoxton district. The shock of the new took time to wear off, but beards of all lengths have become the new norm, not just in London but in European capitals and beyond. However, existing views diehard and Mintel’s research found that 59% of UK consumers said it looks unprofessional to have ungroomed facial hair in the workplace and a further 39% of men say they feel under pressure to keep their facial hair neat and tidy.

The door is now open for a new category of men’s grooming products aimed at keeping unruly beards under control, though mainstream brands have been slow on the uptake. New niche brands claim to nourish, smooth, soften and scent beards:

• Tom Ford’s trio of Conditioning Beard Oils are positioned not only as beard/skin caring products, but as part of a man’s fragrance wardrobe as each one is scented with a Tom Ford Private Blend fragrance, namely Tobacco Vanille, Neroli Portofino and Oud Wood.
• UK luxury barber brand Murdock has introduced a three-step program for beard care based on a classic hair care regime. The line includes beard shampoo, conditioner and beard oil with apricot, jojoba, sunflower and Argan oils. In an interesting move, Murdock has focused on how the products taste because beard products tend to get inside the mouth.
• Men Rock also offers a three-step program consisting of beard shampoo, balm and oil. The balm is said to work like a leave-in conditioner for the beard and skin underneath. Soul Beard Oil is available in three scented and one unscented variants, for those who want to wear fragrance in this way or go “au naturel.”
• Johnny Walker’s Moustache Wax comes in pepper, citrus or ginger flavors, designed to complement the taste of food and drink that gets left behind on the moustache. While highlighting the brand’s masculinity, it also engages consumers with its novelty value and association to the whisky brand, enabling it to stand out from the competition.

Trading Up in the Future
Value is the most important consumption motivator in European’s male grooming market, influencing $5.2 billion worth of consumption, according to Canadean. However, too much focus on value for money attributes makes it hard for brands to get men to trade up to more sophisticated concepts.

“Manufacturers need to tap into other influential motivators, such as the desire for the best quality products and ones that are specifically designed for men,” argues Jamie Mills, analyst, Canadean. “Highlighting masculinity can be done via stylish packaging design, while quality can be conveyed by using trendy ingredients which are linked with efficacy.”

Men may have been slower than women to pick up on grooming trends, but this may be about to change.

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Imogen Matthews
Headington, Oxford UK
Tel: +44 1865 764918

Imogen Matthews is a respected consultant, journalist and researcher focusing on trends in the beauty industry. She regularly contributes to many of the world’s foremost beauty trade titles. Every year in April, she publishes The Premium Market Report, focusing on trends in the UK premium beauty markets.
www.thepremiummarketreport.com