Shoreditch, London is the place to go to pick up on the latest fashion, food and grooming trends. This inner city section of London is where the trend for thick full hipster beards got its start and now, everywhere you look, men aged 18-40 are sporting facial hair like a badge of honor.  Of course, men with beards don’t shave as often as well-shorn guys and this is having an impact on sales of men’s grooming products. Yet it could also present new product opportunities.

The trend for facial hair goes hand-in-hand with men’s growing interest in their appearance. According to Datamonitor’s global consumer research, 52% of male consumers consider their looks and appearance to be either important or very important and another 29% touch up their looks throughout the day.

Datamonitor valued the European market for male toiletries (including razors and blades) at $10 billion in 2014, up 3.2% on the previous year. Germany remained the strongest market for men’s products, accounting for 21.6% of all European sales. France and the UK accounted for approximately 13% and 10% of sales, followed by Italy, Russia and Spain, each with just under 10%.
According to Kantar Worldpanel, three-quarters of European men use shaving products, with penetration highest in France and Germany. The UK featured the lowest penetration at 68%, suggesting that the peak beard trend may be affecting sales of shaving products. A further indication that facial hair has become the norm is that European men only use shaving products on average 3.9 times per week, a figure that is remarkably consistent by country. This indicates that being clean-shaven is not a prerequisite for many men, who may be happy to go unshaven on weekends.

Of Hair and Skin
The link between shaving and skin care has yet to become firmly established, with only 14% of European men using facial wash and 23% using skin care (e.g., moisturizer). British men are more enthusiastic users of facial wash, with penetration at 19% compared to the 14% European average; they also use facial wash more frequently at 5.5 times per week, compared to the European average of five times per week. Usage of skin care is somewhat higher at 23% of European men, peaking at 31% among German men. Many Germans have established a regular daily routine with skin care, averaging 7.9 times a week, which suggests that they use moisturizer in the morning and evening. Italians are the least engaged European nation in terms of skin care, with only 12% using skin care just 4.7 times per week.

Shower products are a key element of European men’s grooming routines, with 82% using these products 5.9 times per week on average. Penetration is highest among German men, who are beaten only by the French who use shower products 6.7 times a week.

Do Niche Brands Get It?
According to Datamonitor, the post-shave segment is the smallest, but fastest-growing men’s grooming category; worth $1.3 billion and increasing 3.6% in 2014. Comprised primarily of men’s skin care lines, it is an area that has attracted a great deal of attention from manufacturers and retailers, who are keen to tap men’s growing interest in skin protection and moisturization, as well as anti-aging products, which are appearing in many ranges. Specialist online retailers, such as Niven & Joshua, are championing niche brands and providing men with the opportunity to experiment with products that have little or no retail representation. The e-tailer sells a number of skin treatments in patch form, which are an interesting sub-trend, aimed at men looking for non-fuss, fast solutions on the go. These products include: 

• Under Eye Patches by Recipe for Men, an intense treatment containing high-grade marine collagen, and recommended for use alongside a face mask.
• Icy Magic Eye Patch by Polaar, said to be multi energizing to reduce dark circles and puffiness.
• Pre-Meeting Face Revamp by Mazorin, described as a “double espresso in a tonic gel.” These sachets are designed to be used in the office or on a plane.

Beard Launches Abound
According to Datamonitor’s Consumer Product Launch Analytics tool, the UK accounted for 17% of global male grooming launches during the past two years, followed by Germany at 9% and Spain with 6%. There has been a specific trend for launches tagged “beard” or “moustache,” which is giving rise to a new term called “lumbersexual” rather than “metrosexual.”  Some recent UK beard grooming launches are:

• Billy Jealousy Beard Control, which conditions and protects the beard without weighing hair down.
• Beardilizer Beard Nutritional Complex is a line multivitamin tablets that claims to enable men to grow a stronger, fuller beard.
• The Bearded Man Co. Natural Beard Oil is a range of beard oils in several fragrances.
• Murdock London Beard Moisturizer was created by Murdock London, a trendy chain of barber shops in Shoreditch.

What’s Next?
The extent to which this trend is being taken seriously can be seen by the launch of German private label brand Balea Men’s 3 Day beard conditioning gel.

But not every company is betting on beards. In fact, Murdock London is predicting an end to the full beard trend  which, it maintains, will be replaced by a rise in groomed moustaches—opening up further opportunities for moustache-specific care products, such as Bounder Extra Firm Moustache Wax containing British beeswax and Caribbean rum as well as Geo F. Trumper’s Lavender Moustache Wax. Meanwhile, Datamonitor analysts predict that men in their 40s and 50s will be the next demographic to show growth potential for facial hair. These older consumers lead active lifestyles and are more style conscious than previous generations. Anti-aging skin care will be a key category offering growth potential among men wanting to hold the signs of aging at bay and maintain a youthful and manly appearance.

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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