INSIDER MAGAZINE: Male pampering culture is about to blow up into a $US190b global business

You may have blinked and missed it but when Qantas updated its grooming requirements in June it opened the door to allowing male cabin crew to wear make-up. The style overhaul was intended to bring the flying kangaroo into line with the modern workplace by scrapping the idea of male and female grooming requirements. Allowing men to wear make-up got less attention than some other effects of the change, like letting women ditch high heels. Still, it was a nod to the fact that expectations about how men choose to present themselves has changed, just as it has for women. The male grooming market is tipped to grow from $US75b ($117b) to $US115b by 2028, according to marketing research group Statista. Another estimate from Allied Market research — the size of the market fluctuates depending on how it is defined — suggests it could be worth $US190b by 2025. You do not get to $US190b with razors and once-a-month haircuts. A figure that big includes moisturisers, serums, spray tans, haircare, brotox — that’s botox for men — and other injectables, waxing and, yes, make-up. Men investing in their appearance is a trend fuelled by a combination of canny marketing, social media and changing gender norms. Male celebrities have helped normalise — and cash in on — the trend by launching their own skincare, fragrance and beauty product lines, from Harry Styles, Troye Sivan and Pharrell Williams, who are popular with young consumers, to Brad Pitt and Idris Elba for those with some silver in their hairline. TikTok is awash with male beauty influencers, beauty giant Sephora now sells “war paint for men” — concealer by any other name — and legacy brand Estee Lauder just did a deal with Manchester United soccer team as its skincare partner. “There has been a pivotal shift in male pampering culture during the last decade,” a Statista report dated August 1 said. “Men’s toiletries used to consist of shampoo, deodorant, shaving cream, and not much else. But from London to New York to Sao Paulo, bathroom cabinets of middle-class homes now brim with moisturisers, facial cleaners, eye serums, bronzers, concealers, anti-agers, and even mud masks — all designed specifically for men. “Men have begun to spend more cash on male-specific toiletries than on shaving products. Sales of skin care, in particular, boomed; and there is no going back now. More and more men are putting higher stock into looking good. It’s about self-confidence as much as anything else, and the desire to feel more attractive, more successful, and, increasingly, more youthful.” Rise of the metrosexual Male grooming is not a modern phenomenon: archaeological finds suggest men in ancient Egypt, China and India dabbled in moisturising creams, perfumes and make-up. But it was the rise of the “metrosexual” man in the late 1990s, epitomised at the time by UK footballer David Beckham, that woke the industry up to the possibilities. At the time Gillette was the first — and often the last — word when it came to the idea that a man might have a grooming regimen. “Metrosexual man, the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that’s where all the best shops are), is perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade,” wrote The Independent’s Mark Simpson in 1994 — the first known use of the term. “In the eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as GQ. In the nineties he’s everywhere and he’s going shopping.” In 2023 metrosexuality is mainstream: Coles and Woolworths sell everything from men’s moisturiser to beard oil, AFL footy players talk about their skincare regimen and millennials and Generation Z are increasingly less attached to traditional gender stereotypes. Nathan Ahern was an early mover by WA standards. When he opened Guys Grooming in the Perth CBD in 2008 he had eight staff and the focus was “on teaching guys about how to maintain and present themselves well”.“We did struggle in the early days to explain to guys that they can have a fashionable and manageable look that did not require them to compromise their man brand,” he says. One early stumbling block was the lack of word-of-mouth: unlike women, who are usually happy to share beauty secrets with friends, men were less likely to chat to their mates about where they got their hair cut, their beard trimmed or why their skin looked good.These days the business offers haircuts, facials, massage, waxing and feet and hand treatments. Its grooming packages, which typically combine a hair cut and style with a skin or body treatment, account for more than 40 per cent of its weekly business. “Another generation is starting to find their way into grooming, and they understand how important it is for your general wellbeing and mental health to look and feel great and this is helping to grow the industry — something we always knew,” Ahern says. “Perth men are certainly taking more care of themselves these days and with changing attitudes to mental health and general well-being they are seeing the benefits of feeling and looking good.” Sabra Syed, of His Grooming in Como, has also seen Perth men’s attitudes change. She deals predominantly, but not exclusively with hair and — although she does not use this word — “manscaping”. (That term was coined by the hosts of the original series of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which deserves some credit for normalising the basics of male grooming.) The business started in 2010 as unisex but pivoted to men after Syed learned to appreciate the loyalty of male customers — particularly when it comes to waxing. “Women will shop around … men are loyal. Guys won’t go to anyone else. ‘My wife can see my bits or Sab can see my bits, that’s all’,” she says. Hair removal, both waxing and laser, remains the most popular service but she also offers facials, spray tans and teeth whitening. Demand is such that, she says, she could run three to four shops if she could find the right staff. Clients range from 14 to 80 years old but the 35-60 age bracket is her biggest demographic. “It’s expanding. More guys are getting into injectables and facials,” she says. “Guys are not getting things done to show someone. They want to feel comfortable and they want to feel good.” Exploding market These days most of the big heritage skincare brands, like Clinique, L’Oreal and Kiehl’s, have lines for men. Zoe Foster-Blake’s Australian behemoth Go-To has its own male line, the appropriately named Bro-To. The male skincare market was valued at $US13.3b in 2021, forecast to nearly double to $US22b by 2030. Alongside the big players, there has also been an explosion in smaller niche Australian brands, from Bondi Skin Co and Hiz and The Groomed Man Co. Dave Willey’s The Aussie Man, launched in 2021, is one of them. He has seen Australian men’s attitudes towards skincare evolve. Forget the cliche of men’s wives and girlfriends buying their moisturiser for them: these days, he says, it is men themselves making the call. “While there may have been some stigma around skincare being perceived as something exclusively for women in the past, that perception has gradually changed,” he says. “The majority of our customers are men buying for themselves. The growth in demand from men for skincare products tailored to their needs has been significant, and they take an active interest in selecting the right products for their skincare routines and are open to learning what products will meet their needs.” Popular products include anti-ageing serum, eye creams, moisturisers and face cleanser. “We have noticed a rise in the popularity of our green clay mask. I feel this shows that men are breaking the social norms and are willing to try new products to achieve healthy-looking skin,” he says. The growth of gender-free skincare and beauty brands is a trend that speaks to younger generations with a more fluid approach to gender. They include The Ordinary — now one of the best-selling skincare brands in the world — Williams’ Humanrace, Harry Styles’ Pleasing and cult Korean skincare brand BePlain. More than one-third of visitors to The Ordinary’s website are men, according to digital data agency Similar Web. The genderless trend has even spread to the world of shaving, with unisex products like the BIC Us acknowledging what many may have suspected: that there is not a lot of difference between men and women’s razors. From niche to mainstream It has been two years since the first men’s make-up store in the world, War Paint, opened in London. The cityis a trend-setter in the world of male grooming, at least when it comes to the western world — globally parts of Asia are streets ahead — but it offers a glimpse of where Australia might be headed. Data from buy now, pay later platform Clearpay shows overall beauty spending among UK men has jumped 77 per cent year on year, with nail care, fake tan and skin care leading the way. Rimmel London, the beauty brand owned by market behemoth L’Oreal, has signed Olympic diver Tom Daley as its first-ever male ambassador. Make-up for men may have started niche — Jean Paul Gaultier’s 2003 range was ahead of its time — but has since gone more mainstream. Chanel’s Boy de Chanel line launched in 2018, the same year Daniel Kaluuya made a splash wearing Fenty Beauty on the red carpet. Hollywood celebrities have helped to drive the trend, as has the rise of K-pop, whose stars are open about their skin and make-up routines, and social media is filled with male influencers testing products and experimenting with different make-up brands and looks. Trend forecaster WGSN recently predicted that “the normalisation of men’s make-up will continue into 2024”, according to the Financial Times. Straddling the line between skincare and make-up is Tony & Munro, the Australian beauty line launched in 2019 by corporate marketing executives Ewan Munro Belsey and Tony Tsianakas. “We spent about a year in research, before we started Tony & Munro, testing the market and asking what they wanted and why,” Belsey says. “What we discovered about the male beauty market is that 30 years ago men didn’t wear any product in their hair except Brylcream, today there are hundreds of men’s hair products on the market. Twenty years ago men didn’t wear fragrance, except for Old Spice and today men’s fragrance is a multibillion dollar industry. And 10 years ago men didn’t wear any skincare products, yet today there is so much more awareness about the need to moisturise and use a sunscreen; there is huge movement around men looking after their skin; and there are so many men’s skincare products available to choose from. “Today men are asking, what’s the next step — and they are looking for the next thing to add to their morning or evening routine.” The pandemic years were all about skincare, with products like eye gel and moisturiser proving most popular. Since people emerged from their houses BB cream and concealer have been more popular. “Given that men in Australia are still finding their feet with skincare and cosmetics, what we’re trying to do is give them a foot in the door with skincare products like our eye gel and then give them the option to take the next step with their skincare routine and try something else, like our BB cream or concealer that might help address another skincare need,” Belsey says. “Globally, men are definitely still being under-serviced with skincare and cosmetics products that are available to them and more and more men don’t want to wear products that are originally made for women. They want brands of their own and products that are made for their skin. There is definitely growth potential here.” He said Australia’s “blokey” men’s culture is a reality “so a degree of masculine toxicity still exists”. “However, with the influence from the European, UK, Asian and American markets, that is slowly starting to change,” he says. “There is definitely more awareness now, with men, about looking after their skin . . . cleansers, moisturisers, sunscreen, et cetera and men are starting to dip their toe in the water with the ‘what’s next’ — face masks, night serums, eye creams, tinted products and products to cover blemishes — but we predict that it will still take some time to realise a cultural shift, where men are wearing cosmetic products like they do their fragrances.” Social power The role of social media in normalising male grooming cannot be over-exaggerated. Social media is full of #grwm (that’s “get ready with me”) videos demonstrating the skincare, haircare and make-up routine involved in getting influencers out the door. Industry publication Cosmetics Business reported that the #grwm hashtag has more then 83 million views on TikTok, while the use of the hashtag #mensgrooming is up 98 per cent year-on-year to April 2023 in European markets. Video views for male skin care terms like #mensskincare and mensskincaretips are up nearly 400 per cent in the same period. Estee Lauder’s deal with Manchester United has a heavy online component, with stars like Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho to feature in a social media campaign to spruik the benefits of a good skincare routine. The brand is hoping to cash in on the team’s big Asian fan base. “In the same way our athletes prepare the night before a match with regular training rituals, healthy skin also requires a consistent and effective regimen,” Manchester United’s chief executive of partnerships Victoria Timpson said of the deal. That the rise of social media has helped popularise men’s grooming products and normalise their use should not be a surprise, not just because of the narcissism baked into social media but because social media, particularly TikTok, skews young. Bullish expectations around men’s grooming are based at least partly on expectations about how Gen Z will spend their disposable income as they acquire more of it. If Gen X and millennial men started the trickle — think Beckham wearing a sarong in the late nineties — it is the Zoomers coming up behind them, the generation who have grown up in a post-metrosexual world, that are tipped to be the flood.