How has Covid-19 impacted the beauty and personal care industry?

For the past few years, the personal care industry has been talking about… Men. And there’s lots of reasons why - for example, social media, the rise of a new ‘masculinity’, more men only focused products, and the pressure to age gracefully is now becoming as important to men as it has been for women.

This past year though, we have had a new external factor, one that no one saw coming: COVID.

Around the world, consumers had different behavioural reactions to COVID on their personal care routine, from product usage, brand choice, time of day, etc driven by external circumstances. And men were not immune to this.

Traditionally men have always used fewer products than women, and while that isn’t going to change on the whole, men have begun to see the necessities of having personal care products in the house and the difference it makes to their lives.

In the past 3 months, 42% of men have changed their personal care routines. And nearly half this group are practising better hygiene. This wake up call around germ transmission has led to ingrained habits around core product use in the East, and an addition of product use in the West.

There is an opportunity not just to bring out more male-targerted products that can be used in consumers’ more detailed and lengthy personal care routines, but also products that are gender-neutral. 

To read more about the changing personal care habits of male consumers, download our free report on the key trends for 2021.