It started a while ago at the beautician section of the hairdressers, previously a male-free zone. Now you see men nonchalantly having manicures and heading off down the corridor for facials. Some look a bit sheepish, but most sit having their nails buffed as if they’ve been doing it all their lives. Some guys are there for “a bit of waxing” I’m told, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Well now it’s official. Sales of cosmetics and skincare for men in Asia -- sorry, “male grooming products” -- are growing faster than for women, at nine per cent and five per cent per annum respectively. This is I learn in Campaign Asia Pacific. It seems a sort of watershed has been reached where nearly two-thirds of men believe cosmetics are not only for women. I’ve never understood that: men are usually happy to use whatever they can find after a quick rummage in the bathroom cupboard. Even if they emerge smelling like a girl’s handbag, they wouldn’t be seen buying it themselves. No way. I knew one who would not even be seen with “women’s stuff” – not even non-embarrassing things – in his supermarket trolley, in case persons unknown thought he was shopping for himself. Clearly times have changed.
Kantar Worldpanel interviewed 5,300 male consumers in China, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and Thailand for this survey.