In the last two years, the bathroom mirror has stopped being the domain of women. Young men — armed with skincare serums, hair-growth devices and ever-expanding fragrance drawers — are rewriting the rules of male grooming.
“I used to grab whatever face wash was on offer. Now, I’m checking ingredients, saving TikToks about routines and actually budgeting for skincare,” says 24-year-old Martin, who works in the civil service and uses Horace face wash, Kiehl’s moisturiser and Malin + Goetz’s leather fragrance. “My mates and I send each other product links the same way we send gym tips. When someone says, ‘Your skin looks good,’ it feels great, like proof the effort is working.”
Across TikTok and Instagram, creators are helping to normalize a new, more expressive approach to men’s beauty. French-Vietnamese TikTok star Bách Buquen, for example, has gone viral for men’s makeup routines, while UK grooming and fragrance creator Luke Christian has amassed a following for his skin-first approach and product breakdowns. According to Cosmetic Business, male beauty and grooming sales surged 77% year-on-year in the UK, driven by young men and celebrity-led launches. NFL tight end Kyle Pitts was recently named the first-ever ambassador for men’s grooming brand Bevel, while Pharrell Williams’s Humanrace, Brad Pitt’s Le Domaine and Harry Styles’s Pleasing continue to pull male consumers deeper into the category.
Aesthetics clinics, too, report sharp increases in male clients seeking treatments once perceived as taboo. “Over the last three to four years, I’ve noticed a real rise in male patients coming through the doors — often people you wouldn’t necessarily expect. We’re seeing construction workers, heads of construction companies, CEOs, lots of corporate men in London, and, of course, A-listers and athletes,” says plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ash Soni, who has seen increasing demand for Botox, polynucleotides and Sculptra at his clinic in The Langham, London. Men, Dr. Soni adds, prefer language like “fresh”, “healthy-looking”, or “less tired” for discussing skin goals, rather than “beauty”.
The global men’s health and wellness market is forecast to reach $2.57 trillion by 2029, growing 12.4% annually, according to Daedal Research, with wellness culture increasingly shaped by contemporary ideals of performance, longevity and self-improvement. Strategic foresight agency The Future Laboratory calls this the “bromeopathy era” — an empirically driven, hyper-functional counterpart to traditional wellness. “In many ways, it’s an empirical alternative to the ‘Goopification’ of the industry, where stern and stoic language combines with scientific research and data for a distinctly masculine feel,” writes Adam Steel, in The Future Laboratory’s The Bromeopathy Market report.
Much of the momentum is coming from younger consumers who fold skincare, haircare, nutrition and aesthetics into a broader optimization mindset. “The male beauty market is undoubtedly being fed, in part, by an interest in longevity, optimization and biohacking,” says Suzanne Scott, global associate beauty director at Seen Group. “This is touching on everything from skin health to men actively engaging in the skin barrier conversation and looking for products that help with irritation, dehydration, redness, acne, or lines and wrinkles.” She adds that K-pop, anime and digital culture are helping to normalize a more experimental approach to fragrance, hair and skin.
This surge in male interest is creating complexities for the beauty industry. Young men are engaging with products more deeply than before — researching ingredients, comparing treatments and expecting brands to offer clear guidance rather than clichés about masculinity. They want efficiency, transparency and design that feels modern — not ‘for men’ by default. But they are also navigating lingering stigma, uncertain language and a lack of spaces that genuinely welcome them into the category. For brands, the opportunity is huge, but so is the need to rethink how they communicate, educate and build trust.
Who is the new male beauty consumer?
The new male beauty consumer is younger, more informed and more experimental than previous generations, and he is quickly becoming too big to ignore. Globally, the male grooming products market reached around $73.7 billion in 2024, and is forecast to reach more than $120 billion by 2034, according to Fortune Business Insights. Skincare is the standout growth engine: the men’s skincare market was valued at roughly $16.9 billion in 2024 and is expected to more than double by 2035.
Gen Z men are driving much of this shift. In the US, the share of Gen Z men aged 18 to 27 using facial skincare jumped from 42% in 2022 to 68% in 2024, per Mintel. In the UK, those aged 18 to 34 are more likely than the wider male population to say they have a skincare routine (30% vs 23%), and are more inclined to see beauty products as tools to enhance their appearance, feel better about themselves and prevent aging, according to YouGov.
Underlying these behaviors are broader socioeconomic pressures. “There is a growing interplay between masculinity, wellness and grooming,” says Olivia Houghton, lead beauty, health and wellness analyst at The Future Laboratory. She points to performance-focused fitness culture as a gateway: supplements, longevity hacks and discipline-driven habits have made self-maintenance feel productive rather than indulgent. With traditional milestones such as home ownership increasingly out of reach, grooming becomes a domain where young men can exert control. But the trend has complications. “Some of the loudest voices shaping these behaviors sit within the manosphere. Their rhetoric can position fitness, skincare and grooming as ways to prove hierarchy and dominance,” she warns. Brands, Houghton argues, must prioritize narratives of well-being and self-expression over status and judgment.
“I start skincare very slowly — baby steps,” says Dr. Soni. “But men often end up hooked. Many end up with some of the most regimented routines because they have that all-or-nothing mindset.” For him, the biggest myth remains gendered skincare: “I wish more men understood that there’s no such thing as men’s skincare versus women’s skincare — it’s just skincare.”
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How brands can tap in
Male consumers are evolving too quickly for brands to rely on legacy positioning or traditional “for men” messaging. Their expectations are higher, their literacy is growing and their tolerance for vague claims is shrinking. “When we work with a brand to launch a line or a product, we know so much of its success will come down to truly understanding who will love the product and love it enough to repurchase,” says Scott. “This forensic look at audiences is so important for brands looking to appeal to male consumers, because these consumer groups are going through so much change and brands don’t have the luxury of leaning on historical experience.” That means transparency, science-backed claims and a willingness to build experiences and communities around the products themselves.
The Future Laboratory points to the likes of London wellness brand Lyma, which has launched an index to provide information to members of the public about different nutrients and Lyma products, including links to scientific research, showcasing what this future could look like. There’s also Virgin Active’s Leave the Cult, Join the Club campaign, in which the company called out toxic wellness trends and the unrealistic promises of quick-fix solutions
Increasingly, brands recognize that men — especially Gen Z — want education and emotional support alongside the functional benefits of beauty. “One of the significant things we’re seeing with male consumers is this desire to really understand a product or a collection, and know how it fits into their lives,” says Scott. Seen Group’s recent work with Hair + Me reflects this shift. At London fitness studio Jab, it created a social space where men could discuss hair loss and mental well-being free from stigma, supported by in-house experts and trusted voices. “This kind of activity brings the conversation of hair loss out into the open where there’s no shame.”
In personal care and fragrance, brands see opportunity in avoiding gendered classifications altogether. “It’s our company policy to let the customer decide what works for them,” says David Seth Moltz, co-founder of fragrance brand DS Durga. “Even though I personally find certain scents more masculine, unisex, or feminine, we don’t distinguish that on the website or in-store.” Salt Stone founder Nima Jalali also notes rapid growth among younger male shoppers drawn to elevated scent profiles, minimalist design and performance-led formulas rather than products explicitly targeted at men. “They’re more informed and see how athletes and cultural figures approach their routines,” he says. The brand’s collaborations with athletes such as Jerami Grant and Max Jolliffe reinforce those values. “Being the number one deodorant on Amazon, up against legacy mass brands, shows just how significant this shift in mindset is,” Jalali adds.
Supplements — long the territory of bro-coded micro-communities — are also undergoing their own transformation as the category scales. With the global men’s health supplements market expected to grow 10% annually from 2025, established names are entering with science-forward propositions. Johnson’s Blueprint range spans longevity blends and multivitamins, while IM8, co-developed by Prenetics and David Beckham, positions itself as a daily performance system for modern men.
For brands, the next phase will require an entirely new playbook: credible science over macho marketing, inclusive language over gendered segmentation, and communities that offer education, emotional support and identity — not just products. The brands that succeed will be those that see men not as a niche, but as a rapidly expanding, deeply engaged consumer base demanding to be taken seriously.
