Men’s Beauty in 2024: What’s Trending? Is Men’s Skincare Acceptable or Unacceptable?
The men’s cosmetics market is gaining traction, with many men sharing their skincare routines on social media. The men’s cosmetics market will continue to grow in 2024, with base cosmetics showing strong upwards trend in the market. What lies behind this growth? The results of Intage’s annual Independent Survey Data provides an overview of the current state of the men’s cosmetics market.
Men’s cosmetics in 2024 grew by about 1.8x more than in 2019
The market for Men’s cosmetics has reached 49.7 Billion Japanese Yen in 2024, marking a 114.8% increase compared to the previous year. Comparing the latest year to 2019, total men’s cosmetic saw an increase of 1.8 times in value. By Category, sunscreen saw a twofold increase in value, basic cosmetics grew by 1.8 times, and make up grew by 1.3 times. The market is maintaining steady growth trajectory (Fig.1).
Fig.1
While price increase over the years have contributed to the overall market growth, many categories saw growth rates higher than increase in unit prices.
Which base cosmetics categories grew significantly?
Base cosmetics accounts for approximately 90% of the men’s cosmetics market, highlighting a strong focus on this category (Fig.2).
Fig.2
In 2024, men’s base cosmetics market size reached a total of 43.8 Billion Japanese yen, 115.7% increase compared to previous year. Skin lotion and face wash accounts for about half of the market. Categories that saw the largest growth are beauty essence and cleanser. Beauty essence generally contains moisturizing and ageing care ingredients. Incorporating such ingredients into beauty essence has led to an increase in adoption among men, enabling a more advanced skincare routine that goes “one step beyond using only skin lotion and milky lotion”. The growth for cleanser was likely driven by the surge in demand for sunscreen due to heatwaves and high temperatures, but usage for cleanser also saw an increase outside of summer, especially among younger consumers. As men’s skin tends to produce more sebum than women’s, there is a growing demand for products that targets clogged pores and blackhead. These factors combined has contributed to the changes in the market share distribution of the base skincare market.
What are the purchase trends of base cosmetics by generation?
Fig.3 below compares men’s base cosmetics purchased, broken down by age group for year 2024 and 2019. The purchase amount refers to the average spending on base cosmetics per purchaser, and penetration refers to the percentage of respondents who bought base cosmetics.
Fig.3
Overall penetration increased by 1.1 times, from 30.4% to 33.2%. The purchase value also saw an increase from 1,869 yen to 3,131 yen. The rise in purchase value is considered the main factor behind the growth of base skincare market. The purchase value breakdown by age group saw higher increase of about 1.8 times among those in their 20s and 30s. The growth rate diminishes as the age group advances, but 60s and 70s still saw an increase of 1.5 times. From the table, we can see that the rise in beauty perception among males are not only among the young, but also among the middle-aged and older individuals.
What are some factors leading to the consumption of base cosmetics?
From our in-house Independent Survey Data, we can identify consumer’s attitude towards men’s skincare and cosmetics. First, we look at the factors that prompted the male respondents to start using base cosmetics products (Fig.4).
Fig.4
The most common response was “improving dry and troubled skin” (31.2%). The response “self-improvement” was selected by 21.4% of respondents, with a high proportion of teenagers at 32.4%. This was followed by “increasing concern due to age” (19.4%) and “recommended by friends and family” (17.1%). 5.9% of respondents mentioned that they saw “Ads and commercials”, while 3.5% of respondents said they had read about it in beauty magazines or blogs, seen social media or influencer posts, or were influenced by Korean idols or celebrities. Among individuals in their 20s, 8.9% of respondents selected “Korean idols or celebrities”, a rate more than double the overall proportion. These findings suggests that the reach of social media and influencers is a powerful driver behind the adoption of men’s base cosmetics.
Lastly, Fig.5 presents the results of the question “What are your views on men’s skincare and cosmetics”, with responses collected from male and females aged 15-79 years old.
Fig.5
Overall, a total of 57.9% of respondents answered that they “Favour” and “Somewhat favour” men’s skincare and makeup. 53.3% of males and 62.6% of females have favourable opinion. The data is further broken down into responses by gender and age of the respondents (Fig.6).
Fig.6
Among both male and female respondents, younger respondents exhibited a higher proportion of favourable opinions. The tendency to view skin care as part of self-improvement suggests that males are more receptive to skin care and cosmetics. When looking at the data by gender, around 70% of males from 10s to 30s showed high proportions of favourable opinion. Although the proportion of favourable opinion declines with age, negative responses saw less than 10% in all age groups. Among female respondents, 87.5% of teenage respondents showed high favourability, and remained above 70% among those in their 20s to 40s. It is likely that women’s impression and opinions have an impact on shaping and influencing the growth of men’s beauty perception.
Based on the results thus far, it is evident that positive and favourable attitudes towards men’s skincare and make up are spreading, particularly among the younger generation. With this shift in perception, the men’s cosmetics market is expected to continue growing in the years to come.
In this report, we presented the market trends for men’s cosmetics estimated from daily purchase data through SCI® (Nationwide Consumer Panel Survey), along with findings from an awareness survey. Intage will continue to closely monitor developments in the men’s cosmetics market moving forward.
【SCI® (National Consumer Panel Survey)】 Nationwide Japanese consumer’s daily shopping data that has been continously collected from 53,600 male and female respondents. We can gain insights on consumer’s purchase behaviours of products with barcodes such as food stuff, beverages, daily necessities, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and tobacco etc, by who (demographic), when, where (channel), what did they purchase, quantity and price. *SCI performs statistical processing and does not disclose any information that could identify individual survey monitors. *Information as of January 2025.
【Independent Survey Data from Intage Online Research】 Survey Area: Nationwide Japan Target Respondents: Male and Female aged 15-79 Sampling Method: Questionnaires distributed via Intage “Mighty Monitors”. Sample Size: n=5000 *Collected in alignment with demographic proportions (gender, age, region) based on national census. Survey Period: 27 September 2024 to 1 October 2024
Reproduction and Quotation
◆This report is copyrighted by INTAGE Inc. Please check the following prohibitions and precautions, and specify the source when reproducing or quoting this report. “Source: INTAGE “Knowledge Gallery” article published MM/DD/YYYY article”
◆The following are prohibited: ・Alteration of this article in full or in part ・Sale or publication of this article in full or in part ・Uses that are against public order and morality, and uses connected with illegal activities ・Reproducing or quoting panel data* for the purpose of advertising or promoting companies, products, or services *Panel data include: SRI+, SCI, SLI, Kitchen Diary, Car-kit, MAT-kit, Media Gauge, i-SSP, etc.
◆Other precautions: ・INTAGE Inc. shall not be liable for any trouble, loss, or damage caused by the use of this report ・These usage rules do not restrict the use of quotations or other uses permitted under the Copyright Act of Japan
◆For inquiries about reproduction and quotation, click here
