Male grooming industry has come a long way over the last decade. From being a non-entity to a multi-billion-dollar market, male grooming is gaining worldwide acceptance and modern men are engaging in one or other forms of grooming regimes. Men and grooming were considered contrary in the past but with the rise of the metrosexual men, words such as body care, skin care and hair care are new additions to the dictionary of men.

Shift in Grooming Market

Changing landscape of grooming market is well noticeable under the hood of FMCG giants as well. Emami was the first company in India to launch fairness cream, ‘Fair & Handsome’ for men in 2005. Since then, male grooming market has been growing at an unprecedent rate and the launch of men centric grooming products by Marico, Emami, Loreal and Nivea validates that.

According to TechSci Research report “India Men’s Grooming Products Market By Product Type (Fragrance, Shaving, Skincare, Haircare and Moustache & Beard Grooming), By Sales Channel (Supermarket/ Hypermarket, Grocery/Retail Store, Online, etc.), Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2012 – 2022” India men’s grooming products market stood at $ 1.4 billion in 2016, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 15%, in value terms,  to reach $ 3.3 billion by 2022. Rising number of consumers facing early ageing problems, increasing disposable income and expanding young working population are aiding India men’s grooming products market. Moreover, rapid urbanization and increasing adoption of western culture along with changing lifestyle and awareness regarding the consumption of grooming products to counter ageing problems, are some of the other factors expected to propel demand for men’s grooming products in India over the next five years.

Traditionally, grooming services for men were mostly limited to haircut and shaving, but metrosexual men are now demanding a far wider range of products and services. Increasing trend of pogonophiles and religious association of beards with various religions is contributing to the increasing demand for beard related offerings such as trimmers, beard wax, beard oil, among others. Undeniably, shavers and trimmers is one of the prominent segments in the male grooming market, but successful launches of body hair grooming products like Body Razor by Gillette, 6-in-1-all-over-body grooming kit by Panasonic and Bodygroom trimmer by Philips indicate a new form of manscaping and present an opportunity in this unexplored market i.e. body hair removal or body hair grooming.