China's Men's Personal Care Market: Body Grooming Surges

Executive Summary#

China's online men's personal care market is splitting into two speeds. Skincare holds a 54.6% share of sales on two leading established marketplaces, while specialised body grooming segments, depilatory cream and hair color/gray coverage, have maintained five-year CAGRs above 35%. On a leading content-led marketplace, men's personal care is at an early stage of fast growth from a small base. Intimate care grew 2,729% YoY and hair color 689% YoY as content-driven discovery brought new buyers to the category. We believe brands that continue to concentrate on facial skincare face structural headwinds, while those that move into body care and specialised grooming are better placed for where male self-care is heading.

A Market Splitting Into Two Speeds#

China's men's personal care market is splitting into segments that are growing at very different rates. Moojing examined sales data across leading Chinese marketplaces from September 2018 through August 2023, covering five rolling years of consumer behaviour across male grooming categories.

On the two leading established marketplaces, skincare is the largest category by share at 54.6% ^[1], followed by hair and styling at 25.8%, body care at 16.5% and cosmetics at 3.2%, proportions that mirror the skincare-first structure of the wider beauty market. Share and momentum tell different stories, however. Within skincare, sales of facial cleanser came under pressure over the year, as did sheet masks, serums, toner and lotion/cream.

Body care showed the advantage of steady, everyday demand, since products anchored to functional hygiene, such as body wash, deodorant and depilatory products, are less exposed to economic downturns than aspirational skincare. Over the five-year study period, body care recorded the highest cumulative growth of the major segments. The hair and styling category, which moves closely with skincare around promotional events, picked up in late 2023, which we believe may signal a recovery as people returned to the office.

On a leading content-led marketplace, every men's personal care sub-category in the data was growing fast in MAT2023. We believe this reflects a low sales base, a large number of daily active users and an algorithm-driven discovery model that rewards products that are easy to demonstrate. Facial cleanser on this marketplace grew 232.6% YoY to CN¥ 17,980K ^[2], and intimate care grew 2,729.3% YoY. Men's personal care on the channel was at an early stage in 2023, and we believe brands that established a presence there then were building advantages that would be hard to challenge as the channel matured.

Category Share: Where the Volume Sits#

Moojing's MAT2023 analysis gives the following category shares on the two leading established marketplaces:

Two Leading Established Marketplaces: Category Share (MAT2023)

Body care products, whose demand rests on everyday hygiene, have not yet been effectively packaged for discovery through short-form video, and we believe this is where early entrants can establish a strong position in the category.

Sub-Category Breakdown: Seven High-Growth Markets Worth Watching#

Among men's personal care sub-categories on the two leading established marketplaces, seven posted a five-year CAGR above 10%, and five of them also recorded MAT2023 sales above CN¥ 100 million:

Two sub-categories deserve particular attention: hair color/gray coverage (CN¥ 140M MAT2023, five-year CAGR of 35.19%) and depilatory cream (CN¥ 79.9M MAT2023, five-year CAGR of 35.49%). These are the fastest-growing segments in men's personal care over the five years, with roughly three times the CAGR of mainstream categories such as shampoo and styling.

Over MAT2023 most sub-categories came under pressure, but we believe this should be read against the five-year trend. Hair color was almost flat on the year and depilatory cream came under pressure, yet both kept their long-term growth intact. The gap between their five-year CAGR and their one-year change points to the wider economic slowdown, with no sign that demand in the categories themselves has run its course.

At the other end of the scale, several very small categories grew exceptionally quickly from negligible bases:

• Dry shampoo: +3,455.4% YoY (CN¥ 16K base)
• Neck care: +6,087.1% YoY (CN¥ 95.7K base)
• Foundation & powder: +85.97% YoY (CN¥ 891.2K)
• Sunscreen: +70.65% YoY (CN¥ 8,049.3K)

These growth rates partly reflect the small bases, but the direction is consistent, and male consumers are extending their grooming beyond facial skincare into a growing range of product types.

Consumer Demographics: The 26-35 Urban Professional#

Men's personal care demand in China is concentrated in a specific demographic, and analysis of social media discussion of specialised grooming categories points consistently to urban professionals aged 26-35 in Tier 1 and new Tier 1 cities.

For depilatory cream, the 31-35 age group accounts for 42.3% of social media discussion, and 26-30 adds another 25.2%. Geographically, 78% of discussion comes from Tier 1 cities (39.4%) and new Tier 1 cities (38.7%).

For hair color, the demographic is slightly younger, with the core male buyer aged 21-30 (26-30 at 26.6%, 21-25 at 24.7%) and concentrated in Tier 1 (43.6%) and new Tier 1 cities (31.8%). We believe this younger profile reflects the role of fashionable colours and personal identity in hair dyeing among Post-95s and Post-00s consumers.

Both groups share a heightened awareness of grooming, shaped by urban social norms, familiarity with international brands and content that treats male self-care as normal. As content platforms' recommendation engines spread this awareness, these norms are reaching lower-tier cities and widening the addressable market beyond its current concentration in Tier 1 cities.

The Content-Led Channel#

We believe one of the most significant structural shifts in China's men's personal care market concerns the channel more than any product category. Content-driven commerce has created a different path to purchase, in which shoppers discover products through entertaining content and buy through livestreams and short-form video.

The MAT2023 data for men's personal care sub-categories on a leading content-led marketplace shows how early-stage this channel remains for most grooming categories:

Sales in these sub-categories were still small but growing quickly in MAT2023. Brands that invest in content made for the channel before these sub-categories mature stand to gain advantages that become harder to challenge as brand concentration rises with the channel's maturity.

Key Takeaways#

• Skincare holds a 54.6% share on two leading established marketplaces, while core skincare sub-categories such as facial cleanser and sheet masks came under pressure in MAT2023
• Depilatory cream and hair color/gray coverage both post five-year CAGRs above 35%, which makes them the fastest-growing men's personal care segments over five years
• Body care's steady, everyday demand held up better than discretionary skincare through the economic slowdown of 2022-2023
• Men's personal care on a leading content-led marketplace is at an early stage of fast growth, with intimate care up 2,729% YoY and hair color up 689% YoY
• The 26-35 urban professional in Tier 1 and new Tier 1 cities drives the adoption of specialised grooming, and content-driven discovery is beginning to carry these norms into lower-tier markets
• Brands that remain concentrated in facial skincare face structural headwinds, while those moving into body grooming and content commerce are better placed for the market's next phase of growth

About the Data#

This analysis draws on Moojing Market Intelligence data covering Q4 2023.

Moojing analyses brand and category performance across major Chinese e-commerce platforms. For full methodology and additional insights, see the complete Men's Personal Care whitepaper.