Caution.
You're tuned in to Roundtable.
I'm Steve today with Yushan and Yushun.
Coming up, the bar of soap is being replaced by serums and sunscreen and even makeup.
Men's grooming is undergoing a seismic shift with spending skyrocketing this year.
What is behind that change and how are legacy brands being challenged?
The face of masculinity is changing, literally.
After that, if your Monday needs a little motivating, stay with us.
Motivational Monday is on the way.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts.
And don't forget, we love hearing your voice, so send your voice notes to us.
Roundtable podcast at qqcom.
Once again, roundtable podcast at qqcom.
And now, in the past and i think this was perhaps true for me as well men's cosmetic products might have meant nothing more than a bottle of shampoo.
In the past, it wouldn't have been considered manly to have a skincare routine.
Oh, times have changed.
Today, the list of daily products for men is getting much longer, from oil control cleansers to anti-aging serums.
Do you know what those are, Yushin?
I think so.
From sunscreen to tone-up creams.
I don't even know what a tone-up cream is.
And I have a kind of skincare routine.
But even blush, even powder now.
They've started becoming a part of some men's everyday routines.
The data recently has shown that spending in men's skincare and cosmetics it's shown monumental growth.
Categories like hair care and makeup products posting huge year-on-year gains.
So what is going on?
Why is the change happening now?
And I wonder how the traditional male grooming brands are being challenged by the new players.
We'll talk about it all.
But what has been changing in the men's beauty industry?
One major change is on how people look at, or people's attitude towards, men's makeup in, From the past to what it has been nowadays.
Because back in 2015 I think that's over a decade ago about a decade ago, a survey on Weibo here in China revealed that only 29 of respondents firmly supported men to use cosmetics regularly.
But 31% firmly opposed that.
That was 10 years ago.
That's 10 years ago.
And let's look at in recent years.
In 2018, 60 of people who answered another survey firmly supported men to use cosmetics.
And only less than 10% firmly opposed that.
That was quite the change in three years.
I know, right?
Because?
Well, one cute example would be I nowadays get a lot of skin care advice from my boyfriend, two years after dating him.
And I'm telling you this guy, he's the last person you want to seemingly to consult skincare or makeup or like color tone advice, from cause he looks like a classic.
What'd you call it?
Like a hockey player, with full facial hair coverage and very small part of skin left for that level of professional knowledge for skincare.
But somehow that's becoming the trend now.
Men, they're learning more about skin care, becoming more professionalized at it and just giving tips all to all different groups of people.
There has been a change that's impacting the men's beauty industry as well.
Data from Lead Leo Research Institute revealed that the men's skincare market here in China reached approximately 17 billion yuan, or 24 billion US dollars, in 2024.
And that's up 17% year on year.
By 2029, this is an estimation that the market is expected to grow to 29.2 billion yuan or roughly.
$4 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 11%.
Yeah, no reason to think that it would slow down next year or the year after that.
What are the different product categories?
I'm curious to know.
A lot of these industries or categories are showing trends of going up and some information From the e-commerce platforms, including Tmall, from Taobao and JDcom, and also Pinduoduo and Douyin.
These platforms are showing that, from January to August 2025, four major men's beauty categories.
And they are facial care, hair care, body care, and also color cosmetics.
Awesome.
What does color cosmetics mean?
As in Chinese 彩妆, as in putting on beautiful color like eyeshadow or blushes, stuff like that.
Okay.
So these categories.
Okay achieved a total transaction value of more than 6 billion yuan, or more than 842 million US dollars, and a sales volume of more than 108 million units.
That's over 10% and 33% respectively.
Yeah.
The hair care products, they surged by 100% from January to August in terms of sales.
This year, the transaction value of men's makeup, it's still relatively small at 269 million yuan.
It's a big number, but it's still considered small.
It's still recorded year-on-year growth.
55% in its transaction value and 108% in its sales volume.
So the number overall of sales maybe not that impressive, but the percentage increase is is proof that yeah, men are getting into taking care of their hair.
It's a big change already.
Yeah, it's a huge, I mean, within just 10 years, right?
I mean survey results at that time said no no, men should not be doing these types of things to take care of their skin.
And take care of their hair.
You know, so it's kind of a cultural shift as well.
And would that be one of the reasons behind the growth?
I'm thinking that social media would have a lot to do with this.
I think so.
Definitely.
You know, the traditional kind of tough guy image is changing or shifting as men increasingly pursue a kind of refined, clean and maybe youthful appearance, and not only from men themselves.
From, maybe their partners.
They are also urging them to get a get a change, or change that kind of mindset of not like that hairy or the dirty look.
It was perceived as manly.
Maybe not the hairy or dirt.
What's the dirty look?
I don't even know what that is, but i don't know hands.
Well, i think it's just the concept of masculinity right right, this is a market where advertising has been targeting women only for decades and now it's not anymore targeting only women.
Just turn on any channel anywhere and you'll see tons of advertisements for men's skin care, men's hair care, And you find that.
But you also find men online who are sharing that message.
Yeah.
Yeah, this is my skincare routine.
And as a man, I think for men... I can't speak for all men, of course, but I think...
When men see other men doing something, it encourages them to do it as well.
Let me rephrase. it makes them feel okay with doing it themselves.
What I mean is this.
Maybe in the past, who knows, there were a bunch of dudes out there who were like man.
I really wish I had a toner and a nice serum for my skin or something like that, but none of my friends are doing this and I know they're going to make fun of me.
But when there's representation in the media, then men say, yeah, okay, cool.
Now I know it's okay for me to care about this stuff too.
Yeah, and I think I'm really happy about how This inclusiveness is covering both genders nowadays.
And younger let's say younger generation.
They're breaking the taboo of how it's believed in the old days of using skincare or makeup.
It's a symbol of less masculinity, but they're trying to explore and navigate more into this market, which is also, I think, part of the reason why the market is being led towards a more opened up social norm nowadays.
It's OK for men to use it, too.
And they are also quite a bit of luxurious or not very convenient brands in China or abroad.
That's proving that, yeah, it's very accessible.
And men's makeup, men's skincare.
It's reaching out to more people, whether it's through offline sales or online social media influences and impacts.
There are more and more male bloggers teaching people, teaching male and female how to do their skincare as a way of building their own influence.
100%.
And it's happening internationally as well.
Grandview Research.
They project the annual growth rate of about nine percent or so from 2022 to 2030 for uh skincare products.
So it's happening in china.
It's happening in other parts of the world as well.
Um, i think the reasons behind it perhaps are um Many.
I said that maybe men feel like it's okay now.
I think the definition of masculinity is a little bit different than what it used to be, if not a lot different.
But now there are products that are targeted toward men and men know that.
Remember a long time ago on the show we talked about the all-in-one?
Oh, yeah.
The shampoo conditioner body wash thing.
Hasn't that been sports thing for a long time?
Yeah, but it was the well.
The point at that time was you probably shouldn't be using that if that, if you're looking for you know the best hair care products, But the point here is the point today is a different one.
These types of products, these types of self-care skin care, hair care, things are now being directed toward men, and men alone, with certain companies.
So then, speaking of companies from the traditional I guess male grooming brands, they're being challenged by these new players in the game.
And I'm wondering how they're dealing with that.
Yeah, at least here in China.
It's really worth noting that here in this country, men's beauty market is undergoing dramatic change, characterized by a shift between old and new players and intense competition between domestic and also international brands as well.
So, among the top 20 brands of the first eight months in 2025, The French cosmetic brand L'Oreal and Chinese brand Z and Mancos ranked in the top three.
Meanwhile Biotherm, which is a brand under L'Oreal, and also Shanghai-based brand Cans and GF, which is also a men's skincare brand under Shanghai brand, entered the top six.
So all of these brands are sort of in two main forces, the two sides of men's beauty market here in China.
One side stands for the well-established international brands represented by L'Oreal, or mainly extending extensions from women's skincare lines of various brands from the global side.
And then there's another major competitor, a major force, that are the emerging Chinese male force brands such as the Z1 I mentioned earlier, which were founded specifically for the men's grooming market and have risen rapidly through e-commerce channels nowadays.
I'm not sure which one has a bigger impact, as in I'm not really a target audience for for neither of them, so you shouldn't have.
What will you think of this current market?
Um competition?
I would definitely say that marketing is one of the biggest thing that these companies are um focusing on, because some of these brands, as you said, some of them were not like originally having men's product line, and then they're developing one, or some of the brands are just only focusing on men's skincare products.
So they've realized that there is a huge market that haven't been developed.
And it can be, it has a huge potential to be developed.
And that is why these companies are opening up new channels to maybe get another share of this market.
Yeah.
So there's the marketing towards men and the products towards men.
But then there's the gender neutral lines as well.
And L'Oreal, we can use that company as an example.
Again a lot of it's star products in their lineup.
They already show this gender neutral trend and that attracts a lot of new male buyers as well.
And that brand is going to continue to launch such new products in China, the gender neutral products, which is a good way to attract new customers when couples are out shopping together.
Right, you can look at those products together.
You can use them together at home.
That's a good news for my dad, who always used the leftover of my mom like the leftover skincare products.
Does he good for him?
Because my dad, when i was in high school, he used the dish soap in the shower to wash his entire body.
I found the dish soap in the shower one day and I asked dad.
I was like, did you do the dishes in the shower?
He's like, no, that's my soap.
I was like, you use dish soap for your, what?
He's like, here's my theory, Steve.
If it's good enough to clean the plate where I eat my food, it's good enough to clean my body.
And I said-
I don't agree with that at all, and I don't think science does either.
But we're seeing a lot of education now with men learning about how to take care of their skin.
I really got into it in Korea because K-beauty, right?
I got really into it and I started doing masks like two, three times a week.
I was doing mud masks.
And then I learned about... Yeah.
Oh, those are amazing, bro.
You've never done a mud mask before?
Never.
You've never done a mud mask?
No.
What?
Really?
Only sheet mask like the... Oh, my goodness.
Well, okay.
All right.
Well, let's get into it.
Okay.
So first... you have to exfoliate, right?
You need like an exfoliant scrub.
So that's like with the little sandy bits in it.
You know what that is?
So you scrub your face and it'll take like the dead skin off of your face.
After that, wash your face after that with your cleanser.
Then put a toner on, which rebalances the pH levels in your skin, in your face.
Then you're going to do your mud mask, and that will clean out your pores.
Have you ever touched a baby's bum before?
That's what your skin feels like after you do a mud bath.
You should definitely start a new channel for that.
I should start a new show here.
What am I talking about?
That's Steve Kaur, folks.
Like I said, I got super, super into it.
And I remember talking about it on air, jokes aside.
I remember saying... there's nothing to be ashamed of here.
There's nothing to feel weird about here.
Your skin is your largest organ.
If you're doing things in your life to take care of your liver and your heart and your lungs, why wouldn't you do something to take care of your skin as well?
And your partner's going to love you for it.
And you're Although it can get a little bit addictive, I suppose.
So, in terms of brands, we're seeing some development in how they're not only marketing to people, but also how they're putting their products out.
But if men are starting in this, just quickly on this one, how do they get started?
If there's a man out there listening today saying, okay, but what do I do first?
What's the answer to that?
Just really get to know your own skin first, which skin type you fall into.
Is it very oily or is it sensitive in the sense that very heavy cream is going to create irritation on it, or is it super dry during certain weather?
You got to know yourself, know your skin first, then decide which product will suit you the best.
And if you don't know how to get your skin type Well, I guess I'll have to save that for the skincare podcast, because that's a long answer.
Just go on the internet and search how to do that and you'll be able to find it.
Are you into this, Yushin, at all?
I will try and start doing my maybe skin care routine from today.
I've got to get you all a mud mask.
That's step number one, I think.
You're listening to Roundtable.
Stay with us.
Motivational Monday is up next.
Motivational.
Motivational Monday time, you should kick us off.
So have you ever noticed that many times when we feel exhausted, it's not because what we're doing is particularly difficult, but because we trap ourselves in a constant state of hesitation, like looking left and right hesitating, weighing pros and cons, unable to decide.
And we like go between to do or not to do, to want or not to want.
Indecisiveness.
Yeah.
So this kind of mental fatigue, actually caused By endless these hesitation, is often the most draining of all.
And then I found the modern Chinese writer Hu Shi once said, why fear the truth is infinite.
Each step forward brings its own joy.
So we often worry that decision we are making right now might not be the best one.
But so what, right?
What matters is also that the choice you make today brings you peace and joy in this very moment.
So just do it right now.
Future will just come along when it when, when the time is here you know when when this happened the most for me, when i'm trying to decide what to eat, i was gonna say i knew it.
Yeah, My wife and I go through this all the time.
Spend like a half an hour just trying to decide what type of food we want.
But eventually, after that brainstorming, you get one type of food which you can both sit down and enjoy comfortably.
That's A progress.
Yeah, let's say.
Yeah, exactly.
Was there something that happened in your life recently that kind of brought about this motivational Monday?
Yeah, it's about like taking the test or not, because I know that it's going to be very.
It's going to be a lot of hard work during the process of preparing for that.
But I know that if I pass that, I could be really, really happy.
So the process of deciding to do the test or not is really something.
But yeah, the result is that I did it.
Oh, well, there you go.
But I did the test.
We haven't know the result yet.
Oh, okay.
At least there's a one step forward.
Exactly.
You took it.
That's step number one.
Yushan, what's your motivation on Monday today?
My motivation comes from a movie I watched together with my boyfriend last night.
It's called Materialist.
It's a 2025 American romantic comedy drama film that's written and directed by.
I think her name is Celine Son.
She is Korean, if I'm remembering it right, Korean-Canadian.
So this film is basically about what love looks like today, in an age where emotions and economic status are so tangled up, especially when people are looking for intimacy and building something more serious, such as marriage.
So it follows people uh, trying to find real connection, but constantly bumping into this question.
So it's love enough, or does financial security or um, social status sit in the back ground shaping what a good marriage looks like?
So one, oh wait, it sounds like, was it becky?
Yeah, I was trying to say.
Sounds like this movie was directed by Becky.
Gosh Becky Chen.
If you're listening to today's show, please do check this movie out, where you can get a really good note on when you fell in love.
You just do.
There's no financial, say, advantage. levels that's going to make you hesitate who you love.
So again, try it.
It's a really good movie for a cozy Friday night, let's say.
My motivational Monday is fashion trends may come and go, but good skin is always in.
That sounds like the tagline for the skincare podcast.
Oh, yeah.
Steve Corrigan.
Yeah, right.
The slogan of your new channel.
Awesome.
That'll do it for Roundtable 4 today.
Thanks for being with us.
Thanks to Yushan and Yushan.
I'm Steve.
Come back again.
