New Report: The Beauty & Personal Care Playbook: Trends, Claims, and White Space
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There’s a gap between what grooming brands market to men and what men actually want. It’s not just about beard oil anymore. Real conversations (across Reddit and consumer reviews) paint a more nuanced picture of what today’s male shopper is looking for.
Men are speaking up about grooming in ways they never have before. They share routines, frustrations, and product opinions openly, and often with striking honesty. So we dug in to find out more.
We paired insights from thousands of verified product reviews with Reddit conversations and market data to uncover what really matters to men when it comes to grooming. Here’s what we found.
Facial hair still dominates the conversation. Around 60–70% of Reddit grooming discussions center on beard trimming, styles, and maintenance: proof that the hipster beard trend hasn’t faded.
Today’s male shopper is building full routines. Skincare has become standard. In over half the Reddit threads we analyzed, men talk about daily cleansing, moisturizing, and SPF. And they’re vocal about product quality: texture, absorption, scent, and efficacy are dealbreakers.
What the reviews show:
That matches Reddit chatter, where the search for effective but uncomplicated skincare is constant.
A major thread running through both Reddit posts and reviews: hygiene isn’t just about self-care, it’s tied to how men perceive themselves socially.
Women in Reddit threads frequently highlight grooming gaps (like poor nail trimming, body odor, or lack of basic skincare) as major red flags, so men are taking note. Concerns about being judged, looking unkempt, or seeming immature come up again and again.
Product reviews reflect that shift too. Products that help men “feel clean,” “smell good,” or “look more put together” consistently earn high marks, even when they aren’t from legacy brands. It’s the outcome that matters, not the brand.
If there’s one topic that sparks both vulnerability and practicality, it’s hair loss.
Reddit users openly trade advice on treatment routines, ingredient breakdowns, and emotional reactions to thinning hair. The most discussed approaches:
Emerging curiosity surrounds newer treatments like sugar gel (deoxyribose), which showed promising results in mice. Reddit is cautiously optimistic. Product reviews are still catching up, but expect to see more consumer demand for novel ingredients soon.
A recurring frustration: the “for men” label.
Many Redditors argue that men’s and women’s products often have identical ingredients, just with different packaging and fragrance. That insight is supported by Harmonya’s enriched tag data: consumer reviews consistently mention misleading claims, over-scented formulas, or packaging that feels “performative.”
In other words, the male grooming shopper is now product-literate. He reads ingredients, questions claims, and compares across gender lines. He doesn’t want an aggressive scent to feel “manly.” He wants products that work, and he doesn’t care if they’re pink or blue.
The modern male shopper is self-educating, skeptical of gendered claims, and guided by results.
If you’re building a product line or planning a campaign for men’s grooming, here’s what your audience is already thinking about:
These shoppers already read reviews, shared routines online, and built expectations. The bar is higher than ever.
All insights were compiled using Harmonya’s Insights Agent, a conversational tool that pulls real-time context from thousands of product reviews, enriched product data, and sales performance. We combined that with Reddit trend analysis and our proprietary product tagging system to surface what really matters to male grooming shoppers today.
Want to see the full report? Download the Beauty & Personal Care Trend Report (2025)
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