In autumn 2024, we chronicled the rise of the health and beauty industry, which, despite overall sluggish retail spending, had been bucking the trend and continued to post growth. As a whole, beauty spending grew by 7.1% in 2024, with consumers spending £291 each on average during the year. In the first half of 2025, that growth has showed no sign of slowdown. In April of this year, the category grew by 15.1% year-on-year, its biggest increase in three years. That followed increases of 11.0% and 8.9% in March and February, respectively.

As part of the monthly Barclays Consumer Spend Report, we track consumers’ essential and non-essential spend and define non-essential purchases as those that are not needed to maintain basic living standards, typically referring to categories like travel, entertainment, and health and beauty. 

The non-essential categorisation of health and beauty has been up for debate for some time now. Many consumers now consider their beauty buys to be non-negotiables that they’re willing to spend on even when making cutbacks. In fact, when asked if they now consider health and beauty products to be essential purchases, almost half (46%) agreed.

A crucial factor driving that growth has been the rise in beauty spending among men, a trend that has grown consistently in recent years.

Over the last decade, and, as explored in Barclays ‘10 Years of Spend’ report, it has moved beyond a trend to a lasting change. 

When consumers are contending with rising household bills, alongside concerns over inflation, interest rates, and tariffs, no industry – particularly one built on luxury – is immune. Shoppers are becoming increasingly savvy and particular when it comes to balancing their budgets and spending on the things that mean the most to them.

In the most recent Barclays Consumer Spend Report, non-essential spending grew by just 2%, a substantial drop from the 5.1% growth recorded the previous month. This was unsurprising as nearly half (46%) of UK adults said they were planning to reduce their discretionary spending.

One might expect that a skincare routine would be one of the first things sacrificed when times are tight, but, once again, that proved not to be the case, with spending across pharmacy, health, and beauty retailers, up 12.0% - the highest spend growth of any category in May.

This ‘against the grain’ growth has often been referred to as the ‘Lipstick Effect,’ where shoppers prioritise cosmetics purchases, even when limiting their spending, viewing them as small, relatively affordable, and therefore justifiable, luxuries. Even as consumers drop unnecessary purchases and cut back on other areas, the figures suggest health and beauty stays. And, for men as well as women, it is increasingly becoming an essential part of day-to-day life.

As shown in Barclays ‘10 Years of Spend’ report, beauty spending has consistently maintained its resilient growth trajectory since April 2021, at an average of 10.4% year-on-year 2021-2024. Male spending plays a significant part in this.

Almost one in five (19%) men say that they care more about beauty now than they did 10 years ago, while a similar proportion now spend a greater share of their income on self-care purchases, and say they feel pressure to look good, both at 18%, respectively. A quarter of men (25%) have now incorporated skincare into their daily routine, and one in eight (12%) have spent money on a cosmetic procedure in the last decade.

Male beauty is no-longer a rarity in popular culture. It is becoming ubiquitous and big business for brands. Barclays Consumer Spend research shows three in five (61%) have noticed men’s beauty and grooming products becoming more mainstream in the last decade, and it’s easy to see why. A number of the Premier League’s biggest teams now boast official skincare partners and Brad Pitt and Harry Styles both have bespoke beauty brands. It is a trend that feels here to stay.

More broadly, the industry, partly out of necessity in the early days of the pandemic, has digitised rapidly. Many of the biggest manufacturers, who might have once focused their attention on department stores and duty-free arcades, suddenly needed to scale up their ecommerce offerings. Physical health and beauty retail experiences had often been designed with female customers in mind, however ecommerce makes no such distinction, and male shoppers can find what they want with ease.

As well as this, affiliates have become huge business for the beauty industry, as have subscriptions. Almost nine in 10 (88%) UK adults are signed up to at least one subscription service, and beauty, grooming and razor subscription boxes are now hugely popular as gift options. Influencers already played a vital role in the industry, but this was catalysed by the astronomic rise of TikTok.

According to data from Dash Hudson and NielsenIQ, TikTok Shop is now the ninth largest beauty and wellness ecommerce retailer in the US market and the second largest in the UK. Barclays’ data supports this too. Both men and women are tapping into social media self-care trends. A fifth of male respondents (18%) say that social media now has more of an impact on their beauty purchases.

Barclays data shows that over the last five years, men's spending on the pharmacy, health & beauty category has increased by 58.1%, outpacing the 45.7% growth in women's spending over the same period. In 2024, men's beauty spending increased 9.9% year-on-year, that’s over four percentage points higher than the increase for women (5.8%). 

Gen Z account for the biggest proportion of men who say they now spend a greater share of their income on beauty (42%), followed by millennials (29%). Geographically, men in London are the most likely to spend more (32%), followed by the East Midlands (23%) and Scotland (22%).

According to management consulting firm McKinsey, by 2028 the beauty sector will have a global value of $590 billion with an annual growth rate of 6%. That would represent a huge increase from where the industry stood in 2023, with a global value of $446 billion. It makes up part of a global wellness industry which is now worth $2 trillion, and male spending is set to play an increasingly important role in that. 

Click here to read the 'Barclays 10 years of Spend' report, which analyses insights dating back to 2015, tracking consumer and economic confidence, and proprietary transaction data, revealing the key trends that have defined behaviour and spending patterns over the last decade, and providing an outlook for the years ahead.