beyondbrics

John Abraham, the Indian model turned Bollywood actor, is a brand ambassador for the Yamaha FZ motorbike. But he is also the face of Garnier Men, L’Oreal India’s hair and skin care brand for men.

Beauty advertisements featuring some of the country’s big names, who are renowned for their masculinity, have forced men to reconsider their inhibitions. As a result, more and more of them are looking at ways to improve their appearance.

India’s metrosexual urban males are already keen on skin brightening and whitening creams, which were originally targeted at women wanting a fairer complexion (seen to signify beauty and wealth). Now it seems anti-ageing products for men are the next big thing.

With more men looking to marry later in life it seems that being tall, fair and handsome for longer is a must – and for many money isn’t a worry.

According to numbers released by Nielsen India, the consumer data provider, anti-ageing skincare products for women such as Pond’s Age Miracle, Olay Total Effects and Nivea Visage Q10 are increasingly being bought by urban men in their late thirties who are looking to fight wrinkles, sagging skin and age spots.

Data for the year May 2009 to April 2010 stated that 20 per cent of men in SEC-A and B households in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore – the top two tiers of India’s urban population by income – use anti-ageing products.

The cosmetics, skin and haircare market in India is estimated to be worth around $950m, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry, with facial creams, moisturisers, and fairness creams constituting 60 per cent of it. The anti-ageing segment is currently worth around $1m.

The major brands behind anti-ageing products for women have spotted the gap in the market and names such as Nivea India are looking to roll out male-specific anti-ageing creams.

Dr Manoj Kumar J Manwani, a Delhi-based plastic surgeon specialising in male image makeovers, said:

“It’s not just anti-ageing creams that are popular. Facial procedures such as face lifts are very common. Men are increasingly looking to maintain and prolong youth as many really do develop a complex with age. But now it is possible and affordable to maintain youth in many ways, whether it be through products or surgery, and this is not just an upper class phenomenon, it is feeding down to the middle classes”.

Anti-ageing products for women in India can cost as much as Rs4,000 ($86), but with premium ranges for men in the pipeline, India’s ageing bachelors definitely think they’re worth it.

This post is part of a two-week special series on emerging market consumers.

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