Do Men Still Care About Personal Care? A Look Into Men Purchasing on Personal Care Product
Taking care of your body has always been an essential part of daily life for many Indonesians. Beyond hygiene, personal care is also about boosting self-confidence and embracing self-love. In general, personal care routines can be divided into two categories: basic hygiene (essentials), which include products like soap, shampoo, and toothcare; and personal care (non-essentials), which complement the basics, like body lotion, perfume, deodorant. More and more men are beginning to realize that taking care of yourself, whether it’s just the basics or going all-in with the extras is something everyone should be doing. After all, health and self-care shouldn’t be limited by gender.
How do men actually feel about personal care products, especially personal care (non-essential) ones? Do they use them regularly, and do they see them as an important part of their daily lives, or are they still on the fence?
Men Shopping Category Priorities
Maintaining personal grooming is on top of men’s priority, as reflected by the relatively high score for hygiene essentials items (soap, shampoo, toothpaste) at 3.2, and personal care products (non-essentials) ranking as the third priority with a score of 4.3 in their shopping list.
Interestingly, almost 50% of men who buy basic hygiene also purchase personal care. This suggests that these so-called "extras" aren't just for show, they're becoming part of a broader self-care routine. For many men, non-essential products go beyond basic hygiene; they’re about feeling good, looking fresh, and taking better care of themselves overall.
Men’s Basic Hygiene and Personal Care Performance
Total sales of men’s daily care products saw an overall increase of 11.2% . However, this growth was mainly driven by a rise in sales of hygiene essentials products, while personal care items grew at a much slower pace. As a result, personal care products experienced a drop in market share by 2.2% in 2025. The slow growth of personal care products can be attributed to a decline in consumer spending, which fell by 8.9%.
Personal care attracts relatively younger men, particularly teens, who spend almost twice as much as older age groups.
Deodorant stands out as the best-selling product among personal care items, with over 40% of total sales. However, consumers are starting to cut back on their spending, with an average drop of around IDR 3,500 per person compared to last year. A similar trend can be seen in body lotion, which also experienced a decrease of nearly IDR 3,000. On the other hand, consumer spending on perfumes has remained relatively stable.
Men’s Behaviors towards Personal Care
Align with their perception towards personal care, Reasons to use personal care product are maintaining the skin healthy, followed by the desire to smell good is their prior reason to use personal care products.
Men tend to view personal care as a way to keep their skin healthy and clean. On average at 4.45, personal care considered important by most respondents and most respondents agree with the statement of “Personal care is an important part of a man’s life” With average agreement score was 4.35. This shown that personal care still matters to men in their everyday lives.
Looking into the usage moments, body lotion and perfume are typically perceived as more special products, which often used before going out. Whereas deodorant is viewed as a routine item, commonly applied after morning shower.
Minimarkets and supermarkets are the main go-to places for purchasing personal care products among customer. If their product is unavailable they will find another store to purchase their product in other places.
Majority of our sample are still using their previous personal care products. and for those who answer reduced/stop using it tend to stop purchasing Body lotion and reduced usage of perfume product. They who reduce purchasing perfume tend to cutting back on certain brands and only buying the main brand.
Those who have stopped purchasing (lapsed) or reduced their spending on personal care products tend to switch to natural alternatives, such as natural deodorants, as a more affordable yet effective way to stay fresh and maintain healthy skin. they also prioritize on other category such as Ciggarete after discontinued purchase personal care.
In conclusion, despite reduced spending, personal care has and still become an important category for majority of men, which seen as an additional “tool” to help them look and feel their best. This is reflected in the rising sales of personal care products that go beyond basic hygiene essentials.
We hope these insights and data are helpful to you. If you’d like to learn more about your product, we can assist you further, as we have access to over 21 million members and millions of daily transactions for in-depth analysis, including consumer behavior and other product data.
