The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

the washington post

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thursday, march

5

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2020

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Wellness

BY HELEN CAREFOOT

For many years, the world of

mass-market b eauty and personal

care has traded in gender tropes

and stereotypes. Think about

thick blue disposable razors vs.

dainty pink ones; pine-scented,

dark green deodorant sticks vs.

flower-scented, pastel-packaged

antiperspirant; leathery-smelling

aftershave in wood-topped bottles

vs. pink face lotion in clear jars. In

some cases, although the prod-

ucts aren’t v ery different — a razor

is a razor — the packaging makes

the target demographic clear.

But as skin-care-obsessed

young women share their enthu-

siasm with their brothers and

partners, a teen like James

Charles takes a turn as the face of

CoverGirl, and male beauty ex-

perts on YouTube show other m en

how to apply cosmetics, the tradi-

tional gender lines are blurring, if

not disappearing altogether. And

while it’s too soon to tell whether

men will embrace makeup with

anything approaching women’s

fervor, one trend is obvious, ob-

servers say: Beauty brands are

pivoting toward more gender-

neutral products presented in

unisex packaging.

Newer brands are entering the

gate with gender fluidity already

built into their DNA, experts say,

using advertising that reflects di-

versity in race and gender, and

packaging products in ways that

avoid old stereotypes. “They’re

more inclusive, and they hit on

more of the t hings that are impor-

tant to younger consumers today,

like ‘sustainable’ or ‘clean’ or ‘gen-

derless,’ ” said Larissa Jensen, se-

nior beauty analyst at market re-

search firm NPD Group. “That’s

something that’s more of a move-

ment from a younger consumer

perspective.”

O ft-cited brands popular with

Generation Z (defined by the Pew

Research Center as people born

from 1997 onward) such as Milk

Makeup, G lossier and Fenty Beau-

ty all feature diverse casts in ad-

vertisements, interact with their

customers on social media, offer

numerous shades to cater to dif-

ferent skin tones and use neutral

colors in packaging such as gray,

white, pale pink, nude and silver.

(Milk Makeup and Glossier did

not respond to interview requests

about their advertising and pack-

aging strategies, and a represen-

tative for Fenty Beauty’s public

relations firm declined to com-

ment.) “Our goal is really to evolve

the mainstream conception of

beauty while creating a space for

people to express themselves au-

thentically,” said Laura Kraber,

co-founder and chief executive of

We Are Fluide, a gender-neutral

makeup brand founded in 2018.

“Our packaging and product de-

velopment has tried to not be

extremely masculine or feminine,

and w e discard those notions gen-

erally because our whole belief is

that gender is more of a constella-

tion than a n extreme of one or the

other,” said Kraber, who is a par-

ent o f two teenagers. “If makeup is

joyful and transformative and

fun, nobody should be left out.”

Younger consumers are largely

credited with eroding gender

norms and definitions, and stud-

ies suggest they have less rigid

definitions of masculinity and

gender identity than older cus-

tomers do. A 2019 Pew survey of

10,000 Americans found that

about 59 percent of members of

Generation Z said forms that ask

about a person’s gender should

include options besides “male”

and “female,” compared with

50 percent of millennials (ages 22

to 37 in 2018) and 37 percent of

baby boomers (54 to 72 in 2018).

D avid Yi, founder of Very Good

Light, a men’s online grooming

publication f ocused on Gen Z that

aims to “redefine masculinity and

men’s beauty standards,” credits

that generation’s openness to its

innate fluency with social media

and its global worldview. Yi, who

is penning a book about the histo-

ry of male makeup, notes that

men around the world have used

cosmetics at various points in

history, and that it is more associ-

ated with femininity in Western

cultures. “We’re slowly untan-

gling that with Gen Z,” he said.

“They’re cognizant t hat American

or Western culture isn’t the end-

all, be-all.”

According to NPD Group, al-

though makeup revenue sales

across the board have declined,

skin-care sales have increased.

Jensen said that, for men, there’s

less of a barrier to entry for skin

care because it lacks the “gen-

dered focus” that makeup as a

category has traditionally carried.

Clare Hennigan, senior beauty an-

alyst at Mintel, a market research

firm, has observed growth in the

men’s skin-care category and

notes that “across the board,

we’ve seen men taking more care

of their personal routines.”

One brand poised to take ad-

vantage of this shift is the Ordi-

nary, which Jensen called “the

ultimate genderless skin care.” It

offers serums, creams and acids

that range from a bout $5 to $20 in

simple, clinical-looking packag-

ing. Its unisex look is intentional.

“Since its conception, [the Ordi-

nary] was never intended to tar-

get a specific gender identity in

any capacity,” Nicola Kilner, co-

founder and chief e xecutive of the

Ordinary’s parent company, Deci-

em, wrote in an email. “The pack-

aging of the line, much like the

formulations, was always about

being straight to the point and

educational.” She adds that the

brand doesn’t feature models in

campaigns or on social media, but

rather uses its own employees

because “we feel as though we are

a representation of our fan base —

diverse, passionate, in love with

skin care and ultimately, just hu-

man beings.”

Ursa Major, a skin-care brand

co-founded by Oliver Sweatman

and Emily Doyle, also has gone

all-in on genderless products. The

line, whose customer Sweatman

and Doyle call “the mindful ex-

plorer,” includes face, hair and

body products containing natural

ingredients that are sold in eco-

friendly packaging featuring b lue,

green and white mountain out-

lines.

The couple, veterans of the

beauty industry, s tarted the brand

in 2009 after moving from New

York to Vermont “to reboot” and

realizing they were sharing many

products. “My personal take is

that the lion’s share of products

can be used equally by any gen-

der,” s aid Sweatman, whose aim is

“a healthier product that deliv-

ered nourishment in a non-gen-

dered way.”

Colors aside, recent packaging

tends to be simpler and more

pared-back. “When you think

about the trends in packaging,

and I think skin care has this

more, it’s n ot pink, it’s n ot black or

blue; it’s very clean and very sim-

ple,” Jensen said. Steve Seeley,

president of Elitefill, a packaging

company that specializes in cos-

metics and skin care, has noticed

that packaging has become more

straightforward in the 2 0 years h e

has worked in the beauty space. “I

think it’s probably the Apple con-

cept of just being basic, clean and

clear with your message,” he said.

“I think what [brands] realized is

make it simple: Say what it does,

and let the product speak for

itself.”

At this stage, the types of prod-

ucts being marketed to male-

identifying customers are simple,

too. According to NPD, the top-

growing products are tinted mois-

turizers, lip glosses, lip balms and

brow products — all items that

contribute to a pared-back, mini-

malist makeup look.

Glen Jankowski, a senior lec-

turer in critical and social psy-

chology at Leeds Beckett Univer-

sity in England who studies body

image, wonders what effect this

has. “It’s promoting a very unreal-

istic standard in a pernicious

way,” he said. “A t least with ex-

pressive, bold makeup, people

know it’s decoration and it’s not

part of your appearance. With t his

more hidden, subtle makeup, it’s

more like, ‘This is what a human

should look like.’ ”

Phillip Picardi, former editor o f

Out and Them, started a groom-

ing column for GQ in November,

with subjects such as how to look

younger, how to groom eyebrows

and a beginner’s g uide to makeup.

He acknowledged the possibility

that holding men as well as wom-

en to beauty standards could be a

step backward. “It’s not a good

thing for us to be peddling con-

sumerism t o men a nd women,” h e

said. “The answer would be to

eradicate all of it. But it’s just not

the world we live in.”

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Cosmetics, skin-care brands turn to gender-neutral packaging

WAsHIngTon PosT IllusTrATIon/IsTocK

“It’s not a good thing for

us to be peddling

consumerism to men

and women. The

answer would be to

eradicate all of it. But

it’s just not the world

we live in.”

Phillip Picardi, former editor of

out and Them