Chinese men have upped their spend on beauty products to such an extent that they are now the driving force behind China’s cosmetics market, according to a report published by South China Morning Post.  

The gap between male and female consumption on cosmetics has narrowed from 26.6 yuan in 2015 to 13.7 yuan in 2016, according to figures from Cinda Securities, with young men, aged 18 to 26 years driving growth of China’s 222.2 billion yuan cosmetics market.

Facial skin care enjoys a 53 percent share of total male spend, with acne treatments and oil control products among the most popular sub-sectors, followed by hair care products (20 percent), and make-up (14 percent), according to the research organ, with the top three brands named as L’Oréal Paris, Nivea and Clinique.