Below the chin: Why now is the time for innovation in the body care category - WATCH

Body care products are often an afterthought in the personal care routine, taking a backseat to skin care and hair care. However, with people craving more self-care experiences and the body positive movement in full swing, it is having its long overdue time in the spotlight.

In the past, body care products were not something that people spent money on. However, recent events like the global pandemic have led to people to change their mindset. As such, they are now willing to put more effort and money into caring for the skin below the chin.

“With the last two years, because we haven't had things like spas and salons open, we haven't been able to get those self-care massages, so we’ve started seeing people spending more money on the body care category,”​ said Yong-Li Zhou, co-founder of Australian beauty brand Enbacci.

While we are gradually putting the pandemic behind us, Zhou said that it was unlikely to stem the growth of more premium body care products.

Speaking on the Beauty Broadcast​, she said: “I think more people were willing to spend money on more expensive skin care or more expensive body care products. They were willing to try these things so now that they've had a taste of that, they will now invest in this.”​

Eyeing opportunities in this category, the brand has recently launched a skin-firming body lotion with plant stem cell ingredients. Moving forward, Zhou expects the development of body care to drive fresh innovation for the body product category in terms of ingredients.

“I definitely see there being more research towards ingredients, specifically research, and how it actually affects body skin rather than facial skin,”​ said Zhou.

Additionally, she believes we could see more tools and devices – just like how the demand for facial skin care tools and devices exploding in the past couple of years.

“That last two years, we saw that shift from skin care products to beauty devices at home, because again, we don't have access to spas and things like that. So, people were looking for supplements for that. I think that's what we will see in the body care landscape as well.”​

Given its prevalence on social media, we can expect interest from a wide range of consumers groups.

To hear more insights on the future of the body care category, check out the video above.