How To Create Gender-Neutral Beauty Products That Sell [Full Guide]
Gender-neutral beauty brands are disrupting the industry.
Gone are the days of Sephora shelves stacked full of nothing but pink, floral-packaged skincare and makeup products.
In 2024, cosmetics are for everyone - with brands like NonGenderSpecific, XYZ Skin and The Ordinary changing the game by prioritizing beauty for all genders.
How can you develop your own successful gender-neutral brand?
Our guide below outlines a clear strategy for launching a gender-neutral skincare or makeup business that actually sells.
We dive deep into changing attitudes toward gender in the beauty industry, the entire product selection process for gender-neutral cosmetics brands, and we explore how packaging and branding can make or break your gender-neutral business.
The Rise Of Gender-Neutral Beauty
Before you create your gender-neutral beauty line, it’s important to understand this evolving market landscape.
The rise of gender-neutral beauty is a response to shifting public opinion around men’s role in the beauty space, as well as an effort to become more inclusive to people with diverse gender identities.
As noted by CosmeticsDesign Europe, men’s interest in beauty and cosmetics rose considerably in the last decade, marking the ‘fastest-growing interest’ for men across the world from 2018 to 2021.
Celebrity culture has played a part in this shift toward gender-neutral makeup and skincare, with cultural icons like Harry Styles acting as role models for beauty enthusiasts of all genders.
As outlined by News.com, following the announcement of Styles’ gender-neutral makeup brand, there was a reported 393% week-on-week rise in shopping queries related to “men’s makeup”, with an additional 641% more searches for “men’s lip serums”.
This shift is most notable for younger generations, who are redefining gender roles and demanding more diversity and inclusion from beauty brands. NPD’s 2022 iGen Beauty Consumer Report revealed that 40% of Zoomers aged 18-22 express interest in gender neutral cosmetic products.
Interested in creating or expanding your gender–neutral beauty brand? At Genie Supply, we offer a range of skincare and color cosmetics formulating services on a bulk, BYOP, or turnkey basis. Learn more about our manufacturing processes here.
Understanding The Difference Between Biologically Male And Female Skin
Although many sex-specific skin care ranges from the past were merely a market-positioning tactic, there is legitimacy to the idea that particular skin care products are more effective for biological men compared to biological women and vice versa.
Although there are more similarities than differences between biological men's and women’s skin, it’s important to learn about the key differences before you select or formulate new skincare for your gender-neutral brand.
Research by Luebberding and colleagues showed that biological men’s sebum content (which is influenced by biological hormones) is relatively stable on the cheeks over time and even progressively increases on the forehead, while sebum content decreases with age for biological women.
As expected thanks to this higher sebum content, a study from 2006 proved that biological men also have larger pores than women.
Focusing on the entire face and the neck area, Bailey et al’s study found that biological men have 10-20% thicker skin than biological women on average.
These differences in skin type, pore size, and overall skin thickness are some of the factors that you should consider as you formulate your new gender-neutral skincare. How can you make a skincare range that truly works for people of all genders?
One approach is to create an overall gender-neutral brand with sub-ranges that cater to specific skin issues. For example, offer a hydrating product range for those who want to target the signs of aging on dry skin instead of ‘for women’.
Likewise, non-comedogenic esters and antioxidant actives that are typically targeted toward men could be marketed as ‘lightweight skin care for oilier skin’.
Carefully adjusting the copy on your product packaging and market campaigns helps target each product to the correct market without being exclusionary to transgender and non-gender-conforming people.
Product Selection For Gender-Neutral Cosmetics
Product selection is one of the most crucial steps in your gender-neutral brand creation process.
Your target market appreciates gender-neutral branding but is still searching for skin care to improve their unique skin, or makeup to enhance their features, without clashing with their skin type.
Offering a broad range of choices is the best approach for gender-neutral brands. Although it’s not feasible to cater to every single skin type and issue, covering the most common conditions will broaden the appeal of your brand.
Consider the types of products that are best suited to oily, dry, and combination skin types and then focus on specific concerns like acne, anti-aging, and discoloration issues.
It’s also essential to consider the fragrance of your products while creating a gender-neutral product range. Avoid any traditionally ‘feminine’ scents like rose or jasmine or ‘masculine’ scents like leather. Opt for neutral aromas like citrus, musk, or amber instead.
The number and type of products in your range will depend on your manufacturing method:
Private Label
Private labeling involves using a manufacturer’s preexisting formula as your own. As the brand owner, you have full control over the packaging and branding process (meaning you can make the products 100% gender-neutral).
As all of the skincare and makeup is tested in advance, it’s quick to produce and much more affordable than other methods. Therefore, it’s possible to start with a larger product range if you source from a manufacturer with a large number of products on offer. The downside is that your formula will not be unique as no customizations are possible via this method.
At Genie Supply, we offer over 60 products across our private label skin care and color cosmetics range. Our skincare products are clean and ethically produced, and we also offer a large range of fragrance options suitable for gender-neutral product lines.
Custom Product Creation
Maybe the budget-friendly and speedy nature of private label appeals to you, but you want to make some adjustments to the formula to truly make it your own? Consider custom product creation instead. This process involves adding a limited number of customizations on top of the manufacturer’s base formula.
At Genie Supply, we offer two separate custom product creation packages to suit a range of different budgets.
Custom Formulating
Do you have an innovative, never-seen-before idea for a gender-neutral skin care range? Custom formulating involves working with a beauty lab to create brand-new skin care from scratch.
Although this method is much more costly and time-intensive, the result is highly-customized skin care that your target market won’t be able to find anywhere else!
At Genie Supply, we specialize in novel chemical research, clean beauty, hybrid products, and new-to-market concepts. Learn more about our custom formulating timelines here.
Gender Neutral Packaging And Marketing
Perhaps the most important part of creating your gender-neutral beauty range is the packaging.
Before you finalize your design, ask yourself: would people of all gender identities look at this packaging and feel included in your brand’s message?
Avoid traditionally ‘feminine’ colors like pink or pastels and opt for a simple neutral color scheme instead. The aim is to create a product for the bathroom cabinet that every member of the family would use.
Budget-friendly brands like Cetaphil and CeraVe effectively branded their products in a gender-neutral way by making use of white paired with hints of simple green and blue tones.
Many luxury gender-neutral brands adopt a similar approach. For example, Nécessaire’s packaging involves a mix of single-colored clear, white, black, or gray bottles with a minimalist font.
Once you have a clear packaging vision in mind, it’s time to think about your marketing strategies. Feature a diverse range of people with various gender identities in your marketing campaigns to clearly communicate that your brand is gender-inclusive.
At Genie Supply, we offer (optional) total turn-key production with all of our manufacturing processes. Create your own customized packaging using the die-lines provided and we will bring your gender-neutral packaging ideas to life.
We provide custom coloring, screen-printing, and hot stamping services with numerous label options for highly customized and unique packaging. Learn more in our full packaging catalog.
In sum, in order to create a successful gender-neutral beauty brand, it’s important to:
Understand the current domestic demand for gender-neutral beauty and how demand differs across different demographic categories
Learn about the key differences between biologically male and biologically female skin and ensure that your brand is effective and inclusive to all genders
Choose the best manufacturing method (private label, custom product creation, or custom formulating) that works for your business
Design your gender-neutral packaging
Develop a marketing strategy that will appeal to people with diverse gender identities
Are you ready to get started with your gender-neutral beauty brand journey? Get in touch via email: customerservice@geniesupply.com or phone: (812) 329-1105 - Genie Supply would love to help bring your vision to life!
