by For much of modern history, masculinity was defined partly by what men were expected not to care about.
A man could shave, cut his hair and wear deodorant, but there was often an invisible boundary around how much attention he was supposed to devote to his appearance. Too much skincare could be dismissed as vanity. A manicure could be interpreted as feminine. Spending considerable time choosing clothes could invite questions about masculinity. Makeup was even more heavily gendered, often treated as belonging exclusively to women.
The result was a peculiar cultural contradiction: men were expected to look presentable, but they were often expected to make the effort invisible.
That expectation is changing.
Across different parts of the world, men are increasingly discussing skincare, fragrance, haircare, beard maintenance, manicures, cosmetics and personal style openly. Social media has transformed grooming knowledge into a public conversation. Beauty companies are developing increasingly sophisticated products for male consumers. Barbershops have become cultural spaces, while skincare routines have entered everyday conversations among younger men.
But the transformation is more complicated than the simple claim that “men are becoming more interested in beauty.”
Male grooming provides a window into something much larger: the changing meaning of masculinity itself.
The modern groomed man may still value qualities traditionally associated with masculinity, such as confidence, independence, discipline and competence. What is changing is the range of behaviors that can coexist with those qualities.
A man can care about his appearance without believing that grooming makes him less masculine.
He can experiment with style without abandoning his identity.
He can enjoy self-care without treating it as a feminine activity.
And increasingly, he can decide for himself what masculinity looks like.
For BodyInclusivity.com, this shift is especially significant because appearance culture affects everyone. The expansion of male grooming can create greater freedom, but it can also introduce new pressures. When men are finally given permission to care about appearance, society must be careful not to replace one restrictive expectation with another.
The future of male grooming is therefore not simply about men becoming more beauty-conscious.
It is about giving men greater freedom to determine what appearance means to them.
From “Looking Natural” to Acknowledging the Work Behind Appearance
Traditional masculine presentation often depended on the illusion of effortlessness.
A well-groomed man was supposed to look clean, polished and confident, but acknowledging how much time went into achieving that appearance could undermine the very image he was expected to project.
This created a gendered relationship with beauty labor.
Women were often expected to spend considerable time maintaining their appearance, while men were encouraged to appear naturally attractive or conventionally presentable without seeming overly invested.
The modern grooming culture is gradually making beauty labor more visible among men.
Men talk about products.
They exchange barber recommendations.
They compare fragrances.
They discuss skincare ingredients.
They watch tutorials about hair styling.
They share beard-care routines.
They visit nail salons.
They experiment with cosmetic products.
This visibility matters because cultural norms often change through repetition.
When an activity is repeatedly seen as ordinary, it becomes less necessary to justify it.
A man using moisturizer no longer necessarily needs to explain why he has skincare.
A man wearing a carefully shaped beard does not necessarily need to defend the time he spends maintaining it.
A man getting a manicure can increasingly frame the experience as routine personal care rather than something requiring an explanation.
The transformation is subtle but powerful.
The cultural question is moving from “Why does a man care about this?” toward “Why shouldn’t he?”
The Metrosexual Era Changed the Conversation
The rise of the “metrosexual” in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries marked an important moment in discussions surrounding male appearance.
The term was used to describe men who were particularly interested in fashion, grooming, skincare and lifestyle consumption.
Although the concept helped challenge traditional assumptions, it also revealed how unusual male beauty practices were perceived at the time.
A man who cared deeply about his appearance needed a special label.
That itself was revealing.
Women could be interested in beauty without requiring a special cultural category. Men who demonstrated similar interests were often described as exceptions.
The cultural landscape has gradually become more complicated.
Younger generations increasingly encounter grooming as an ordinary part of everyday life. The man who uses skincare is not necessarily viewed as belonging to a separate masculine category. He may simply be someone who has a routine.
That change represents an important form of normalization.
A practice becomes genuinely integrated into culture when people stop treating participation in it as evidence of an unusual identity.
Male grooming is moving in that direction.
However, the older ideas have not disappeared entirely.
A man can enjoy grooming and still feel pressure to demonstrate traditional masculinity in other areas.
That is why contemporary masculinity should not be understood as a clean break from the past.
It is better understood as a negotiation between multiple expectations.
South Korea and the Expansion of Male Beauty
South Korea offers one of the clearest examples of how culturally specific masculinity can accommodate extensive grooming practices.
South Korean beauty culture has helped normalize men’s interest in skincare, cosmetics and carefully managed appearance. Academic research into Korean men’s grooming has explored how beauty practices intersect with masculinity, professional expectations and social identity.
The country’s beauty industry has also developed a wide range of products for male consumers, including skincare and complexion products.
What makes this culturally interesting is that increased grooming does not necessarily mean traditional masculinity has disappeared.
Instead, grooming can become integrated into existing expectations around professionalism, attractiveness, discipline and social presentation.
A man may use skincare because he wants to take care of himself.
He may also believe that looking polished helps him professionally.
He may enjoy cosmetics as creative expression.
He may simultaneously value conventional masculine characteristics.
These motivations can exist together.
This is an important lesson for global discussions of masculinity: appearance practices cannot automatically be interpreted as evidence that gender roles are disappearing.
Sometimes a culture changes the definition of what a “properly masculine” man is allowed to do.
The boundary moves.
The identity remains.
Grooming as Professional Currency
The workplace has played a significant role in transforming men’s relationship with appearance.
In many professions, appearance can influence perceptions of competence, confidence, professionalism and social awareness.
This creates an interesting paradox.
Men may have greater permission to groom themselves, but they may also have greater pressure to do so.
The older expectation could be summarized as:
A man should not care too much about how he looks.
The newer expectation can become:
A successful man should look polished.
The second expectation appears more progressive, but it can still create pressure.
Research involving corporate men in South Korea, for example, has examined how grooming and aesthetic practices can be connected to professional belonging, workplace relationships and perceptions of competence.
This demonstrates why male grooming cannot simply be celebrated as liberation.
It can be both liberating and demanding.
A man who once felt embarrassed about using skincare may now feel comfortable doing so.
But if polished appearance becomes an unwritten professional requirement, that same freedom can become another obligation.
Body inclusivity must make room for that distinction.
A culture should allow men to groom because they enjoy it, not because appearance has become another test of whether they deserve professional respect.
Social Media Turned Grooming Into a Public Conversation
Social media has probably accelerated changes in male grooming more than any previous communication system.
Before the digital era, grooming knowledge was often passed through family members, friends, barbers, salespeople or personal experimentation.
Today, men can access thousands of videos and discussions about grooming within minutes.
A teenager can learn how to style his hair.
A university student can research skincare.
A professional can discover fragrance communities.
A man interested in beard care can find detailed advice from people around the world.
This has democratized information.
It has also reduced the sense that grooming knowledge is inherently feminine.
When men publicly teach one another about skincare, fragrance or haircare, they create a new form of masculine knowledge.
The social message becomes:
It is acceptable for men to know about these things.
That is a meaningful cultural shift.
But social media has another side.
The same platforms that normalize grooming can intensify comparison.
Men are exposed to carefully curated images of perfect hair, clear-looking skin, sculpted facial hair, immaculate teeth and highly styled appearances.
A man may begin by learning how to care for his skin and eventually find himself comparing his appearance with hundreds of other faces.
This creates a central contradiction in modern grooming culture.
Social media can increase freedom while increasing self-surveillance.
It can teach men how to care for themselves while simultaneously teaching them to notice every perceived imperfection.
The Beard Became a Cultural Statement
Facial hair provides an especially useful example of how grooming can become intertwined with masculinity.
Beards have long been associated with maturity, strength, authority and masculinity in numerous cultures.
Yet the contemporary beard demonstrates that masculine grooming is not necessarily about rejecting beauty labor.
A carefully shaped beard can require substantial maintenance.
Men may wash, condition, trim, shape and style facial hair with considerable precision.
The difference is that the object being groomed is already culturally associated with masculinity.
That makes beard care easier to normalize than some other forms of beauty.
The same amount of grooming labor may be interpreted differently depending on what is being groomed.
This tells us something important about gender.
Grooming itself is not inherently masculine or feminine.
Society assigns those meanings to different practices.
A beard can be considered masculine.
Eyebrow shaping may be interpreted differently.
Nail polish may cross another cultural boundary.
Skincare may occupy an increasingly neutral space.
These categories are not fixed.
They move as societies change.
Men’s Manicures and the Decline of Rigid Beauty Boundaries
Few grooming practices demonstrate changing masculinity more visibly than men’s manicures and nail art.
For decades, nail polish was strongly associated with femininity in many Western societies.
Yet male celebrities and musicians have helped make nail art increasingly visible as part of men’s fashion.
A$AP Rocky has publicly challenged assumptions surrounding men’s nail art, while Harry Styles has incorporated nail polish into his public image and built the beauty brand Pleasing around a gender-inclusive aesthetic.
These documented cultural moments matter because celebrity visibility can expand the range of behaviors audiences perceive as socially possible.
The significance is not that celebrities tell men how to dress.
It is that highly visible people can make previously unusual behaviors easier to imagine.
A man who sees another man confidently wearing nail polish may feel less pressure to interpret the practice as a threat to his identity.
The question changes.
Instead of asking:
“Does this make him masculine?”
people can begin asking:
“Why should a grooming choice determine whether someone is masculine?”
That is a much more inclusive framework.
Harry Styles and the Visibility of Aesthetic Freedom
Harry Styles has become one of the most recognizable examples of contemporary male celebrity culture challenging conventional boundaries around fashion and grooming.
His public use of nail polish, jewelry, traditionally feminine-coded clothing and fluid styling has contributed to broader conversations about what male presentation can look like.
His approach is culturally significant because it does not depend entirely on rejecting masculinity.
Instead, it demonstrates that masculinity can coexist with softness, ornamentation and experimentation.
This is a subtle but important distinction.
Traditional masculinity often depends on boundaries.
A man demonstrates masculinity partly by avoiding behaviors associated with femininity.
A more flexible model allows masculine identity to exist without constantly policing those boundaries.
That does not mean every man wants to adopt the same aesthetic.
Nor should he.
Inclusivity is not about replacing one standard with another.
If rigid masculinity says, “You must look this way,” an inclusive approach should not respond, “Now you must look the opposite way.”
The better message is:
You have choices.
Grooming as Self-Care
One of the most positive developments in male grooming is the growing association between appearance and self-care.
For generations, men’s grooming was frequently framed in functional terms.
Wash.
Shave.
Cut your hair.
Use deodorant.
Look presentable.
Contemporary grooming culture has expanded the vocabulary.
Skincare can become a calming routine.
A haircut can become an opportunity for relaxation.
A fragrance can become a sensory experience.
A manicure can become simple maintenance.
Taking time with one’s appearance can become a small act of personal attention.
This matters psychologically because men have historically been discouraged in many cultures from openly acknowledging vulnerability or emotional needs.
Self-care does not solve those broader cultural issues, but it can create a more accepting relationship with personal wellbeing.
There is nothing inherently shallow about wanting to feel comfortable, clean, polished or expressive.
However, self-care becomes problematic when it turns into self-criticism.
The purpose of grooming should not be to convince people that their natural appearance is unacceptable.
A healthy grooming culture should allow enjoyment without creating shame.
The Psychological Meaning of Appearance Choice
The changing grooming landscape also changes the psychological relationship between men and identity.
Traditional masculine expectations can encourage men to seek validation through strength, achievement, status and independence.
Appearance may matter, but discussing appearance can feel uncomfortable.
Contemporary grooming gives men another avenue for self-expression.
They can make choices based on personal taste.
A hairstyle can communicate creativity.
A fragrance can become part of identity.
A beard can become a signature.
Clothing can communicate cultural affiliation.
Nail art can communicate individuality.
Skincare can represent self-care.
The underlying psychological shift is from asking:
“Does this make me masculine enough?”
toward:
“Does this feel like me?”
That is a significant movement toward personal agency.
Yet agency is not guaranteed.
Men can still experience insecurity about appearance.
They can still compare themselves with others.
They can still worry about being judged.
They can still feel pressure to meet increasingly detailed beauty standards.
The expansion of choice does not automatically eliminate anxiety.
Sometimes it increases the number of things people believe they must manage.
The New Pressure to Be Perfectly Groomed
This is one of the most important issues in the changing male grooming landscape.
Celebrating men’s growing interest in beauty without acknowledging appearance pressure would create an incomplete picture.
As grooming becomes normalized, expectations can rise.
Men may increasingly be expected to have:
- well-maintained hair
- carefully shaped facial hair
- clear-looking skin
- pleasant fragrance
- polished clothing
- attractive teeth
- neat nails
- youthful presentation
Individually, none of these expectations is inherently harmful.
The problem occurs when they become requirements for social acceptance.
The modern man can therefore face a new contradiction.
He has greater freedom to care about his appearance, but he may also feel greater responsibility to optimize it.
This is where body inclusivity becomes essential.
A culture should not celebrate male grooming while simultaneously suggesting that every man needs to become a highly polished version of the same beauty ideal.
There must be room for difference.
Who Gets to Be Considered a “Groomed Man”?
Representation is one of the most important questions for the future of male beauty.
When brands depict the ideal groomed man, what does he look like?
Is he young?
Is he conventionally handsome?
Does he have a particular body type?
Does he have a particular skin tone?
What kind of hair does he have?
Is his facial hair represented?
What about men with textured hair?
What about older men?
What about men from different cultural backgrounds?
What about men whose appearance does not conform to conventional beauty standards?
The expansion of men’s grooming products is only one part of inclusion.
Representation determines whether consumers see themselves as belonging within the culture being marketed to them.
Body inclusivity requires a wider definition of attractiveness.
It means recognizing that grooming can enhance personal expression without turning one specific appearance into the universal ideal.
India: Tradition Meets Contemporary Grooming
India demonstrates how male grooming can evolve without simply abandoning cultural traditions.
Indian men have long participated in grooming practices involving hair oils, shaving, fragrances, hair styling and personal presentation.
What is changing is the commercial ecosystem surrounding those practices.
Modern skincare, men’s salons, professional barbering, fragrance culture and social media have created new layers of grooming culture.
Research into Indian men’s grooming has identified the continuing influence of traditional masculine attitudes alongside newer influences such as professionalism, self-care and digital media.
This produces a distinctly hybrid landscape.
A man might use a traditional hair-care practice while following a contemporary skincare routine.
He might maintain facial hair according to personal or cultural preference while experimenting with modern styling.
He might see grooming as both self-expression and professional preparation.
This is why global discussions about masculinity should avoid assuming that Western beauty culture is the universal model.
Men across cultures have always cared about appearance in different ways.
What is changing is the visibility, commercialization and gender coding of those practices.
Africa and the Cultural Power of Hair and Grooming
Across African cultures and communities, grooming has long carried meanings that go beyond simple appearance.
Hair can communicate identity, heritage, creativity and belonging.
Barbering can function as a social practice as much as a grooming service.
For Black men in particular, hair and facial-hair presentation can intersect with cultural identity and wider conversations about representation.
The global popularity of textured hairstyles has helped demonstrate that hair diversity belongs within mainstream beauty culture.
The barber therefore occupies an interesting cultural position.
A barber does more than cut hair.
In many communities, barbershops are spaces where men exchange stories, advice and social knowledge.
They can become places where masculinity is performed, discussed and challenged.
The evolution of barbering demonstrates that male grooming is not simply a commercial trend imported from the beauty industry.
It has deep social roots.
The contemporary shift is partly about recognizing those roots as part of a much broader global beauty conversation.
Grooming Across Asia Is Not One Story
Asia contains some of the world’s most influential beauty markets, but it would be a mistake to describe Asian male grooming as a single phenomenon.
Different societies have different ideas about masculinity, attractiveness and presentation.
In some places, professional appearance strongly influences grooming.
In others, fragrance, haircare or skincare may have deeper cultural importance.
Religious values can also influence product preferences and grooming practices.
Class, climate, occupation and age shape these behaviors as well.
This diversity is important because global beauty companies increasingly operate across borders.
A product marketed as a “men’s essential” in one country may carry a completely different cultural meaning elsewhere.
Globalization does not eliminate local grooming traditions.
Instead, it creates exchanges between them.
Korean skincare can influence international consumers.
Indian haircare traditions can gain global recognition.
African barbering aesthetics can influence international fashion.
Middle Eastern fragrance traditions can shape luxury markets.
Western men’s fashion can travel in the opposite direction.
The result is an increasingly interconnected but culturally diverse grooming landscape.
Masculinity Is Not Being Replaced
The phrase “changing masculinity” can sometimes create the impression that one form of masculinity is disappearing and another is taking its place.
That is not what is happening.
Masculinity is becoming more plural.
One man may enjoy a traditional barbering experience.
Another may have a detailed skincare routine.
Another may wear nail polish.
Another may have no interest in grooming beyond basic hygiene.
Another may consider grooming an important part of professional presentation.
These men can all exist within contemporary masculinity.
This distinction is crucial.
Body inclusivity should never turn into another hierarchy where one type of man is presented as more enlightened than another.
A man who enjoys traditional masculine grooming is not necessarily less progressive.
A man who enjoys beauty products is not necessarily more progressive.
The goal is not to rank grooming identities.
The goal is to expand choice.
The Commercialization of Male Confidence
Beauty companies have also learned to market grooming through emotional concepts.
Products are increasingly associated with confidence, authenticity, individuality, success and self-worth.
There is potential value in this.
Men have often been discouraged from talking openly about vulnerability, and personal care can provide a socially acceptable route toward conversations about self-respect and wellbeing.
But commercial culture has a tendency to turn insecurity into a market opportunity.
If men are repeatedly told that every aspect of their appearance can be improved, then ordinary human variation begins to look like a problem.
Grey hair becomes something to conceal.
Natural skin texture becomes something to correct.
Facial features become imperfections.
Signs of aging become failures.
This is where body-inclusive thinking becomes essential.
Grooming should be about choice and enjoyment, not about convincing people that they are fundamentally inadequate without products.
The “Glow-Up” Culture and Male Appearance Anxiety
The language of the “glow-up” has become increasingly prominent in male digital culture.
At its healthiest, it can represent confidence, experimentation and positive personal change.
But it can also transform appearance into an endless project.
A man sees an image online.
He identifies something about himself that appears different.
He searches for a solution.
He purchases a product.
He changes his routine.
He compares the result.
Then another perceived imperfection becomes visible.
The cycle continues.
This is not unique to men. Beauty culture has long created similar pressures for women.
What matters now is recognizing that men are increasingly entering the same appearance economy.
The solution is not to discourage men from grooming.
It is to create a healthier understanding of grooming.
There is a difference between:
“I enjoy taking care of myself.”
and
“I am not good enough unless I constantly improve myself.”
The first can be empowering.
The second can become exhausting.
The Role of Celebrities in Normalizing Grooming
Celebrities and musicians have played an important role in making unconventional male grooming more visible.
But their influence should be understood carefully.
Public figures do not single-handedly transform cultural norms.
They operate within broader social changes that are already occurring.
When celebrities such as Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky and other highly visible male figures experiment with nail polish, fashion or grooming, they can provide recognizable examples of masculinity outside traditional boundaries.
Their importance lies partly in visibility.
People cannot normalize what they never see.
But celebrity culture can also create unrealistic expectations because public figures have access to professional stylists, photographers, grooming teams and carefully controlled environments.
Their appearance should therefore not become another standard ordinary people are expected to reproduce.
The cultural value of celebrity grooming is strongest when it expands imagination rather than creating another template.
Grooming and Emotional Freedom
There is a deeper emotional dimension to this cultural transformation.
A man who has been taught that certain forms of self-expression are “not for men” may learn to suppress preferences before he even understands them.
He may avoid colors he likes.
He may avoid certain hairstyles.
He may avoid skincare because he fears being judged.
He may avoid discussing personal appearance with friends.
When cultural boundaries loosen, some of that suppression can disappear.
This is not necessarily about becoming more feminine.
It is about becoming less afraid of being interpreted through a narrow definition of masculinity.
Emotional freedom and aesthetic freedom are not identical, but they can reinforce one another.
The ability to say “I like this” without immediately asking whether it is masculine enough is a small but meaningful form of personal autonomy.
What Body Inclusivity Can Learn From Male Grooming
The male grooming revolution offers several important lessons for body inclusivity.
First, representation matters.
Second, cultural context matters.
Third, choice matters more than conformity.
And fourth, inclusion should not create new obligations.
The ideal outcome is not a world where every man has an elaborate skincare routine.
It is a world where men are free to have one if they want.
The same principle applies to every aspect of appearance.
A man should be able to maintain a beard without being told he is old-fashioned.
He should be able to shave without being told he is less masculine.
He should be able to wear nail polish without having his identity questioned.
He should be able to avoid cosmetics without being considered uncaring.
He should be able to enjoy fashion without needing to justify his masculinity.
He should be able to age without feeling that aging has made him socially irrelevant.
This is the deeper meaning of inclusivity.
It does not prescribe the correct appearance.
It creates space for multiple appearances.
The Future of Men’s Beauty May Be Less Gendered
The next stage of male grooming may involve a gradual reduction in the importance of gendered beauty categories.
That does not necessarily mean brands will stop marketing to men.
Companies may continue designing products around specific consumer preferences.
But culturally, the need to ask whether a product is “masculine enough” may gradually weaken.
A cleanser can simply be a cleanser.
A fragrance can simply be a fragrance.
A manicure can simply be grooming.
A moisturizer can simply be skincare.
A color can simply be a color.
This does not erase masculinity.
Instead, it makes masculinity less dependent on exclusion.
Rigid identities require boundaries.
Flexible identities can accommodate difference.
That may ultimately be the most important cultural shift represented by contemporary male grooming.
A Larger Definition of the Groomed Man
The future should not be about creating a single ideal groomed man.
It should be about recognizing many forms of grooming.
The meticulously styled man belongs.
The minimalist belongs.
The man who enjoys fragrance belongs.
The man who loves barbering belongs.
The man with long hair belongs.
The man with a shaved head belongs.
The man who wears nail polish belongs.
The man who never does belongs too.
The older man belongs.
The younger man belongs.
Men with different skin tones, hair textures, cultural backgrounds, body types and personal aesthetics belong.
Grooming becomes inclusive when it stops demanding that everyone arrive at the same destination.
Conclusion: Masculinity Is Becoming a Larger Room
Male grooming trends may look, on the surface, like a story about products, hairstyles, fragrances and fashion.
But underneath those trends lies a much bigger cultural transformation.
Men are increasingly being given permission to acknowledge beauty labor rather than hiding it.
They are being encouraged to participate in self-care.
They are experimenting with appearance.
They are learning from one another.
They are borrowing practices across cultures.
They are challenging old assumptions about what men should and should not care about.
Yet the evolution is not automatically liberating.
As grooming becomes more accepted, appearance expectations can become more demanding.
The old rule was:
Men should not care too much about how they look.
The new danger is:
Men should always look perfectly groomed.
Neither rule is truly inclusive.
The more meaningful future lies somewhere else.
Men should be able to care about appearance without becoming trapped by it.
They should be able to experiment without having their masculinity questioned.
They should be able to reject grooming trends without being judged as careless.
They should be able to enjoy beauty without feeling that their bodies or faces require constant correction.
Most importantly, masculinity should become spacious enough to contain individuality.
The man wearing nail polish does not need to prove that he is masculine.
The man with a traditional beard does not need to prove that he is masculine either.
The man with an extensive skincare routine and the man with a five-minute morning routine can both define masculinity for themselves.
That is where male grooming becomes relevant to body inclusivity.
The goal is not to teach men a new way to look.
It is to give them greater freedom over how they choose to present themselves.
The future of masculinity may therefore be less about abandoning old identities and more about loosening the rules surrounding them.
And perhaps the most meaningful transformation is this:
Men are increasingly being allowed to look in the mirror without asking whether what they see is masculine enough—and instead ask whether it feels authentically theirs.
Sources: Vogue, British Vogue, Springer Nature, PubMed, SAGE Journals, ScienceDirect, KoreaScholar, Euromonitor, Global Cosmetic Industry, Singapore Management University, Psychology and Education Journal
