Pinterest’s latest male trend data suggests the next phase of the men’s beauty market may be less about convincing men to participate in beauty and more about understanding how they choose to do so.
Gen Z men increasingly use Pinterest as a planning tool, with searches among the demographic up 17% year-over-year (YoY). The generation now accounts for more than 62% of monthly searches made by men on the platform. What they are searching for points to a broader reorganization of male self-care. Haircuts are becoming more precise, skincare more habitual, fragrance more considered, and even nail art is finding an audience. But these behaviors sit within an equally important lifestyle shift: Men are searching for offline hobbies, hosting, running clubs, and wellness retreats alongside grooming inspiration.
Pinterest characterizes this approach as one built around intentionality. Rather than the maximalist, highly regimented beauty routines that have periodically driven the broader beauty market, its male users appear interested in creating manageable systems that help them look and feel put together. For brands, that creates an opportunity extending far beyond the traditional men’s grooming aisle.
Pinterest calls one of the central behaviors emerging among male users “Quiet Upkeep”: a shift toward consistent, relatively simple grooming habits that become part of everyday maintenance. In skincare, that means a baseline centered around cleanser, moisturizer, and SPF rather than an elaborate multistep routine. But simplicity should not be confused with disengagement. Searches suggest men are actively researching products, technologies, and routines.
Men are simultaneously searching for minimalism and specialization. A three-step skincare routine can coexist with interest in red-light devices, scalp treatments, or complexion products. That suggests the opportunity may not lie in selling men more steps, but in convincing them that individual products deserve a place within an edited routine.
It also challenges the longstanding assumption that men’s beauty needs to exist as an entirely separate category. Interest in “no makeup makeup” and red light masks suggests at least some male consumers are adopting behaviors that have already become established in beauty rather than waiting for explicitly male versions to emerge.
Pinterest is already commercializing the trend. The platform partnered with Native on its Well-Crafted men’s collection, spanning deodorant, body wash, haircare, and lotion, and positioned it as offering straightforward formulas and simplified routines.
Hair offers the clearest evidence that male grooming is becoming more intentional. Rather than simply searching for “men’s haircuts,” Pinterest users are looking for specific combinations of shape, texture, and technique. Wolf cuts, two-block cuts, perms, mullets and fades dominate the search increases.
Beard grooming is becoming specific. Searches for “beard fade men” rose 764% YoY, while “Italian beard fade” climbed 725% YoY. Searches for “facial harmony” increased 31% YoY. The pattern is less about a single haircut becoming fashionable than about precision grooming. Men are assembling highly specific references based on texture, shape, and desired finish. This may create opportunities across styling, treatments, tools, and salon services.
The Korean two block haircut is another interesting signal. Just as Korean influence has reshaped skincare and, increasingly, haircare in Western beauty markets, Pinterest’s data indicate that Korean men’s hairstyling is entering the inspiration cycle, too.
Pinterest has responded to texture-specific discovery through its Hair Pattern search feature, which allows users to filter hair inspiration by coily, curly, wavy, protective, and shave or bald styles.
The expansion of men’s beauty is also showing up in areas that have historically received relatively little attention from mainstream male grooming brands: nails.
Taken alongside the growth of no-makeup makeup and increasingly fashion-led hairstyles, the searches point toward a loosening of the boundaries around what constitutes men’s grooming. Beauty is functioning not only as maintenance but increasingly as another tool for personal style.
Historically, much of men’s personal care has been marketed around utility: cleaning, shaving, controlling odor, or solving a problem. Nail art, complexion products, and highly styled hair move the category further toward experimentation and self-expression—territory on which the wider beauty industry has long built product discovery and repeat consumption.
Fragrance is undergoing a slightly different evolution. Rather than finding one cologne and wearing it indefinitely, Pinterest’s male users appear increasingly interested in collecting, discovering, and curating scent.
There is an apparent contradiction here that is particularly useful for brands: Men want both a signature scent and a fragrance wardrobe, but the two behaviors can comfortably coexist. A signature fragrance establishes identity, while discovery sets and collections allow scent to rotate around occasion, season, or mood. Fragrance therefore becomes less of a single replenishment purchase and more of an expandable category.
The 80% YoY increase in searches for the brand Lattafa is also notable, suggesting male fragrance discovery is not confined to traditional Western designer labels and niche houses. Interest is moving across price points and fragrance traditions as consumers become more knowledgeable about scent.
Pinterest’s report also found what men are searching for when they aren’t searching for beauty. Interest in “offline hobbies” increased 551% YoY, while “no phone ideas” rose 581% YoY. Searches for “hosting aesthetic” climbed 160% YoY, suggesting male Pinterest users are looking for structured ways to socialize and disconnect from screens.
That extends into travel, exercise, and hands-on hobbies.
Pinterest’s male users are planning how they look, but they are also planning how they spend their free time, socialize, and disconnect. That potentially places beauty within a much broader definition of men’s wellness. Skincare, a haircut, or fragrance is one part of getting ready for real-world experiences rather than an activity that exists independently of them. Former NBA player and entrepreneur Dwyane Wade, who contributed to Pinterest’s report, described the shift as being about “real life, real community, and taking care of yourself, not just living for whatever’s on your screen.”
The clearest takeaway from Pinterest’s data may be that the traditional concept of a monolithic “men’s grooming” category is becoming increasingly inadequate. The same consumer can want a three-step skincare routine and specialist overnight facemasks, a carefully faded beard and chrome nails, as well as a signature fragrance and an expanding perfume collection. Simplicity is being sought in the number of steps, not necessarily in the sophistication of the products themselves.
Gen Z’s dominance within Pinterest’s male audience makes those contradictions particularly significant. Rather than simply adopting the grooming conventions of previous generations, younger men appear to be constructing their own version of maintenance around aesthetics, efficacy, personalization, and self-expression.
For beauty companies, the opportunity may therefore be less about making existing categories for men and more about removing the barriers that have historically stopped men from participating in them. The next generation of male beauty consumers may not need a separate beauty world built for them. They are ready to shop the one that already exists.
