Holistic grooming

But apart from products that are used on the face, men have also been heading to places such as beauty salons and hip barbers to look their best. One such business is Leo Magic, a barber located in downtown Shanghai that only serves male customers. Besides haircuts and shaving services, the barber also offers skin care treatments.

"I realized that men need their own haircut and skin care platforms and these need to be simple and convenient," says Qu Ling, the shop owner, who has been in the industry for nearly a decade.

Qu says there were about 10 such barbershops in the city in the past two years, although there were no such businesses three years ago. Meanwhile, such businesses are also emerging in other cities such as Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province.