According to the report by Research and Markets this trend means that sales of functional personal care products for beauty regimes in Europe and the US will grow from US$14.9 million in 2003 to reach US$18.4 million by 2008.
Further to this the report also indicates that by 2008, 42 per cent of skincare sales in the relevant categories - which include facial care, hand and body care - in Europe, and 32 per cent in the US will be for use as part of beauty regimes.
Although the vast majority of functional personal care regimes are incorporated by women, the male category is also growing rapidly, albeit from a smaller base. Functional personal care usage by males as part of a daily routine accounts for the vast majority of routines. In 2003 there were 1,087 billion male grooming occasions of this type within a total number of 1,132 billion, equivalent to 96.1 per cent of all occasions.
The report also says that one of the main reasons for consumers growing adoption of functional beauty regimes is that they use these to prevent the appearance of problems: 92.7 per cent of functional product users in the US and Europe use functional beauty products to maintain their health, showing the importance of functional regimes used preventatively.
Many industry experts have reported that in recent years there has been a distinct blurring of the lines between healthful food products, health products and cosmetics products. The rise and rise of increasingly functional cosmetic products has undoutedly been a contributing factor in creating this phenomenon.
Ingredients that have traditionally formed part of many foods, such as avocado, papaya, olive oil, caffeine and coconut, together with a host of vitamins minerals and essential oils have all been increasingly incorporated into cosmetic products with the aim of imparting various functionalities.
Commonly such products are labelled as being cosmeceutical or aromatherapy treatments and the ingredients used to make them are referred to as being functional.