“We sell around 10 to 12 women's fairness creams a month, but almost double that of men’s. The past few months we’ve sold up to 24 men’s fairness creams a month,” shared a salesman at Bhai Bhai Centre, a local convenience store in Bashundhara R/A. Bhai Bhai Store,in the convenience store business for over five years, has a whole range of skin whitening products. For women there’s the most popular and highest selling Fair & Lovely line and the Ponds White Beauty line. For men, there’s the new but more in-demand fairness lines by Emami and Fair & Lovely Men. When it comes to sales, surprisingly, the spike in demand is experienced by men’s fairness creams, not women’s.
“We sell all types of ‘high-demand’ skin creams: Fair and Lovely, Emami Fair and Handsome and Men’s Max Fairness cream, but our highest selling cream is men’s fairness cream,” he revealed.
With Bashundhara R/A housing both North South University and IUB campuses, the area is populated mostly by students that live in hostels around the area. When asked who buys these men’s creams his answer was simple: “Youngsters – mostly consisting of university students.”
A visit to nine other convenience stores across Dhaka revealed similar numbers and one prevailing sales trend: men’s fairness creams were sold just as much, if not more than women’s fairness creams. But is the market for men’s fairness as ripe as that for women?
“Right now, the demand for these products are certainly high. From the time Unilever began producing Fair & Lovely Max Fairness, we’ve been stocking it in our store. Compared to a few years ago, sales have definitely doubled,” shared MA Wahid, proprietor of Grehokon Store in Green Road, Dhanmondi. With his store in place for 22 years, Wahid has sold F&L for women for almost ten years now, and has recently beginning to stock all kinds of men’s creams as well. “90% of buyers are usually students, but overall both middle-aged and young men are my main customers.”
“Currently the highest selling cream is Emami Fair and Handsome,” shared Hemayat Hossain, proprietor of Disha Centre, a general store in Nodda Shorkari Bari in Gulshan. He sells around eight to 10 Fair & Lovely creams a month, and almost the same number of Fair and Handsome.
While some store owners claimed that Emami has captured the market, others argued that Fair & Lovely Max Fairness was not too far behind.
Emami Fair and Handsome is priced at Tk95 and has become a popular choice for men. With the likes of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and actor Hrithik Roshan endorsing the product, it is no surprise that the creams have captured the Indian market, and then subsequently the Bangladeshi market too. The cream promises users to give them “long-lasting fairness for men’s tough skin,” while King Khan’s tagline is “Bas ek splash... aur chehra dikhe bright and fresh” (“Just one splash, and your face looks bright and fresh”).
Rofiqul Islam, proprietor of M/S Haque Traders shop in HM Plaza in Uttara has had his own corner store for 10 years. Seated at his store in the underground market, when asked to show his best men’s cream, he happily took out a small tube of Emami’s Fair and Handsome. “For men, this is currently the best cream in the market,” an enthusiastic Rofiqul shared, as he wiped down the pack with a gamchha. “We sell six to seven Emami creams a month, and around the same number of Fair & Lovely creams for women. Sales fluctuate every month, but right before Eid, both sell in equal measure,” he shared. On Emami’s website, the cream is said to have a “five-action fairness system” that includes spot reduction, sun protection and “long lasting fairness.”
In another shop, Habiba General Store in Banani, proprietor Muazzem Islam sells 12 Fair & Handsome creams a month. “In all the years I’ve had this store, I’ve witnessed highest sales in the past year,” he revealed. With almost 22 years in the business, he sells the mini packs of all sorts of fairness creams. “There is a demand for men’s cream, and that’s why we stock them.”
The second most popular cream, it seems, is Fair & Lovely Max Fairness. Sohel Rahman, a user of the “multi-expert solution”, said he began using the cream after realizing that men’s skin is thicker than women’s, requiring him to use the men’s formula. “Probably that’s why regular creams didn’t work on me. Then I used Max Fairness cream. It makes my skin soft and fair. Would definitely recommend it,” he added.
From all the shops visited, one thing was clear: The demand for men’s fairness creams really is on the rise. Sales may not be matched by that of women’s creams, but they are definitely picking up.