More and more Chinese men are looking to the power of skin creams and anti-age serums to help them get ahead professionally, sparking a booming new market that has major cosmetics firms salivating.

Chinese men have fewer hang-ups than Western men about using skin care products – and keen customers, especially in urban areas, are even snapping up pots of foundation, toners and whitening creams traditionally bought by women.

Industry giants such as France’s L’Oreal and German group Beiersdorf, which makes the Nivea line, are spending big on ads and distribution in China to conquer the promising market – and concocting new tailor-made products.

“It’s a very dynamic market,” Jackson Zhang, vice president of L’Oreal China, said, adding “that about 10 per cent of Chinese men are already using skin care products specifically made for them”. The typical customer is an urban professional living not just in the capital Beijing or cosmopolitan Shanghai, but also in smaller cities nationwide.

“When Chinese men’s income rises, in the beginning, they buy a good watch, then they move on to electronics... then they move to clothes, buy famous brands and finally they move to personal care products,” Mr Zhang explained.

“Men believe that using skin care products can give them a better competitive edge for their jobs, or for girls.”

China will account for half of global growth in the men’s skin care market in the 2009 to 2014 period, market intelligence firm Euromonitor said in a study released in November, adding that Procter & Gamble should soon join the fray.

During those five years, the Chinese market is projected to expand by 28.7 per cent, as compared with growth of just 5.7 per cent in North America and 7.9 per cent in western Europe, Euromonitor said.