Health & hygiene used to be a quieter corner of the personal-care world— dependable, necessary, but rarely inspiring. Soap cleaned, toothpaste protected, deodorant masked. But continuous product development and customization in pursuit of catering to specific needs and preferences have made the industry more intimate by focusing on the rituals surrounding wellness and care, both personal and environmental.
Consumers are no longer satisfied with “clean” in the literal sense; they want brands that reflect what clean living means today. Post-pandemic normalization may have cooled the frantic demand for sanitizers and disinfectants, but it left behind a new expectation: that hygiene brands align with the needs of both body and mind.
Turning Routine into Ritual
Health & hygiene ranks eleventh in this year’s Brand Intimacy Study— just outside the top ten but firmly embedded in consumers’ daily lives. Neutrogena leads the category, followed by Aveeno, Tylenol, and Listerine, all part of the Johnson & Johnson brand family, which continues to dominate through a mix of science, reassurance, and emotional resonance.
The category ranks first overall for the ritual archetype, reflecting how these brands have ingrained themselves into consumers’ actions and become a vital part of their daily existence. Whether moisturizing before bed, flossing after meals, or taking a nightly Tylenol for chronic pain, these behaviors transcend utility to become embedded practices.
The industry also performs strongly in the fulfillment archetype, ranking second overall after appliances. Health & hygiene brands that excel in fulfillment create strong emotional relationships by exceeding expectations and delivering superior service, quality, and efficacy. Consumers return to these products not only out of habit but because they deliver on their promises in tangible, trustworthy ways.
The cosmetics industry’s focus has shifted from aesthetics to well-being and sustainability.1 Before COVID-19, the beauty market was heavily driven by makeup. Lockdowns, however, rewrote those priorities. With social life moving indoors, self-care took the focus, fueling a boom in restorative skincare and a deeper appreciation for products that nurture. Neutrogena, this year’s top performer,is emblematic of this approach, blurring the line between health and beauty by emphasizing both clinical efficacy and the emotional comfort of care.2 In this landscape, health and hygiene converge with beauty around the pursuit of restorative, ameliorative, and emotionally powerful moments of self-caring.
Simultaneously, innovation is reframing what these rituals look like. Refill systems, concentrated bars, and plastic-free packaging have become visible status signals of responsibility. Dove’s reusable stainless-steel deodorant case, Colgate’s recyclable toothpaste tube, and Procter & Gamble’s waterless shampoo prototypes show how sustainability has filtered up from smaller to major brands, fostering intimacy by layering ritual with identity.
The pandemic sharpened consumer awareness around environmental impact, ingredient safety, and ethical sourcing.1 People became more deliberate about what they put on their skin and what those decisions communicated about their values, fueling a surge in natural, biodegradable, and sustainably produced products. As a result, clean, conscious, and clinical have emerged as the new triad of trust, a language that health and hygiene brands now embed in how they build intimacy and differentiate in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
The Limits of Functionality
Despite strong performance in the Brand Intimacy archetypes, the health & hygiene industry underperforms relative to the cross-industry average, with a Brand Intimacy Quotient Score of 23.8. Although consumers depend on these brands, their emotional connection lags behind industries such as beauty, luxury, and apparel.
One challenge lies in the functional ceiling that many hygiene brands face. Their role in consumers’ lives is constant but largely invisible. Reliability breeds loyalty, but not affection. In a world where every category is learning to tell emotional stories, hygiene can still feel transactional.
A second vulnerability is authenticity fatigue. As more brands adopt the language of wellness, transparency, and sustainability, consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical. Claims of “eco-friendly,” “microbiome-balanced,” or “clean ingredients” risk blending together without proof or meaningful differentiation.
A third challenge is the race to own the wellness space, which has blurred boundaries and credibility. Toothpaste with mood-enhancing properties or deodorants promising stress relief illustrate how far brands are stretching to stay relevant. This experimentation can inspire innovation, but also risks diluting category meaning. When everything claims to improve health, few brands stand out as evocative or meaningful.
From Habit to Halo
The future of health & hygiene is more purposeful and personal, which also means more premium. Everyday products are being reimagined as lifestyle accessories, from $30 designer deodorants to toothpaste packaged like skincare serums. The category is embracing aesthetic pleasure and sensorial storytelling to forge stronger bonds with customers.
This shift is being accelerated by generational change. Gen Z expects health and hygiene brands to embody purpose and values, whether through body positivity, inclusive marketing, or gender-neutral packaging.3
Meanwhile, traditional giants like Crest, Colgate, and Dove, long anchored in clinical positioning, continue to be disrupted by start-up challengers such as Native. These newer players speak with humor, irreverence, and emotional immediacy, selling not only products but also belonging, identity, and lifestyle.
Health & hygiene can no longer hide behind functional reliability. They must compete with cultural meaning, aesthetic design, and emotional connection.
Where Clinical Meets Emotional
The defining challenge for health & hygiene brands is balance. Consumers expect both scientific authority and emotional resonance. They want dermatologist-tested formulas and cavity protection, but they also want self-care, inclusivity, and identity expression.
In an era saturated with wellness misinformation, the most successful brands may be those rooted in credible science yet still powerfully connected to consumers’ sense of self. To create lasting emotional connections that drive consumer behavior, brands in this category need to not only protect teeth, clean skin, and mask odors but also transform these acts into affirmations of who consumers are, how they care for themselves, and how they connect with the world around them.
Get an overview of Brand Intimacy here.
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Sources
1Evalueserve. (2024, February 9). The post-pandemic beauty shift: What’s in, what’s out, what’s next. Intellectual Property and R&D Blog. https://iprd.evalueserve.com/blog/the-post-pandemic-beauty-shift-whats-in-whats-out-whats-next/
2Neutrogena. (n.d.). Hydro Boost collection. Neutrogena. https://www.neutrogena.com/skin/hydro-boost
3Vcreatives Agency. (2024, April 22). Beauty industry and Gen Z: The quest for holistic, inclusive, and affordable brands. Vcreatives. https://www.vcreatives.agency/resource/beauty-industry-and-gen-z-the-quest-for-holistic-inclusive-and-affordable-brands