The impact of beauty in the UK
Revealing its social, cultural and economic value
Beauty and personal care makes a wider contribution to UK society than conventional economic measures alone capture. Commissioned by the British Beauty Council and supported by L’Oréal Groupe, this report combines a nationally representative survey of 2,116 UK adults with detailed geospatial analysis of beauty and personal care amenities across the UK.
The research shows that beauty and personal care is embedded in everyday life. Most consumers regard spending on personal care as a necessity rather than a luxury, while frequent users report positive effects on their confidence, resilience, mood, and sense of self. These benefits can influence how people participate in social occasions and professional settings.
Beauty businesses and service providers also contribute to social connection. Salons, barbershops, and other personal care settings provide trusted spaces for conversation and regular face-to-face contact. For some consumers—particularly younger adults—appointments represent one of relatively few opportunities for social interaction during the week.
The sector also plays an important role in the vitality of high streets and town centres. Personal care appointments generate purposeful and repeat visits, with half of high-street appointments accompanied by spending at another local business. The analysis identifies approximately 191,200 beauty and personal care amenities across the UK, including a substantial presence in smaller towns, villages, and rural communities.
These wider benefits complement the sector’s significant economic contribution. In 2025, beauty and personal care supported a total contribution of £28.3 billion to UK GDP, 595,000 jobs, and £8.8 billion in tax revenues. The findings suggest that the sector should be understood not only as an important consumer industry, but also as part of the social and local infrastructure of everyday life in Britain.
The experts behind the research
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Vasilis DouzenisAssociate Director, Economic Impact
Vasilis joined Oxford Economics in 2021 from PwC’s Global Fiscal Policy Advisory team. He has more than ten years of experience as a professional economist having worked for an investment bank, a boutique economic consultancy and the international association of mobile operators.
Vasilis has managed a significant number of studies assessing the economic impacts of policy for different sectors and has led milestone studies looking at the impact of AI technology on business productivity and on consumers.
Vasilis holds a BSc (Honours) in Economics from the University of Warwick, a MSc in Risk Management from the LSE, a MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge and has obtained the CFA charter.
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Christopher WarnerAssociate Director, Economic Impact
Chris Warner joined Oxford Economics in 2022 as an Associate Director, in the Economic Impact team.
Since joining Oxford Economics, he has been involved in numerous high-profile economic impact studies in a number of sectors, including tech and digital media.
Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Chris worked in the economics department of the British Business Bank, and for economic consulting firm Simetrica-Jacobs, where he specialised in cost-benefit analysis and impact evaluation. He has an MSc in International Economics & Economic Policy from Goethe University Frankfurt.
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Alex AntoniouSenior Economist, Economic Impact
Alex Antoniou is Senior Economist with Oxford Economics on the Economic Impact Team. Alex joined Oxford Economics in 2022 after completing a master's degree at the London School of Economics. Since then, he has worked as an Economist on a range of projects involving advanced economic and econometric modelling, with a particular focus on digital technology policy and regulation across areas such as AI, cybersecurity, cloud storage and computing, and broadband services. Alex specialises in the use of geospatial techniques and spatial econometrics, which he has applied in a number of studies during his time at Oxford Economics. Before joining the Economic Impact Consulting team, Alex spent two years with the Cities and Regions team, producing quarterly forecasts for cities and regions across Southern and Southeastern Europe.
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Sofia De MartinEconomist, Economic Impact
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