Men type ‘sunscreen for men’ twice as often as women type ‘sunscreen for women’.
We read the Indian sunscreen market in May 2026 — 548 search terms tested, 7 million searches a month. Almost every advertisement, influencer and pack in this category speaks to women. The search data does not agree, and the reason it does not agree is the useful part.
searches a month across sunscreen and sun protection in India
growth in that demand over five years — one of the fastest-rising parts of skincare
searches a month for ‘sunscreen for oily skin’ — how the category is usually searched
searches a month
Women do not need the word. They search by brand and by skin type instead, because the category already assumes them. Men add ‘for men’ to check whether anything here is meant for them at all.
What the gap is actually telling us
Searching by gender is a sign of being left out
Nobody adds a word to a search when the answer is obvious. Women reach this category through brand names and skin types — the biggest single term in the whole market is a brand, at 823,000 searches a month. Men reach it by asking whether it is for them.
They arrive as grooming, not skincare
Men describe wanting matte, non-greasy, unscented protection for the commute, the gym and outdoor work — not a step in a skincare routine. They are looking in different places, using different words, which is why a category fluent in serum language keeps missing them.
The demand is loud because the supply is thin
There is no shortage of sunscreen. There is a shortage of sunscreen that looks, smells and feels as though it was made for a man. A large, repeated, specific search with nothing satisfying it is the clearest kind of gap there is.
The cheapest new audience is the one already asking for you by name. Nothing here calls for a new formula — the same protection, in a matte finish, without perfume, described in the language of grooming rather than skincare, would meet demand that is already arriving every month.
Sunscreen and sun protection · India · read 20 May 2026. 548 search terms tested; 265 returned no measurable volume and were dropped, leaving 283. Figures are counted monthly search volume. Search measures what people look for, not what they buy. Consumer language is described, not quoted.
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