The first wave of the GLP-1 beauty trend was mostly about reacting to changes. The next wave is likely to focus on prevention, personalization, and products designed for a body that’s changing. “Ozempic face” — a term for the sagging and loss of facial fullness that can come with rapid weight loss — drove demand for cosmetic treatments, firming creams, hair loss products, and more specific post-weight-loss routines. As Vogue Business reported last year, brands quickly adapted as GLP-1 use became more common. But now that these drugs are moving from a specialist injection to a more mainstream weight-management option, beauty is facing a much bigger commercial opportunity — one that insiders say is also far more complex.
The UK has approved two GLP-1 tablets for weight management: Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy semaglutide tablet in June, and Eli Lilly’s Foundayo in August. Beyond removing the fear or hassle of injections, oral versions don’t need syringes or refrigeration, and they’re cheaper to make. In the US, oral Wegovy hit three million prescriptions in just over five months, with most users being new to GLP-1 therapy. Andrew McDougall, a principal strategist at Mintel, says 22% of consumers would consider using GLP-1s in the future now that oral options are available.
In the US, oral Wegovy passed three million prescriptions within just over five months of launch.
Photo: Getty Images
Dr. Jennifer Owens, an aesthetic practitioner at Reborne Longevity, a preventative health and longevity clinic in London’s Marylebone, expects the patient profile to broaden “dramatically” — from a fairly small group of committed, often medically supervised injection users to a “much larger, more casual, self-directed pill-taking population.”
That shift matters because it changes who beauty brands are selling to. Dr. David Jack, an aesthetic doctor known for his Harley Street clinic and skincare line, expects GLP-1s to have a “much more significant effect on the beauty industry” than the now familiar talk about “Ozempic face.”
The first products made in response to GLP-1 effects included Dr. Few Skincare DermaReverse and Image Skincare’s Volulift. Both targeted sagging, thinning skin, loss of facial volume, and dehydration with formulas that claim to mimic the fullness that fat tissue provides.
But Dr. Sophie Shotter, founder and medical director of Illuminate skin clinic, believes the longer-lasting opportunity lies in products built around preventing the GLP-1 side effects that brands can actually address: supporting collagen and elastin, improving firmness and elasticity, strengthening the skin barrier, and maintaining skin quality across the face, neck, and body.
Dr Sophie Shotter, founder and medical director of Illuminate skin clinic.
Photo: Courtesy of Dr Sophie Shotter
“GLP-1s may become less of a marketing category and more of a product development brief,” says Shotter. For someone new to the pill, the trigger might simply be drier skin, changes in facial fullness, or hair shedding. Galderma’s Alan Widgerow sees the opportunity moving earlier, with skin programs potentially recommended before or at the start of a GLP-1 journey. “Once you go through the changes, it takes a lot longer to reverse. Prevention is the way to tackle this,” he says.
Skincare goes deeper
In the early days of the GLP-1 boom, brands focused on collagen-based products to address facial volume loss. Now, they’re turning their attention to adipose tissue (fat), as well as the link between facial fat, skin structure, and aging. “One area I find particularly interesting is the emerging category of topical ingredients claiming to influence facial adipose tissue itself. These are very much in their infancy but are quite interesting nonetheless,” says Dr. Jack, pointing to “filler in a bottle” products like The Ordinary’s Volufiline, which claims to visibly increase skin volume and plumpness, and Vol…A cream from Adipeau, a skincare brand focused on volume loss, takes a more direct approach to supporting the renewal of dermal fat cells. These products reflect a growing interest in whether influencing the tissue beneath the skin could eventually offer another way to address facial fullness.
However, the science still lags behind the commercial buzz. “The evidence that a cosmetic applied to the skin can penetrate deeply enough to produce a visible increase in facial fat is extremely limited,” says Dr. Jack. For now, topical products cannot replace lost volume the way fat transfer or injectable treatments can.
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The bigger development may be the growing overlap between topical skincare and procedures. Revision Skincare’s DEJ BioStim Treatment Solution is a professional topical biostimulator designed to trigger the skin’s natural collagen and elastin production without the need for injections. “That type of innovation feels particularly relevant to the GLP-1 era, because it targets the dermo-epidermal junction, which is crucial for skin resilience and can therefore potentially provide significant benefit during a GLP-1 journey,” says Shotter.
The body could present an even larger opportunity. “Body skincare remains surprisingly unsophisticated compared with that for the face,” says Dr. Jack. Weight loss brings skin laxity and changes in body composition into sharper focus, creating room for the ingredient language of facial skincare—peptides, retinoids, exfoliating acids, barrier support, and regenerative ingredients—to move into bodycare. Image Skincare’s Volulift Body and Dermalogica’s Dynamic Skin Sculptor are early examples, but the category could evolve beyond traditional firming creams toward targeted treatments and routines for before and during weight loss, rather than just after.
Hair catches up with the face
Hair shedding is already a concern among GLP-1 users, although Dr. Owens stresses that the mechanism matters. “Telogen effluvium [temporary hair loss] is triggered by the speed and scale of nutrient and weight loss, rather than by GLP-1 exposure itself,” she says.
That distinction changes the product brief. The opportunity extends beyond another anti-hair loss serum into scalp biology, follicular health, nutrition, and clinically backed intervention. Sales of scalp care products are up more than 30% year-on-year at Boots, while hair loss-related Google searches have risen more than 1,000%, according to Spate’s Popularity Index.
The next opportunity is moving closer to the follicle. This month, K18 launched FutureIQ, a serum combining biomimetic peptides, a root-anchoring complex, and antioxidants that works to extend the life of hair and prevent hair aging, while its broader positioning connects the scalp, follicle, fiber, and microbiome. As Dr. Rita El-Khouri, SVP of research and innovation at K18, puts it: “Skincare is undergoing this transition, from correcting to preserving skin health, and hair longevity is next. GLP-1s have dramatically accelerated a need state: consumers experiencing shedding, density loss, and changes in hair quality as their bodies go through rapid metabolic change. That’s exactly the territory our newest platform, FutureIQ, was built for.”
K18’s FutureIQ Biomimetic Hair Longevity Serum.
Photo: Courtesy of K18
UKLash, which started with its hero lash serum before expanding into haircare, is innovating based on demand for hair loss solutions. “We see that combination of scalp health, sophisticated actives, and clinically demonstrated results becoming a much bigger part of the future of the hair growth category,” says UKLash senior marketing director Sophia Taylor. She adds that one of the brand’s innovations launching in January 2027 reflects the growing consumer focus on hair density and scalp health.While the product name is still under embargo, she explains: “In a 12-week clinical study with 30 participants, 90% saw improved hair density. The formula blends ingredients like Prodew® 500, an amino acid complex that helps strengthen and reinforce the hair fiber, with caffeine to energize the scalp and support healthier-looking hair growth.”
Jolie Skin Co. is another example of how brands can stand out in the increasingly crowded hair loss market. Its filter showerhead is marketed as the only one with clinical evidence backing its benefits for reducing hair shedding. Founder Ryan Babenzien believes it appeals most to people dealing with general hair loss, but the brand is also testing targeted campaigns to see if GLP-1 users—who may experience shedding along with rapid weight loss—represent a new growth opportunity.
Devices could push the category even further. LED and energy-based tools have been popular for the face, neck, and décolletage for years, and Dr. Owens expects scalp and hair LED masks to be “the next frontier” for this technology. In April, Celluma launched the Mystique LED Mask for £1,200. It’s the first of its kind, FDA-cleared to treat skin aging, acne, and hair restoration, and it works on both the face and scalp in a 30-minute session. On the more affordable end, Aldi released its £12.99 LED Hair Brush in July. Combining LED light with gentle vibrations, the brush is designed to help stimulate the scalp.
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Red light therapy claims to improve skin quality, including collagen density, texture, and wrinkle appearance. Low-level light therapy, a broader term for using low-power light to influence biological processes, has been shown to help with certain types of hair loss, including androgenetic alopecia, the most common cause of female hair loss. Increased shedding, often linked to rapid weight loss from GLP-1 use, can make underlying thinning more noticeable.
Skincare brand This Works, meanwhile, ran a 12-week consumer study using its body wrap and serum on the head, with 660nm red light and 850nm near-infrared light. Seventy-three percent of participants reported healthier-looking hair when the wrap was used with the serum. Founder Dr. Anna Persaud calls this “interesting supporting evidence,” and while a dedicated hair or scalp wrap isn’t planned right now, she says the brand is “continuing to explore how red light can evolve within the This Works portfolio.” On GLP-1 users, she notes, “for us, the opportunity is not simply to create more devices, but to understand how light technology and targeted formulations can work intelligently together.” Dr. Persaud adds that any future product “has to start with a genuine consumer need and be supported by robust testing.”
Beauty gets more intimate
The final frontier is one largely missing from early GLP-1 beauty discussions: sexual wellness. As bodies change with weight loss, experts are seeing more conversation around confidence, desire, arousal, dryness, comfort, and pleasure.
Certified sexual wellness educator Kristen Tribby, who has worked in the industry for 25 years, says intimate wellbeing is being overlooked. People on GLP-1 medications have reported changes in desire, arousal, dryness, and orgasm, alongside increased body confidence. “We’ve become very good at talking about weight loss, but it’s really time we started talking about what it takes to keep our bodies optimized for pleasure while they’re changing,” she says.
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Tribby also argues that intimate skin deserves more attention. “Intimate tissue is still skin,” she says, highlighting the importance of hydration and barrier health as the body changes. That’s where wellness brand Sutil hopes to start the conversation and educate people on intimate skincare. Its new Balm+ combines ectoin, hyalHyaluronic acid, oat beta-glucan, and perilla seed extract work together to draw in moisture, support the skin’s natural barrier, and help it hold onto hydration over time.
Pelvic floor health is part of the same bigger picture. Constipation linked to GLP-1 medications can lead to more straining and added pressure on the pelvic floor. At the same time, some users notice vaginal dryness, since major shifts in body weight and energy levels can affect reproductive hormones and estrogen, which in turn may reduce natural lubrication. About one in three women already deals with pelvic floor issues today, and with more people using GLP-1 drugs, that number could climb.
“Pelvic floor health can be especially important for those on GLP-1 medications. This isn’t a niche concern—it’s something we should all be thinking about ahead of time. That’s exactly why, at Smile Makers, we created Pelvic Partner: to make pelvic floor care simple, approachable, and accessible, rather than something we only consider once a problem arises,” says Samantha Marshall, head of brand at Smile Makers Collection. The fact that major beauty and wellness retailers—like Boots in the UK and Ulta in the US, which was the first beauty store to stock a Kegel trainer—are now embracing pelvic health “is a significant shift,” Marshall adds. “It’s pulling pelvic health out of the clinical shadows and putting it where it belongs: as a visible, everyday part of women’s wellbeing.”
Elvie and Perifit are bringing pelvic floor care into the consumer wellness space with connected devices, biofeedback, and app-based training. Sutil, meanwhile, is approaching the category through intimate skincare and hydration products.
Whether it’s pelvic floor training tools or skincare formulas, personalization will be the key driver across GLP-1-related beauty and wellness innovations going forward. “A 28-year-old patient who gradually loses 10 kilograms has completely different needs than a post-menopausal patient who quickly loses 25 kilograms,” explains Dr. Jack. Factors like age, the speed and amount of weight loss, nutritional status, baseline skin quality, hair shedding, and changes in body composition could increasingly shape what consumers are recommended—and where the beauty industry heads next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the impact of GLP1 pills on the beauty industry written in a natural and accessible tone
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q What exactly are GLP1 pills
A They are a new oral form of a class of drugs originally used for diabetes but now famous for weight loss They mimic a hormone that makes you feel full and helps control blood sugar
Q Why are they a new era compared to the shots
A The pills are much easier to takeno needles no refrigeration and less anxiety about selfinjection This convenience is expected to make the drugs far more popular meaning more people will be losing significant weight
Q How does weight loss from these drugs affect your face
A Rapid weight loss can lead to a loss of facial fat This can make the face look gaunt hollow or older than before Its often called Ozempic face and its a major concern for people using these medications
Q What exactly is the beauty industry doing about this
A They are adapting in two main ways First theyre creating products to help with loose or sagging skin Second theyre seeing a huge boom in preventative procedures like dermal fillers and skintightening treatments to counteract the facial volume loss
Advanced IndustryLevel Questions
Q How are skincare brands changing their formulas for GLP1 users
A They are focusing on ingredients that boost collagen and elastin like peptides and retinoids They are also developing richer more emollient creams to combat the extreme dryness and crepey texture that can result from rapid fat loss and muscle loss under the skin
Q What specific cosmetic procedures are becoming more popular because of these pills
A Were seeing a massive rise in liquid facelifts biostimulators and noninvasive skintightening treatments to address sagging skin on the face and body