Details

Overview

Bathroom Grooming Products

Bathroom Grooming, or Beauty & Personal Care,  is defined as the field that addresses the looks and health of someone’s hair, teeth, skin, and more here. Despite its market being expected to grow annually by 3.93%(Statista, 2022), it does not seem to be a common topic in everyday conversation. Therefore, people probably do not know much about the grooming products other people posses. It would be interesting to explore what factors contribute to the perception of its uniqueness when there is a relative lack of comparison.

The “Uniqueness”

Commonly used conceptualization of uniqueness is often based on the contrast between individuals and other people. There have been multiple studies in the domain of uniqueness. Snyder and Fromkin(1980) observed that people seeked moderate uniqueness. Koydemir et al(2020) pointed out that uniqueness was a fundamental part of individual identity and the acceptance of one’s uniqueness was essential for their well-being. The perception of uniqueness associated with beauty and personal care products would be especially interesting since it is very closely associated with users’ bodies whose uniqueness is more complicated on the matter of acceptance.

Concept Maps

Concept maps were drawn both in group and individually. The domain for research was explored and familiarized through concept maps. By doing concept maps and having casual conversation with other people in the process, I realized there were zones of bathroom grooming that were known to some people while being unfamiliar to others, so one could point out the products possessed by another was “unique”, and some people themselves also mentioned some products they had were uncommon. Then, I decided to dive deeper into this topic.

Observations

I started with casual chats with my friends and observed one of my friend’s bathroom grooming routines. When I asked them if they had bathroom grooming product(s) that they thought other people did not have, I received some unexpected answers. One of them mentioned she had many different soaps for different body parts and also many combs.  One had many moisturizers of different scents and for different body parts. When I mentioned to one person that I had various toothpastes, which I thought was special, she said she also used multiple toothpastes, which amazed me. 

It is probably because bathroom grooming is often considered private or just not considered a common topic for conversation, so people usually do not know much about other people’s bathroom grooming routines, so sometimes the things some consider common may be unique to others, and the things some consider unique may actually be common. The definition of the “everyone else” may be different due to different cultural backgrounds, different people they have shared bathrooms with, and different information they have been exposed to.

Online Survey

Participants Profile

The purpose of the online survey was to (1) learn whether most users have certain beauty and personal care products they perceived as unique; (2) frame the research focus; (3) recruit interviewees.

The survey was powered by Qualtrics and was sent out on Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 89 valid responses were received.

The Survey

Some Key Responses

User Interview

The purpose of the interviews was to obtain more in-depth information. The major inquiry was on why users perceived the particular products as unique and how did their feelings towards the products change.

Participants Profile

The Interviews

A zoom interview with a participant John(not real name). John was allowed to close the camera. He was talking about his experience with his special product, a nose hair trimmer.

A zoom interview with a participant Mary(not real name). Mary was showing me her special flexible hair brush.

Initial Insights

• About the “others” and “normal”

When asking people about who were the “others” they referred to when they talked about they thought most other people did not have the products, the answers that occurred in all of the interviews were families and friends. The common products they perceived were usually the products they saw or heard of their family members or friends used. 

• Investigation and unique products

The process of investigation or research was brought up frequently by the participants when they talked about their unique bathroom grooming products. Their unique products were often associated with an extensive experience of researching for information. 3 people mentioned they watched a lot of YouTube videos, which made them eventually decide to buy the products. The experience of trying and testing were mentioned by all of the participants. 

• Friends and unique products

A finding that was surprising to me was how friends were often involved in people’s unique bathroom grooming products. At least 4 people brought up that they acquired the unique products because their friends recommended them or sold them. 

• The channel of purchase and unique products

All of the participants did not buy their unique products at common grocery or pharmacy stores. They either bought online on Amazon or directly through manufacturers. 2 of them bought them directly from friends’ startup. 

Co-Design Activities

The co-design activities had 2 pilot participants who had participated in the interviews to provide more in-depth and detailed information through hands-on activities. This co-design asked participants to use the materials provided to fill an empty journey map and share their processes of finding and at the end using their bathroom grooming products routinely.

Primary Inquiries

1. What are the detailed processes of people finding and using their unique beauty and personal care products?

2. How do people’s emotions change in these processes?

3. What are the factors contributing to people’s decisions on using their unique products?

Execution Plan

Materials Prepared

Empty journey maps on boards. Multiple post-it notes for the emotions, persons, objects, locations, and actions involved in the processes. Empty notes and markers for writing anything not provided.

Process

Participants added post-it notes onto the journey maps.

Participants wrote their own post-it notes.

Participants shared with each other about the unique products.

A participant presented her journey map.

The journey map of a participant.

Persona & User Journey Map

Insights

Insight 01

The extensive process of testing and the involvement of people who users can have close observation on contributes to the perception of the uniqueness of the products.

• The process of trying and testing a bathroom grooming product contributes to users’ perception of uniqueness, because the product is closely associated with their bodies and they perceive their bodies as unique strongly.

• The perception of the uniqueness of the bodies comes from comparison with people around. At the same time, the similarities of the bodies between users and the people users are relatively close with often prompt them to try and trust the products. This perception of similarity does not contradict the perception of differences, probably because users consider themselves and the persons they share similarities with as a small close group that is different from the larger group of people they interact with (Selda Koydemir et al, 2020).

Insight 02

Users tend to feel relatively positive to the unique products as they accept the uniqueness associated with their own bodies as well as realize that there are some people similar to them.

• Accepting one’s uniqueness is an important step to the general well-being(Selda Koydemir, 2020). Since the unique bathroom grooming products are associated with the unique conditions of users’ bodies, incorporating the unique product into one’s routine, which indicates accepting the product, implies accepting one’s uniqueness and thus contributes to the overall happiness.

• The realization of being different from many other people and being similar to a very small number of people contributes to the positive feelings of users. According to Snyder and Fromkin, individuals are happiest when they perceive themselves as being moderately different from others.