New survey data from sexual wellness company Lelo found that 72% of US respondents were interested in products crossing the boundaries between beauty and sexual wellness. Among consumers interested in the crossover, 44% cited supplements, behind ingredient-conscious intimate care products at 50% and at-home LED intimate devices at 47%.
Industry experts said the crossover was playing into established supplement categories, including hormonal health, stress support, microbiome health and healthy aging. But sexual wellness supplements remained an emerging category, and scientific substantiation would need to keep pace with consumer interest and product development.
An emerging growth space
Scott Dicker, senior director of market insights at SPINS, said the market intelligence company was seeing a wider convergence of beauty, wellness and self-care across the natural products industry.
“Consumers increasingly view health holistically rather than through isolated categories, creating opportunities for products that address multiple dimensions of well-being simultaneously,” he told NutraIngredients.
Probiotics formulated for women’s health, collagen and beauty-from-within products, stress and mood support supplements, hormonal wellness products and targeted hydration were among the categories benefiting from that shift, Dicker added.
For supplement brands, the relevance of intimate wellness lies partly in its overlap with larger, established categories.
Dicker called sexual wellness supplements an “emerging growth space” rather than a mainstream category. The segment remained small compared with established categories such as digestive health, immunity, sports nutrition and healthy aging, he said, but its links to women’s health, menopause, stress management and healthy aging made it increasingly relevant to brands and retailers.
“Those adjacent categories are already attracting significant consumer attention and retailer investment,” he said.
Mainstream supplement brands did not necessarily need to launch explicitly sexual wellness products to participate, Dicker added. Existing products targeting hormone balance, stress, circulation, microbiome health and vitality could also fit into the wider intimate wellness conversation.
“A key takeaway for the industry is that intimate wellness is becoming integrated into broader wellness routines, rather than remaining a standalone category.”
Scott Dicker, Sr. Director of Market Insights at SPINS
Supplements become part of the routine
Lelo’s findings also pointed to frequent supplement use. The company reported that 52% of respondents had taken a supplement at least once during the previous 30 days, while 39% reported daily supplementation.
Vitamins ranked highest among the supplement categories included in the survey at 59%, followed by minerals at 39%, herbal and botanical supplements at 36%, probiotics at 30% and prebiotics at 23%.
Improving or maintaining overall health was the most commonly cited reason for supplement use at 40%, while 21% of respondents cited improving or maintaining sexual health.
Dicker said SPINS had also observed a longer-term move toward supplements becoming part of consumers’ daily health routines rather than purchases tied only to specific concerns.
Multivitamins, probiotics, magnesium, protein, collagen, omega-3s, hydration products and stress-management supplements were among the categories suited to habitual consumption, he said, alongside products targeting preventive health and healthy aging.
Dicker also saw an opportunity for greater consumer education around frequency of use.
“Overall, I think that there is a major gap/opportunity to educate consumers on what products are meant to be used acutely or intermittently vs. daily usage staples,” Dicker said.
The science behind the crossover
There may also be some science behind the crossover between beauty and intimate wellness.
Paula Simpson, holistic beauty expert and founder of Nutribloom Consulting Group, identified stress as one of the clearest physiological links between beauty, healthy aging, hormonal health and sexual wellness.
“When stress becomes chronic, cortisol and related stress signals can affect the skin’s barrier, hydration, inflammation, pigmentation and ability to repair itself,” she told NI.
Chronic stress could also influence immune, metabolic, mitochondrial and vascular processes involved in aging, while disrupting reproductive hormone signaling and affecting mood, sleep, libido, arousal and genital blood flow, she added.
“So these categories may look separate on the shelf, but physiologically they often reflect the same underlying question: how well the body is adapting to and recovering from stress,” Simpson said.
For formulators, that could shift the focus away from trying to connect beauty and sexual wellness through a single benefit or ingredient.
Instead, Simpson pointed to shared biological mechanisms including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, vascular and endothelial function, hormonal health and oxidative stress. Formulations should also account for sex, life stage and physiological changes associated with aging, she said.
Microbiome could bridge the categories
The microbiome could provide another bridge between beauty and intimate wellness, particularly through mucosal health.
“The gut, oral, vaginal and genital mucosa are important protective surfaces where microbial balance can influence inflammation, barrier integrity, comfort and immune function,” Simpson said.
Supporting a healthy vaginal microbiome, including beneficial Lactobacillus species, may help maintain the naturally acidic vaginal environment and mucosal comfort, she explained. Gut-focused approaches could meanwhile support skin resilience through broader immune and inflammatory pathways.
But translating those connections into sexual wellness products would require targeted formulations and clinical validation.
“The opportunity is to develop targeted, clinically validated products that support microbial and mucosal health with clear, meaningful benefits,” Simpson said.
Dicker also identified the microbiome as an area to watch as scientific and consumer interest continued to grow around connections between gut health, vaginal health, immune function, mood and overall health.
He expected brands to explore formulations connecting beauty-from-within and hormone support with skin health, healthy aging, energy, mood and intimate wellness. More personalized products built around life-stage and demographic needs could also emerge, alongside functional beverages, powders, gummies and hydration products that fit into existing routines.
Evidence will need to keep up
Consumer appetite for products spanning categories does not necessarily mean the science supports every benefit marketers may want to claim.
Simpson said demand for clean-label and clinically substantiated products was pushing sexual wellness supplements away from broad “performance” claims and toward more targeted support for areas such as stress resilience, circulation, desire, arousal, hormonal life stages, sleep and intimate comfort.
“Transparent, traceable formulations and clinical evidence can reduce hesitation in this sensitive category, build consumer and retailer confidence, and make sexual wellness feel like a natural part of everyday healthy aging and whole-body wellbeing rather than a niche purchase,” she said.
The distinction between evidence for an underlying physiological pathway and evidence for a direct sexual wellness outcome would be particularly important for brands entering the space.
“Focus on the systems biology vs direct sexual wellness claims would be best from a clinical evidence perspective,” Simpson said.
Whether sexual wellness ultimately became a larger part of nutricosmetics and healthy aging would also depend on brand fit, she added, as well as regulatory compliance and the ability to substantiate claims.
For Dicker, the direction of travel was toward products that no longer fit neatly into a single aisle.
“The lines between beauty, supplements, personal care and intimate wellness will likely continue to blur...creating new opportunities for brands that understand those interconnected consumer needs,” he said.
