French and British consumers want different things from anti-ageing

YouGov's 2026 Forever Young? anti-ageing reports for France and Great Britain surveyed more than 3,000 consumers across both markets. The core finding: French consumers are significantly more prevention-minded, but neither market is converting awareness into action beyond basic skincare.

Both reports segment consumers into three groups based on how important they say it is to prevent signs of ageing:

• Preventers say it is extremely or somewhat important — are the most engaged buyers and the most open to new formats and therapies.
• Maintainers say it is neither important nor unimportant; they spend, but respond to wellness framing more than explicit anti-ageing messaging. Indifferents say prevention is not important at all and are the least likely to spend or try new treatments.

Let's dig into the data...

Two very different starting points

In France, 49% of consumers say preventing signs of ageing is important — and preventers outnumber indifferents nearly three to one (49% vs. 17%).

In Britain, just 34% say the same, matching the 34% who say they don't care at all. Britain also has the lowest rate of consumers actively trying to slow ageing signs of any market surveyed globally, at 6%.

The gender dynamics are equally distinct. France's prevention mindset is near gender-neutral: 48% of male preventers, 50% female. In Britain, women are far more likely to be preventers (42%) than men (26%), while men dominate the indifferent segment at 43%.

Preventers drive the spend

Both markets spend monthly on skincare, supplements, or anti-ageing products — 56% of French consumers, 55% of British. But the money concentrates among preventers. In France, 24% of preventers spend more than €40 per month. In Britain, 28% spend more than £25.

The more telling data point: even among self-described indifferents, 30% in France and 36% in Britain still spend monthly on these products. They don't identify with anti-ageing as a category, but they are buying within it.

Broad awareness, minimal trial

Consumers in both countries know what treatments exist. In Britain, 69% have heard of Botox; 3% have tried it. In France, 43% have heard of it; 2% have tried it. Traditional anti-ageing skincare is the only format with meaningful adoption (16% trial in Britain, 13% in France) and is also where future intent concentrates.

LED light therapy masks are the clearest step-up opportunity, with 10–11% of consumers expressing interest. Everything else — microneedling, collagen boosters, dermal fillers — remains niche even among the most engaged preventers.

Different trust channels

France trusts professionals first: dermatologists are the top discovery channel at 36%, followed by word of mouth (26%).

Britain reverses this with word of mouth leading at 31%, dermatologists second at 23%. Preventers in both countries turn to social and search to discover and research products, but AI-powered skin analysis tools remain a hard sell with fewer than 40% of preventers in either market say they'd trust AI-driven recommendations.

What this means for brands

In France, the prevention-minded majority creates a larger addressable market and the gender balance supports broader positioning. In Britain, the audience is smaller and more female-skewed, but preventers spend at comparable rates once engaged.

In both countries, the term anti-ageing itself may be a barrier. Maintainers respond better to language around health, vitality, and skin appearance than explicit prevention framing. The motivational data supports this: "maintain health and vitality" is the top reason French consumers would consider treatments, while "improve skin appearance" leads in Britain.

In both markets, traditional skincare is the only format with meaningful adoption, and LED masks are the only step-up treatment generating broad interest. For everything else — Botox, fillers, microneedling — awareness is high but trial sits in the low single digits.

Both reports are based on YouGov Surveys conducted from 16 December 2025 to 12 January 2026. The full reports are available from YouGov (France, Great Britain).