Written by Melanie Brown BSc (Hons), MSc. Reviewed by Dr Phoebe Howells for OVUM.
An OVUM note:
This piece focuses on the impact of grooming products on sperm health. Throughout, Melanie refers to "men" as shorthand for anyone who produces sperm, including transgender women, non-binary people, and those using donor sperm as part of their journey. Sperm health matters across all paths to parenthood.
What Is “Male Grooming”?
Nowadays, grooming is a routine part of daily life for many men, for example using fragranced body sprays, fake tans, aftershave and beard oils. There are even fragranced grooming products specifically designed for direct application to the testicles. But as awareness of fertility health grows, a reasonable question follows. Could these products affect sperm health, testosterone levels and ultimately, male fertility?
Can Male Fertility be Impacted By Products?
The short answer is that some ingredients found in everyday personal care products may contribute to a ‘cocktail effect’ of chemical exposure that is worth reducing, especially for men who are trying to conceive.
Current evidence points less to a single product and more to cumulative exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, solvents, heavy metals, preservatives, plastic compounds such as Bisphenol A (BPA), formaldehyde, pesticides and PFAS, aka ‘Forever Chemicals’. These are a large group of man-made chemicals whose structures prevent them from breaking down in the environment or the human body. Several human studies have linked exposure to these chemicals to reduced hormone signalling (meaning the chemical messages your body sends are not getting through as well as they should), lower sperm counts, poorer sperm motility and quality, and sperm DNA damage. For example, anything labelled ‘parfum’ or ‘fragrance’ can technically contain a multitude of different chemicals, including phthalates.
The strongest concern is not that a beard oil or aftershave will directly make a man infertile, but that repeated exposure to a mix of certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals may, over time, affect male reproductive health. For example, a major review in Fertility and Sterility, drawing on multiple human studies, found strong human evidence linking phthalate exposure with negative male reproductive outcomes. This included disruption to hormonal balance and negative changes to sperm count, motility, and morphology.
Diethyl Phthalate is a common constituent of products that contain “fragrance” or “parfum”, which can consist of any of approximately 4,000 other chemicals used by the fragrance industry to formulate scents in toiletries and grooming products. More recent reviews have reached similar conclusions; for example, a 2026 systematic review of 38 human studies found associations between phthalate exposure and reduced semen quality. However, human studies can be difficult to interpret because there are many other factors at play, so it is difficult to isolate a single factor as the ‘cause’. In other words, the risk is plausible and supported by a growing body of research, but there are many other factors as well that influence male fertility, and we cannot blame male infertility on grooming products alone.
Should Men Trying To Conceive Change Their Grooming Routine?
For most men, awareness is key, and the sensible approach is to reduce risk. If you are trying for a baby, it makes sense to choose simpler products with fewer unnecessary chemicals and fragrances, and, where possible, swap to products that may help lower that chemical burden.
Practical ways to lower potential risk
Shop for certified organic or "clean beauty" labels. When shopping for certified organic products, look for the Soil Association COSMOS symbol rather than just the word "organic" on the label. The term organic is unregulated for beauty products in the UK, meaning it can appear on packaging even when only a small fraction of the product's content qualifies. COSMOS certification guarantees no phthalates, no synthetic fragrances, and no parabens.
Read the labels; look out for phthalates, parfum, fragrance, parabens, and mineral oils. See The Chem Trust website also has a useful plain-English guide to the specific chemicals worth avoiding in grooming and personal care products, including parabens, PFAS and synthetic fragrances, with practical tips on how to spot them on a label.
Consider downloading the Yuka app on your phone, which scans the barcodes of food, cleaning, and cosmetic products to decode and rate their ingredients based on their impact on your health and the environment.
Choose fragrance-free or lightly scented male grooming products where possible, and try not to layer multiple fragrance-heavy personal care products every day. Use only the amount you need, when you need it.
Look for anything on this list on a product page or ingredients list: parfum, fragrance, diethyl phthalate (DEP), butylparaben, propylparaben, methylparaben, ethylparaben, formaldehyde, DMDM hydantoin, triclosan.
Key Takeaways:
Male grooming is unlikely to be the single reason for fertility problems, but it may be one small and often overlooked part of a bigger exposure picture. Sperm take about 90 days to make. Changes you make now show up in a test in three months, not three weeks.
The most evidence-based takeaway is this: men do not need to abandon grooming, but choosing fewer, lower-chemical, lower-fragrance products is probably a good idea when you are trying to conceive. Reducing the use of fragranced products can be cheap, easy, and reasonable. Some other practical ways to reduce exposure include choosing organic, fragrance-free products.
Human evidence is strongest for phthalates and pesticides. For most other endocrine disruptors, it remains limited and inconclusive. The phthalates with the strongest evidence against them, DEHP, DBP and BBP, are already banned from UK cosmetics. DEP is not, and it hides inside “parfum”. Parabens as a mixture are associated with lower sperm concentration, count and motility. The cumulative daily load is the plausible risk, not any single product.
Quisque iaculis facilisis lacinia. Mauris euismod pellentesque tellus sit amet mollis.