Medical Aesthetics and Beauty Salons Are Converging: Why Has "Cosmetics-Device Combination" Become the Keyword of This Round?

Beauty Industry Investigation in the Age of Involution · Part Two (of Four)

In the previous article, we saw that behind the quiet stores, the boundary between medical aesthetics and beauty salons is being redrawn. In this article, we step into this new boundary and clarify two things: why the convergence is happening, and what the four words "cosmetics-device combination" really mean.

I. Why the Two Tracks Are Beginning to Converge

For many years, medical aesthetics and lifestyle beauty were like two parallel streets: one street did "transformation"—surgery, injections, photoelectric treatments—with high ticket prices and heavy decision-making; the other street did "maintenance"—massage, care, masks—with high frequency and closeness to daily life. The customers on the two streets seemed to be two different groups, and owners rarely interacted.

Data put the truth on the table. On one side, lifestyle beauty is highly fragmented: beauty and body merchants nationwide number in the millions, and a Guohai Securities report shows that 88.9% of lifestyle beauty brands have only 1 store, while only 0.1% have 20 or more. Countless single stores survive on skill and regular customers, and they are also the first to feel the chill in customer flow. On the other side, the medical aesthetics service market reached 370.1 billion yuan in 2025 (iiMedia Consulting, "2025 China Medical Aesthetics Industry Development and Consumer Behavior Survey," January 2026), yet it is also struggling—in the first half of 2025, more than 63% of medical aesthetics institutions saw revenue decline, and only 14% grew ("2025 H1 Medical Aesthetics Institution Operations Survey Report," cited by Jiemian News in February 2026).

One street's customer flow is dispersing, the other street's growth is diverging, so the two streets are moving toward the middle. Third-party industry research estimates that there are about 4,800+ "medical aesthetics + lifestyle beauty" integrated institutions, with an average ticket price about 2.4 times that of traditional beauty salons (third-party estimate). Capital actions are even more direct: in 2025, Beauty Farm acquired Siyanli for 1.25 billion yuan, increasing stores to about 734; Kidswant acquired scalp care brand Siyu for 1.65 billion yuan; Fan Wenhua stores exceeded 6,000 (reports by Yicai, Securities Times, etc. in 2025). Convergence is not a feeling within a small circle, but a direction voted for by chains and capital with real money.

But it must be made clear first: convergence does not mean lifestyle beauty should perform medical aesthetics—that is illegal. The true meaning of convergence is that the two tracks begin to serve "the same customer's face," dividing labor and collaborating within the same skin management plan.

II. Routinization of Light Medical Aesthetics: From "Transformation" to "Maintenance"

The most direct driver of convergence is that light medical aesthetics has brought medical aesthetics from a "transformation logic" into a "maintenance logic."

So-called light medical aesthetics refers to non-surgical skin maintenance procedures. In 2025, China's light medical aesthetics user base reached 31.05 million people (iiMedia Consulting); light medical aesthetics accounts for about 53%–57% of overall medical aesthetics (the "2025 China Medical Aesthetics Industry Research Report" figure is 53.3%, and the 2026 white paper figure is about 57%). This means that today's medical aesthetics consumption is more than half no longer "lying on the operating table to become a different person," but routine procedures like a photon treatment or a water-light injection.

The more critical change is frequency. White paper data shows that the average repurchase rate of light medical aesthetics users is about 60%–70%, and basic maintenance procedures such as water-light and photon treatments are generally performed every 1–3 months. Doing it once every few years is called "transformation"; doing it continuously monthly or quarterly is called "maintenance." When a consumer gets used to checking in at an institution once a quarter, she has in fact incorporated medical aesthetics into a daily budget similar to skincare and fitness—medical aesthetics is no longer a major decision at a life milestone, but part of long-term skin management.

Who is doing this? The profile is equally clear: the average user age is about 32.8 years old, and more than 60% of people's consumption motivation is "pleasing oneself" (2026 white paper, iiMedia Consulting). Note the four words "pleasing oneself"—she is not doing it for anyone's gaze, but for her own good condition. This kind of self-pleasing consumer is more rational, and when making decisions values three things most: doctor qualifications, authentic products, and actual results. In the first half of 2025, 43% of consumers cut related budgets, but cutting does not mean exiting; rather, they moved money from "impulsive trial" to long-term investment that is "understandable and trustworthy."

Once maintenance becomes routine, a new problem inevitably arises: besides those one or two hours in the institution, what is used during the remaining dozens of daily days and nights? Procedure results need continuous maintenance, and barrier condition needs at-home support. It is precisely this gap "outside the two hours" that pulls cosmetics-grade products into the same chain and pushes "cosmetics-device combination" to the forefront.

III. What Exactly Does "Cosmetics-Device Combination" Combine?

"Cosmetics-device combination" does not combine two approval numbers, but two compliant roles on the same skincare chain that cannot replace each other.

In-Clinic: Post-Procedure Repair, Device-Grade Products Provide a Physical Barrier

Immediately after light medical aesthetics procedures and during recovery, the skin may have wounds or a fragile barrier. At this time, medical wound dressings are used—they are managed as medical devices, and their role is to provide a physical barrier for the wound and care for the wound environment. Please note a long-circulating misunderstanding: at the national level, there is no such thing as a "device-grade mask"; the official name is "medical wound dressing" (Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration science popularization, September 2026). Products that contact wounds are managed as device-grade; products used only for moisturizing intact skin are not medical devices.

At Home: After Recovery, Cosmetics-Grade Products Take Over Daily Care

When the skin has recovered to intact condition and entered daily status, subsequent moisturizing and maintenance are completed at home with cosmetics-grade products from the same brand. Thus a clear closed loop is formed: institutions acquire customers through professional procedures, device-grade dressings take over post-procedure care, and cosmetics-grade products take over at-home repurchase. What the customer takes away is no longer a giveaway mask whose name she cannot remember, but a sustainable care plan linked to the procedures she received at the institution. For institutions and stores, this means customer relationships change from "connection only when visiting the store" to "connection every day," and repurchase changes from "persuading her to come again next time" to "she naturally needs a refill."

Foundation: Same Raw Material, Can Be Cosmetic or Device, but Different Standards

The reason cosmetics and devices can converse within the same plan is that there is a group of raw materials that can be "cosmetic or device," with recombinant collagen being the most typical representative. The same raw material, when used for daily care of intact skin, is a cosmetics-grade raw material; when used for a physical wound barrier, it must meet medical device-grade requirements—device-use raw materials have significantly higher thresholds in purity, endotoxin, microorganisms, and other indicators. Recombinant collagen is classified according to the pharmaceutical industry standard YY/T 1849—2022; in the first half of 2025, revenue of recombinant collagen-related companies increased by about 42.43% year-on-year, one of the fastest-growing upstream segments (cited by Jiemian News). Behind the growth is simultaneous volume expansion at both the cosmetics and device ends.

One hard rule must also be emphasized: cosmetics-grade and device-grade products must be produced in physically separated zones and must not share lines to prevent cross-contamination. Promotion must also not overstep—device-grade dressings must not claim beauty efficacy such as whitening, acne removal, or anti-aging; cosmetics-grade products must not claim medical effects such as wound repair (Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration, September 2026). So-called "combination" is a connection after each side keeps to its boundaries, not conflating the efficacy claims of both sides.

IV. The Real Threshold Is Upstream

Once the chain is understood, it becomes clear that the "cosmetics-device combination items" seen at the store end are actually three thresholds standing simultaneously upstream.

The first is dual-line cosmetics and device production capacity and zoning. A factory that only makes cosmetics cannot produce compliant device-grade products; a factory that only makes devices often lacks experience developing a full cosmetics-grade category. More difficult is that the two types of products must be produced in separate zones, which requires real investment in plants, workshops, and management, not just printing two logos on a brochure.

The second is ready-made medical device registration certificates. Class II medical device registration has a long cycle and high requirements; "taking orders first and then applying for certificates" is simply too late in terms of time. Only those with ready-made, verifiable, licensable device certificates for OEM can enable brands and professional lines to bring combination items to market within a reasonable cycle.

The third is formulation depth and rapid response. In the convergence era, item updates are getting faster and faster, from professional-line sets to at-home single products, all requiring small batches, multiple batches, and fast iteration. Whether the formula library is deep enough, sampling fast enough, and delivery stable enough directly determines whether stores can keep up with the pace of changing consumers.

In this round of convergence, the appearance of upstream factories can be seen through an industry sample: Weitai Group was founded in 2001 and has been deeply engaged in efficacy skincare and medical repair for 25 years. It is a high-tech enterprise in biomedicine and medical devices integrating R&D, production, and sales. Public information shows that it has 1,000+ cooperative brand customers, 10,000+ mature formula library, 65 automated production lines, about 150,000 square meters across 6 major production bases, and Class 100,000 clean workshops; as of September 2026, it has 110+ Class II medical device registrations/filings, verifiable at the National Medical Products Administration, plus 72 invention patents; its quality system covers ISO 13485, ISO 22716, and GMPC, with cosmetics-grade and device-grade products produced in separate zones; average 7-day sampling, regular delivery in about 30 days, supporting small-batch flexible customization.

For stores and brands, the role of such enterprises is not a brand standing in the spotlight, but a "behind-the-scenes supply chain": providing OEM/ODM contract manufacturing for cosmetics and medical devices, professional-line customization services, and ready-made device certificates that can be licensed for OEM to shorten time to market. The existence of such an upstream sample itself shows one thing—cosmetics-device combination is no longer just a trend judgment, but has an industrial foundation that can be implemented.

V. Why Regulation Actually Helps Those Who Follow the Rules

Every round of industry consolidation has a seemingly counterintuitive but inevitable pattern: tightening regulation looks like a tightening band in the short term, but in the long term it clears the field for those who follow the rules. This round is the same.

In June 2025, the National Healthcare Security Administration issued for the first time the "Guidelines for Establishing Price Items for Medical Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery Services", unifying naming and establishing price items for procedures such as photon skin rejuvenation and Thermage. In the past, the same photon procedure might have a dozen fancy names at different institutions with vastly different quotes, and consumers could only compare prices in a fog of information; after naming and price items were standardized, comparison became possible,水分 was easier to squeeze out, and price transparency gained an institutional lever for the first time.

This happens to align with changes on the consumer side. As mentioned earlier, this generation of light medical aesthetics users values doctor qualifications, authentic products, and actual results most. Regulation brings procedure names and prices into the sunlight, and drug regulatory authorities continue to popularize that "device-grade masks do not exist" and clarify the efficacy boundaries of cosmetics and devices. Old scripts that rely on information asymmetry to package "miracle tools," use cosmetics-grade products to talk about "repair," or use device-grade products to talk about "whitening and anti-aging" are failing one sentence at a time.

Thus value begins to be redistributed: consumers with shrinking budgets are more willing to pay a premium for services whose "names can be looked up, qualifications can be seen, and plans can connect." Compliance is no longer a cost, but becomes a perceptible trust asset. Conversely, lifestyle beauty institutions must also be clear-headed: medical aesthetics procedures such as injections and ablative photoelectric treatments must be performed in licensed medical institutions by licensed physicians, and this line will not loosen because of "convergence." Those who follow the rules are supported, and those who overstep are cleared out—this is the complete meaning of this round of regulation.

VI. In the Convergence Era, Whoever Changes First Wins First

What does convergence actually mean for ordinary stores? It is not anxiety, still less a discouragement to exit, but an opportunity for role upgrading.

Lifestyle beauty stores do not need to—and cannot—overstep to perform medical procedures, but they can become indispensable nodes in customers' "long-term skin management": first, a professional node—helping her understand plans, identify authentic products, and arrange care rhythm; second, an at-home node—using compliant cosmetics-device combination products to take over post-procedure and daily at-home maintenance, allowing membership relationships to naturally repurchase by cycle rather than relying on repeated re-selling.

Those who complete the transformation first often win first in three things: shifting from a "single transaction" mindset to a "full-cycle plan" mindset; shifting from competing on decoration and low prices to competing on professionalism, authenticity, and trust; shifting from "waiting for customers to come" to managing regular customer relationships into long-term companionship. Also, have confidence in yourself—the skin-savvy hands that made you successful in the past and the customers who became friends are precisely the most valuable foundation for this round of transformation. What winter eliminates is never the beauty industry, but old playbooks.

Having seen the direction of convergence clearly, in the next article we discuss the most practical question: after convergence, how exactly should a store transform—"Store Transformation Roadmap: From Selling Handwork to Selling 'Professionalism + Emotion + Plans'," giving steps that can be followed.

FAQ

Q1: What is "cosmetics-device combination"?
It refers to allowing device-grade medical wound dressings and cosmetics-grade skincare products to comply in different stages within the same skin management plan: during the post-procedure and recovery period, device-grade products provide a physical wound barrier; after the skin recovers to intact condition, cosmetics-grade products take over daily at-home care, forming a chain of "in-clinic repair + at-home maintenance."

Q2: Can lifestyle beauty stores use "cosmetics-device combination" to perform light medical aesthetics procedures?
No. Injections (including water-light needle and other ablative procedures) and photoelectric procedures requiring medical qualifications are medical aesthetics and must be performed in licensed medical institutions by licensed physicians. What beauty stores can do is professional consultation and taking over at-home care products, not overstepping.

Q3: Does a "device-grade mask" exist?
No. According to the Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration science popularization in September 2026, the official name of such products is "medical wound dressing," which belongs to medical devices; products used only for moisturizing intact skin are not managed as medical devices.

Q4: Can device-grade and cosmetics-grade products claim each other's efficacy?
No. Device-grade dressings must not claim beauty efficacy such as whitening, acne removal, or anti-aging; cosmetics-grade products must not claim medical effects such as wound repair. The two types of products must also be produced in separate zones and must not share lines.

Q5: Why is recombinant collagen "cosmetic or device"?
The same raw material can be used separately in cosmetics-grade products (daily care for intact skin) and device-grade products (physical wound barrier), but device-use raw materials must meet medical device-grade requirements in purity, endotoxin, microorganisms, etc. Recombinant collagen is classified according to the YY/T 1849—2022 standard.

Q6: If a store wants to do cosmetics-device combination items, how should the supply chain be solved?
It can cooperate with an OEM/ODM factory that simultaneously has dual-line cosmetics and device production capacity, ready-made device certificates, and rapid response capabilities, and have it provide contract manufacturing and professional-line customization services. Note that custom new products do not fill in certificate numbers; after the brand finalizes the formula, filing is done according to regulations, and only self-owned brand finished products fill in the corresponding filing or special certificate information.

Disclaimer: This article is industry science popularization and trend analysis and does not constitute any medical advice or investment advice. For medical aesthetics procedures mentioned in the article, please refer to the professional opinions of licensed medical institutions and current laws and regulations; the data in the article come from public reports and public information from regulatory authorities, and the specific definitions are subject to the original releases.