Hair care: a rapidly growing market
Attention to health, skinification, product heritage, and scientific background are the elements that will provide the backdrop for the hair care world in the coming years. It’s a rapidly growing market, second only to skincare, with a +4.8% CAGR between 2020-2023, approaching nearly $12 billion. According to Euromonitor, the current market is valued at $613 billion, including shampoo & conditioner (38%), hair styling products (24%), color products (22%), and treatments (16%).
With consumers increasingly after a healthy scalp and healthy hair, increased attention is being given to ingredients like CBD, pre-pro-post biotics, and keratin in beauty formulations. Future trends highlighted by Beautystreams include active ingredients for restoring hair pigmentation, solutions to slow graying, and ingredients connected to ancestral rituals that honor secular cultures. As well, the boundaries between sales channels are becoming more and more blurred with the arrival of a new generation of direct-to-consumer hair care brands, spurred by forced salon closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in consumers who are more engaged in hair care at home, exploring holistic products that are full of health and well-being benefits.
NEW INGREDIENTS AND BEAUTY ROUTINES
In addition to skincare-inspired active ingredients like hyaluronic acid, salicylic acid, and niacinamide (Vitamin B3) being used in hair and scalp products and routines, there's a growing interest in products and brands that restore the skin’s barrier and that hydrate and repair damage from physical and chemical treatments. This is all based on what happened in the East, especially in Japan, where for over a decade, products that act on the well-being of the scalp have been all the rage.
Premium scalp and hair care products have become a dynamic market segment, driven by the “skinification” of hair care. As we’ve already witnessed happen between skincare and make-up, the haircare world is also seeing a melding of skin care and hair care.
If sophisticated formulas and skin-inspired ingredients that aim to provide results are mainstream, then new beauty routines foresee the use of specific, high-performance products like lightweight leave-in serums to shape, repair, and nourish hair, scalp-purifying scrubs that get rid of excess oil, dust, pollen, and pollution, and daily treatments like creams and lotions that protect the scalp from environmental pollution and external factors like smog and UV rays.
The market confirms this: according to Reportlinker, the global market for hair and scalp products will reach $121 billion by 2027 with a 6.3% CAGR. The growth isn't just in natural and bioactive products either- clean brands now take up 25% of the market, 5 percentage points higher than in 2021, and products focusing on the scalp will make up 15% of new launches between 2023-27. In January 2023, Spate reported a 28% year-on-year increase in searches for scalp products.
ECOLOGICAL PACKAGING
With environmental concerns at their peak, transparency, ethical sourcing, minimal waste packaging, and sustainable practices have become priorities for consumers. This is pushing hair care brands to innovate with planet-friendly products without compromising performance. This trend has led companies to develop new refillable, concentrated, or solid formulation solutions that help save water and encourage consumers to adopt sustainable consumption practices.