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When London hair salon owner Kamila Pruszek welcomed her clients back after the UK’s first and second lockdowns, she was surprised by the condition of some of their hair.
“While some came back with hair completely bleached from home dyes, others came back with beautiful, shiny and healthy hair,” says Pruszek, who owns Blue Tit, a portfolio of 10 premium salons at locations across London. Over lockdown, many of her clients had invested in hair masks, oils and high-grade shampoos and conditioners to hone their haircare routines.
Global haircare sales showed resilience throughout 2020. Alongside toiletries (including plenty of hand sanitiser and soap), haircare was one of two beauty categories to show growth. Haircare sales were up 3 per cent, while skincare stagnated and colour cosmetics and fragrance declined, according to consultancy Kline.
Customers have developed at-home hair regimens akin to their skin routines, relying on products with sophisticated formulas more familiar to the skincare market. It’s been dubbed the “skinification” of hair by experts.
These consumers are willing to spend: premium and luxury players like Davines, Oribe and Olaplex are growing at a much faster pace than mass market brands. Global beauty giants, such as L'Oréal and P&G, collectively grew their haircare businesses by an underwhelming 1 per cent in 2020. By contrast, independent high-end brands like Olaplex or Prose collectively showed a 20 per cent surge in sales, says Carrie Mellage of consultancy Kline. “You don't have to have a legacy brand to be successful,” she notes. “I think customers like new brands anyway, they are young and fun.”
Balmain Hair Couture is the only haircare brand tied to a luxury fashion house. The brand themes packaging on the colour scheme of the latest Balmain runway collection, to underline its luxury connections. “We have the unique positioning of being a fashion brand in a haircare industry. There’s no Chanel haircare or Gucci haircare,” says international marketing director Eline de Knoop.
The company was originally a wig business, launched 45 years ago. In the last decade it pivoted to luxury haircare products, retailing in high-end salons and luxury retailers like Net-a-Porter. Now operating in 45 countries, it has seen growth in the last year across its online retail channels, as consumers seek luxury treatments to complement their salon routines, says de Knoop.
Luxury haircare brands double down on at-home care
Consumers had time on their hands to research during the pandemic. Many have become more informed about their hair types and about specialist ingredients, much as they have in the skincare space. Searches for hair types like 2A, 3A and 3C are up, according to consumer data analysts Spate. So too are terms such as “curly girl method”, a technique to define natural curls that’s found popularity with Gen Z on social media, and for “natural” hair. Kline reported sales for Black, multicultural and textured hair products up 13 per cent on 2019.
April 14, 2021 at 11:50AM
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Haircare is beauty's new booming category - Vogue Business
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