Botox treatments, tutorials, master classes, cures… Since the pandemic, products and services intended for hair care have been surging en masse.
After shapely silhouettes and diets, skin and skincare, teeth and whitening, hair is the part of the body that brands are taking over, offering an arsenal of products and services intended to polish and thicken our manes. Sonia Tabbah, strategic planner, explains why.
Covid and hair: the beginning of a love story
“With the first confinement, those who could afford it took time for themselves. As the hairdressing salons were closed, we learned about hair tutorials, following influencers who talked about hair care or hairdressers who shared tips on scalp maintenance and explained how to perform sebum cures. ..”
Among the hairdressers who exploded during the pandemic, Brad Mondo, launched in 2015 which has more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube. Famous for his videos Hairdresser reacts to…” during which the young man films his reactions to home colors or haircuts, he also shares his wise advice for a successful tie-dye (to be translated by: tying and dyeing) at home or succeeding in scissoring.
For three years, consumers have completely reclaimed their hair. “We used to entrust our hair to hairdressers, we delegated their care to professionals. We didn’t have the same relationship as with our skin, for which we were already concocting home-made skincare…”, underlines Sonia Tabbah.
A trend that does not leave brands indifferent. During the pandemic, the Sisley brand doubled its turnover on its Hair Rituel range, whose slogan invites you to “take care of your hair like your skin. For Sonia Tabbah, this success marks a signal.
Hair: the new eldorado of beauty brands
“Brands are finding that customers are no longer looking at price. They are abandoning products sold in supermarkets to turn to high-end, professional products, which they find more easily online today. In the aftermath, hairdressers do not hesitate to launch their own care: this is the case of CARLI.paris or Wella Professionals, whose products were once sold exclusively in salons.
“During the pandemic, everyone became their own hairdresser, a habit that we kept coming out of the confinements, sums up Sonia Tabbah. What is interesting is that this new attraction for the hair passes through the skin, that is to say through the scalp. This passage marks a shift from aesthetic research (smoothing, perfect curls, etc.) to care. The objective is now to nourish the hair and maintain the scalp while respecting the nature of the hair. »
Meet your hair type…
This is reflected in the choice of products developed by the brands. Based on a online questionnaire, Kérastase establishes individual diagnoses and offers single doses prepared directly in the salon, “tailor-made, made in the manner of a chemist”, including a certain dose of retinol and hyaluronic acid depending on the profiles (vegetarian, smoker, etc. …). In the same vein, the Rituals brand offers with its Elixir Hair range the composition of personalized products, with “715 possible combinations and a personalized label on each bottle. »
In parallel with this move upmarket in care, the distribution of products intended for hair care has become more democratic. In the wake of vaguely cosmic aura gummies launched by influencer Caroline Receveur in 2018, food supplements are no longer limited to pharmacy shelves, they have arrived in supermarkets. We also have to take into account the sale of accessories of all kinds: Mademoiselle bio’s massage brush to be integrated into her “hair routine”, silk pillows (Emily’s Pillow etc…) supposed to help reduce hair loss and food supplements for “young mothers” to swallow to revitalize growth. Once again, influencers are not left out. The Parisian Deedee launches her “ battle plan to fight hair loss “while the ex-hairdresser and blogger Daphné Narcy offers “a protocol” focused on stimulating the scalp for “a moment of mindfulness” which allows, among other things, to “preserve the capillary capital. “As well as an online master class (39 euros for an hour and a half) to learn how to fight against hair loss. On Calendly, the lesson is full for the month of November…
Botox for hair, the botox of tomorrow
New players, historically focused on perfumery or skin care, are now entering the hair market. “A major French luxury brand is preparing to enter the Asian sector. It opens the ball in China, where products will be distributed in spas and parapharmacies. Here, consumers are already in the habit of going to a “hair spa” to have their hair “botoxed”, reports Sonia Tabbah. With the aging of the population in the country and the proliferation of the use of coloring to camouflage gray hair, spas specializing in hair have a bright future ahead of them. »
It’s not for nothing that Chinese influencer Li Jiaqi, famous for selling 15,000 lipsticks in 15 minutes, previously a make-up and skincare specialist, is also eyeing hair care. And if the attraction for botox and hyaluronic acid injections can serve as an indicator, hair botox is probably only at its beginnings. Within the Champs-Élysées clinic, the consultation requests would have increased by 20 to 30% since the start of the pandemic…
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