There’s been a lot of speak in regards to the perfume growth, however hair care was magnificence’s darkish horse in 2025. Sales progress of status hair care outpaced equally priced perfumes within the months main as much as the vacations, in response to Circana. The “skinification” of hair care routines noticed folks buying and selling up for his or her stylers and coverings — however not their shampoos, the class’s largest moneymaker.
Within the ballooning styling class, specificity dominated. Brands with catalogues of merchandise tailor-made to explicit hair sorts and considerations have been the most important winners — none extra so than Color Wow, identified for its curly hair and frizz-control merchandise, which was scooped up by L’Oréal in June. But there’s nobody dimension suits all strategy to success, as demonstrated by Crown Affair, one other of the yr’s large winners. Instead of a sprawling assortment, the it-girl hair care model has stored it tight, specializing in merchandise like a hair towel and dry shampoo which are as efficient as they’re straightforward to make use of.
Professional hair care model Olaplex might need to take notes. The as soon as white-hot model continued to battle to get again on observe this yr, even because the bond constructing class that it popularised continued to be a key hair care class in 2025. Plagued by a storm of softening gross sales and lawsuits, new CEO Amanda Baldwin is hoping that elevated training round its merchandise mixed with new launches and recalibration of advertising and marketing technique can flip issues round.
This training piece proved key in hair tech, too. While instruments designed for textured hair have continued to hit the market, manufacturers have failed to speak to their audience-base the very fundamentals — corresponding to how precisely they’re purported to work. While customers are effectively versed in Dyson and Shark tutorials by now, the 2 battling manufacturers ceded some market share to the common-or-garden heatless curling rod and different analog hair equipment. But regardless of the way you get there, bombshell quantity is the target.
The standout lesson of the yr was undoubtedly about how manufacturers ought to talk worth with their customers. For those that need to break by in 2026, it’s advisable to look away from the sorts of figures that may work in numerous classes: in hair care, stylists stay the true gatekeepers.
Top Stories
1. The Architect of Olaplex’s Turnaround. Chief govt Amanda Baldwin has been tasked with course-correcting the embattled haircare model. Using her advertising and marketing muscle, she hopes to rebuild the bond Olaplex as soon as shared with magnificence customers and buyers alike.
2. The Hot Competition Behind Heatless Curls. The pursuit of free, wavy curls with the promise of much less warmth harm is driving intense competitors within the hair instruments area, due to improvements from manufacturers like Dyson and TikTok-fueled demand for brand new merchandise and processes.
3. Hayley Williams’ Hair Dye Comeback. In 2016, musician Hayley Williams of the band Paramore and stylist Brian O’Connor launched the hair color line Good Dye Young — and watched it tank. Recent adjustments have made the model worthwhile once more, its founders informed The Business of Beauty.
4. Prestige Hair Care’s Shampoo Problem. Premium hair manufacturers have begun to develop quicker than their mass opponents. But successful the class means convincing consumers to commerce up from the pharmacy.
5. In Hair Care, Stylists Are the Real Influencers. Against a cooling market and a aggressive on-line panorama, manufacturers are doubling down on their skilled credentials to face out. Leveraging hair stylist help takes consultative work and planning.
6. Why Hair Tools Still Haven’t Won Over Textured Hair Consumers. Hair instruments have been thrust into the highlight as manufacturers attempt to create inclusive advertising and marketing campaigns that talk to curly, coily and tight-textured customers. But many are nonetheless falling quick.
7. The Case for Lab-Grown Hair Extensions. Following a flurry of headlines alleging that artificial hair extensions comprise dangerous chemical substances, British firm Ruka is launching a lab-made possibility utilizing a posh formulation course of, which it says is a safer various. Marketing and scaling its enterprise may very well be simply as advanced.
Subscribe to The Business of Beauty for every day newest information and evaluation in make-up, skincare, hair care, perfume and wellness.