UK Haircare Market Report 2025
"The haircare category continues to grow, as consumers hone in on their hair/scalp pain points and seek targeted solutions to remedy them."
Georgia Stafford, Beauty & Personal Care Analyst
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Opportunities for the haircare and styling product market
- Continue to propel the styling segment
- Align with consumers’ holistic approach to haircare
- Overcome barriers to scalp treatment usage
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Market size & forecast
- Market predictions: haircare and styling products
- The haircare and styling product market will continue to grow
- Top-performing haircare brands innovate to compete
- Adapt to a changing landscape for the haircare category
- What consumers want and why
- Put a spotlight on textured hair
- Graph 1: self-reported hair texture, 2024
- The curly and coily haired consumer: a preference for premium
- The wavy-haired consumer: help to hydrate and control frizz
- The straight-haired consumer: boost scalp treatment use
- Provide stylish solutions to unsexy problems
- Graph 2: hair and scalp concerns experienced in the last 12 months, 2024
- Encourage the expansion of product repertoires
- Graph 3: usage of haircare and styling products, 2024
- Prepare for mass-market brands to up the competition
- Graph 4: types of haircare/styling brands bought, 2024
- Address barriers to scalp treatment usage
- Graph 5: barriers to using scalp care products, 2024
- Cater premium products to high spenders with coloured hair
- Graph 6: haircare and styling product usage behaviours, 2024
- Embrace wellbeing-focused haircare routines
- Graph 7: factors thought to have a negative impact on hair, 2024
- Innovation and marketing
- Innovative launches offer sleek packaging and effective formulas
- Jump on the hype for celebrity hairstyles
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MARKET DYNAMICS
- Market size
- Category value nears £2bn
- Consumers seeking solutions to their hair problems drive spend
- Graph 8: retail value of haircare and styling products, 2020-24
- Glamorisation of hair loss drives spending
- Market forecast
- Steady growth is forecast for the haircare and styling products category
- Growth will ease as consumers mix high and low
- Brands recognise the spending power of the textured hair segment
- Continue to innovate for curly and coily hair
- Market segmentation
- The styling segment goes from strength to strength
- Encourage continued use of specialist shampoos
- Market segmentation: styling products
- Gels, aerosols and creams outperform
- Give a boost to the hair oil segment
- Competitive innovation helps mass-market to outpace prestige
- Take note of men’s styling trends to boost growth
- Channels to market
- Department stores seize the haircare opportunity
- Grocers can be more daring
- Health & Beauty retailers increase their offering
- Department stores embrace destination shopping
- Market share
- Continued innovation from L’Oréal Elvive sees it achieve double-digit growth
- Why L’Oréal Elvive is outperforming
- Brands that spotlight natural ingredients do well in conditioners
- Factors behind the success of Garnier Ultimate Blends and OGX conditioners
- Consumers branch out beyond big names in the styling segment
- What’s driving styling success?
- Market drivers
- Consumer confidence for the year ahead
- Graph 9: the financial confidence index, 2016-25
- Account for the needs of a changing population
- How the preventative ageing trend will impact haircare
- Prepare for consumers to take a hybrid approach
- Capture the spend of consumers with skin conditions
- Working habits will impact hair styling frequency
- Graph 10: usage of styling products, by working location, 2024
- Prepare to engage an ageing population
- Graph 11: trends in the age structure of the UK population, 2020-30
- A social-first approach will be crucial to target Gen Alpha and Gen Z
- Graph 12: first online platform used to search for information on beauty/personal care products, by generation, 2024
- Respond to the competition of DTC hair loss brands
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Self-reported hair textures
- Centre textured hair in product development and content creation
- Graph 13: self-reported hair textures, 2024
- Take note of the online curly hair community
- Refresh the curly haired category
- Act on rising topics in the coily hair community
- Respond to the concerns of consumers with coily hair
- Tailor styling advice to consumers with wavy hair
- Graph 14: self-reported hair texture, by gender, 2024
- Offer anti-ageing hair solutions
- Hair and scalp concerns
- Boost understanding of how to address common pain points
- Graph 15: hair and scalp concerns experienced in the last 12 months, 2024
- Deliver pet friendly hair loss solutions
- Approach hair thinning holistically
- Graph 16: experience of hair thinning, by age and gender, 2024
- Provide a 3-in-1 approach to frizz, dryness and damage
- Drive scalp care usage to help problematic scalps
- Heighten the desirability of men’s flaky scalp products
- Sensitive scalp solutions need to have broad appeal
- Appeal to young consumers with oily scalp treatments
- Graph 17: experience of oily scalp, by age and gender, 2024
- Usage of haircare and styling products
- Link hair products to social media trends to drive usage
- Graph 18: usage of haircare and styling products, 2024
- Link healthy hair to the ‘quiet luxury’ trend
- Refresh dry shampoo to meet evolving needs
- Focus launches on receptive consumer groups
- Graph 19: usage of styling products, by hair texture and gender, 2024
- Graph 20: usage of hair treatment, by hair texture and gender, 2024
- Stand out in an increasingly crowded textured hair market
- Partner with men’s fashion influencers to boost male usage of styling products
- Drive pre-styling product usage among heat tool users
- Boost the appeal of hair powders
- Types of haircare/styling brands purchased
- Get ready for mass-market brands’ competitiveness
- Graph 21: types of haircare/styling brands purchased, 2024
- Respond to a renewed love for mass-market heritage haircare
- Develop male-specific own-label lines
- Partner with science influencers to encourage trading up
- Create discovery opportunities outside of big cities
- Centre curly hair in product development
- Graph 22: usage of haircare and styling product brands, by hair texture, 2024
- Barriers to using scalp care products
- Overcome barriers to scalp treatment usage
- Graph 23: barriers to using scalp care products, 2024
- Consumers with textured hair need scalp care guidance
- Dermatologically tested claims are needed in scalp treatments
- Improve scalp treatments for oiliness
- Boost awareness of scalp treatments
- Double up styling products and scalp treatments
- Provide solutions to support suffering scalps
- Graph 24: agreement with the statement “I do not use a dedicated scalp treatment/mask because I don’t need them”, by hair/scalp concerns experienced in the last 12 months, 2024
- Haircare and styling product usage behaviours
- Drive the styling segment with hybrid styling products
- Graph 25: haircare and styling product usage behaviours, 2024
- Improve access to salon brands for textured hair
- Graph 26: agreement with the statement “I would like more high street stores to sell salon haircare/styling brands”, by hair texture, 2024
- Lean into lightweight claims to boost styling product usage
- Address hair concerns with styling products
- Encourage trading up with styling-fragrance hybrids
- Improve in-store training to meet diverse consumers’ needs
- Graph 27: agreement with the statement “I struggle to find styling advice for my hair type”, by hair texture, 2024
- Create tutorials that account for natural texture
- Drive spend among consumers with coloured hair
- Graph 28: brand type of haircare and styling products purchased, by coloured hair, 2024
- Graph 29: hair and scalp issues experienced, by coloured hair, 2024
- Cater premium products to high spenders with coloured hair
- Factors thought to have a negative impact on hair
- Promote wellbeing in haircare routines
- Graph 30: factors thought to have a negative impact on hair, 2024
- Prove the relevance of anti-pollution products to city dwellers
- Make sun-proofing haircare products a summer essential
- Deliver high-tech formulas to fight stress
- Serve solutions to sweat’s effects on men’s hair
- Graph 31: perceptions of sweat’s negative impact on hair, age and gender, 2024
- Improve negative perceptions of blow-drying
- Prepare for rapid weight loss’ impact on hair
- Target consumers who want to soften hard water’s effects
- Graph 32: perceptions of hard water’s negative impact on hair, by region, 2024
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INNOVATION AND MARKETING TRENDS
- Launch activity and innovation
- Align hair treatment usage with its share of launch activity
- Graph 33: NPD in the haircare and styling category, by sub-category, 2020-24
- Get specific with hair treatment claims
- Brands move away from true innovation
- Graph 34: NPD in the haircare and styling category, by launch type, 2020-24
- Make the link between healthy scalps and healthy hair
- Differentiate and secure loyalty with refills
- Graph 35: NPD in the haircare and styling category, by top 10 claims (based on 2024), 2023-24
- Prepare to compete with own-label
- Tool brands apply their expertise to haircare
- K-Beauty trends trickle down to haircare
- Reach men with a humorous approach
- Horace products address men’s pain points
- Take inspiration from innovation in the US
- Advertising and marketing activity
- Use before-and-after shots to clearly show product benefits
- Scientific claims will prove expertise
- Graph 36: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on haircare and styling products, by top 10 brands, 2024
- Take an age-inclusive approach in advertising
- Go cross-cateory to widen reach
- Advertise complete routines to drive wide product repertoires for men
- Jump on the hype for celebrity hairstyles
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APPENDIX
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market size and forecast: haircare and styling products
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value): haircare and styling products
- Market forecast for hair colourants
- Market size and forecast: hair colourants
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value): hair colourants
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Consumer research methodology
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
UK Haircare Market – Trends and Insights
- Consumers are cognisant of their lifestyle’s impact on their hair; as 55% of UK adults with hair think stress has a very or severe negative impact on their hair. This points to opportunities to enhance the wellbeing factor of haircare products, and to hone in on consumer lifestyles in product claims.
- Mass-market innovation is a significant threat to category value, as new launches from these brands are competitive, effective, and tap into consumer pain points around frizz, hair damage and loss.
- Even if consumers do not trade down their complete routine, they will take a hybrid approach, and mix mass-market and prestige brands in the same routine.
- There are significant opportunities to centre innovation on curly and coily hair types. Consumers with these hair types are more likely to have large product repertoires and buy premium brands, so launching new ingredients and technologies specifically for defining curls can drive spending and growth in the category.
| Report Attributes | Details |
|---|---|
| Published Date | March 2025 |
| Report Author | Georgia Stafford, Beauty & Personal Care Analyst |
| Consumer Data | 2,000 internet users aged 16+, December 2024 |
| Market Data | 2020-2024 |
| Market Forecast | 2025-2029 |
| Measurement Metrics | Retail value sales of haircare and styling products (£) |
| Market Segmentation | Non-aerosol spray, Gel, Aerosol, Cream, Mousse, Oil, Wax, Serum, Clay, Others |
| Channels to Market | Grocery retailers, H&B retailers, Online-only retailers, Salons, Discounters, Department stores, Others |
| Leading Brands in the UK Haircare Market | Head & Shoulders, L’Oréal Elvive, Batiste, Aussie, Pantene, Garnier Ultimate Blends, TRESemmé, Vo5, got2b, L’Oréal Elnett, John Frieda |
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