For ages, hair care meant oiling your scalp with discipline, particularly in India and south Asia, and shampooing it properly. Not anymore. The hair care market has now moved beyond all that—capturing within it serums, gels, conditioners, masks, a host of electronic devices, beauty treatments and much more.
As per Mordor Intelligence, a market research and analysis firm, the size of the hair care market in India was estimated at $5.85 billion in 2024. In the next five years, it’s expected to grow at a rate of 8.80% and reach $8.93 billion by 2029.
McKinsey & Company, in a recent report, noted that the “global beauty market is expected to grow 6% annually through 2028,” and that the hair care segment will see a global increase of 8% annual growth till 2028.
But what has been the reason for this? And why did it not happen earlier? Nikita Khanna, the founder of Moxie, which specialises in products for wavy and frizzy Indian hair, told FE, “The reason we’re seeing this growth in the hair care space is because, over the past few years, we’ve seen skin care and hair care move from grocery to beauty.”
Shankar Prasad, the founder and CEO of Plum, laughed that the ‘skinification of hair’ is happening, a term used in the McKinsey report as well. He smiled as he told FE, “SCMS—Shampoo Conditioner Mask Serum; we should not be surprised if we start seeing this abbreviation everywhere soon.”
Even brands like Dyson, that entered the beauty industry with its SuperSonic Hair Dryer in 2016, launched a line of hair care products in August this year when they entered the formulations market with a pre-style cream and a post-style serum.
What has also seen a boom are hair care and hair tech products. A Global Market Insights report from September 2024 said the global hair straightener market in 2023 was worth $6.37 billion, and is expected to grow to $10.48 billion in 2032.
A report by Future Market Insights had on similar lines showed that the global curling iron market was worth $2.47 billion in 2023, and expected to grow beyond $4.91 billion by 2033.
If you only look at India though, the numbers are not too far behind. As per a recent report by TechSci Research, the market size of beauty devices in India in 2022 was about $0.39 billion, with the numbers expected to surge to $0.91 billion by 2028. Interestingly, the top three leading companies in the list were Philips, Panasonic, and Proctor and Gamble—all of which make hair removal/trimming and hair care products.
A survey by Mintel indicated that 35% of Indian consumers are dedicating more time to their hair care routines, while 44% express interest in personalised products tailored to their individual hair types.
Siddhanth Dua, CEO, Affinity Salons, told FE that “hair care treatments—from cutting and colouring to advanced care services like hair botox and keratin therapy—contribute 30-35% of the total revenue.”
Not just that, the line between hair health and hair aesthetic has also blurred—with brands often making clinical products for minimising hair fall, dandruff, etc, while also making products such as temporary hair dyes and serums.
Vanda Ferrao, chief marketing officer, WOW Skin Science, which has a range of hair products, shared there is an increased focus on grooming essentials that also offer therapeutic benefits. “This makes the category a consistent performer across age groups,” she said, adding that the hair care category contributes approximately 30% to overall brand revenues. “The segment has consistently grown year-over-year, fuelled by both our core product offerings and newly launched ranges. With customer preferences increasingly shifting towards premium, clean beauty products, we foresee this category contributing even more significantly to our growth trajectory in the coming years.”
Khanna added, “Brands are slowly innovating when it comes to hair growth and hair nutrition. Interestingly, they are also realising how stress, genetics, diet, etc, impact your hair health. So, they are aiming to provide a holistic and modern solution for people who are always busy and on the run.”
Now, there’s a whole slew of brands actually addressing this—Traya and Moxie for instance —and the market size of the curly and wavy hair products has been increasing too, say those working in the hair care space.
But it isn’t just these factors that need redressal. Nishant Gupta, co-founder and director of Renaura Wellness, which owns the hair care brand iluvia that makes products like hair repark masks and colour-lock shampoos, said, “With changing lifestyles, people are also looking for modern and easier solutions because they don’t have the time to sit around and wait with a product in their hair for four hours. The results, even if not instant, need to fit into the consumer’s routine, not the other way round.”
Brands, fortunately, are also taking cognisance of this. Which is why, said Gupta, the industry has been seeing consistent growth between 5% and 10% over the past few years. Prasad of Plum also mentioned that while shampoos continue to secure the “top spot for both searches and sales, more care products for hair are also seeing good positive spikes.”
From: financialexpress
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