Consumers are increasingly paying attention not only to what they put in their bodies but also to what they put on their bodies. The trend toward clean eating—choosing whole, “real” foods and minimizing consumption of processed or refined foods—continues to grow, and the focus on food choice has extended to personal care products. The list of ingredients that are bridging the way from the kitchen table to the shower reads much like a grocery list: almond, avocado, coconut, honey, lemon, mango, olive oil, and vinegar.
While there are a number of established professional brands and hair care items containing food elements—some for direct results and some for just fragrance—there is a new crop of products with food as the featured ingredient, helping to drive the product’s positioning.
According to Kline PRO USA, the top-selling new care items in independent salons in 2018 were Aveda’s Cherry Almond Softening Shampoo and Conditioner. The products’ almond oil is used to restore softness and reduce frizz. Design Essentials’ Almond Butter Express Instant Moisturizing Conditioner is another product to soften and detangle hair.
Coconut oil is another ingredient that is becoming prevalent in hair products. This is likely due to its multiple benefits of adding shine, softening, and repairing. In the second half of 2018, DevaCurl launched Super Stretch Coconut Curl Elongator. In this product, coconut oil is used as a moisturizer and paired with shea butter for softness. Meanwhile, Glop & Glam, a brand focused on the children’s market, introduced Coconut Dream Supreme Cream Leave-In Conditioner. And IGK uses pure coconut milk in its Thirsty Girl Coconut Milk Leave-in Conditioner, which leaves hair frizz-free for up to 24 hours.
Vinegar, while not the tastiest of foods on its own, serves a key purpose in both recipes and hair products. Last year, two L’Oréal brands introduced vinegar-rinse products: Redken Color Extend Vinegar Rinse and Pureology Vinegar Hair Rinse. They both use the power of vinegar to cleanse and clarify the hair. Clarifying and detoxing aligns with the concept of clean eating.
To learn about the latest product developments by professional hair care marketers as well as the hottest trends that are hitting the market, please refer to Kline PRO. Based on actual salon transactions, this online interactive database yields category, brand, and product-level sales and service data on a quarterly basis for the United States and the United Kingdom markets.
Kline PRO offers deep product and category segmentation classified by form, function, and special topics such as men’s products and nature-inspired. The service will help you quickly react and adapt to market changes as well as keep you up-to-date on market movers, the fastest-growing services, new items, and more.
