Hair care and styling are not just for adults! Products geared toward children have increased their presence in salons, according to data in Kline PRO, our salon retail products and services database. Before last year’s interruption in salon activity because of COVID closures, salon revenues for children’s hair products were up 11%, and children’s haircuts and styling services increased nearly 16% in 2019 over the previous year.
A proper hair care routine for the little ones — one that has the right choice of products suiting their hair type — is essential, and some salons have recognized this as a business opportunity.
Sales data from Kline PRO indicates that lines perceived as “clean” have the highest performance. In this instance, clean means that the products are paraben– and sulfate–free as well as being environmentally friendly. These brands include Surf’s Up, Original Sprout, and Little Green.
A common concern about kids’ hair is tangles. According to Kline PRO, the top two children’s products that registered growth in 2020 were detanglers.
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Other items doing well in the professional salon space are:
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Paul Mitchell Kids’ Baby Don’t Cry Tear-Free Shampoo: one of the leading kids’ hair care products, it managed 20% growth in revenue in 2020 over 2019 despite salon closures |
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Surf’s Up Kidside Super Keen Hair Texturizing Wax: a top item that does double-duty, working as a smoothing pomade or as texturizing wax |
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Original Sprout Hair & Body Babywash: a convenient, multipurpose product that appeals to busy parents |
The outlook for children’s services and products in the professional salon segment is uncertain. Parents began taking care of their kids’ haircuts at home because of salon closures, but doing so could very well become the norm. Based on revenue for the full year 2020, children’s cuts are indexing lower (-50%) than haircuts overall (-38%), indicating that there is no rush to get kids back into the salon chair just yet.
Kline PRO will continue to monitor service and product trends with a month-by-month view. Updated quarterly, Kline PRO is a comprehensive, interactive database that enables users to access the latest performance data on the professional hair care industry in the United States. Based on actual salon transactions from a panel of thousands of salons, it yields category, brand, and product-level sales and service data on a quarterly basis. First-ever data and insights on Canada will be available later this month.
