Hair Consumer Insights

Trend - Beauty brands are expanding their fragrance portfolios with compact mist formats that prioritize portability and convenience. These lightweight products integrate seamlessly into everyday routines, encouraging more frequent fragrance use across a variety of occasions.

Insight - As Gen Z and Millennial consumers place greater emphasis on self-expression and personal presentation, they are seeking beauty products that can keep pace with dynamic daily schedules. Compact-sized fragrance mists can respond to this by enabling consumers to maintain a consistent scent throughout the day without committing to full-sized bottles. As a result, consumers are gravitating toward beauty products that combine personalization, practicality and everyday accessibility.

Trend - Beauty brands are launching text and call helplines as interactive campaign activations that invite consumers to receive personalized recommendations, confidence boosts, and real-time beauty guidance— evolving campaigns into two-way conversations.

Insight - As consumers increasingly expect campaigns to feel personalized and participatory, beauty brands are replacing one-way promotions with interactive text and call experiences. These activations deliver tailored recommendations, encouragement, and real-time guidance for ongoing engagement. In turn, brands can foster deeper emotional connections while increasing campaign shareability, and strengthening long-term loyalty through conversation rather than broadcast.

Trend - Hair brands are designing products formulated to avoid ingredients that may trigger or worsen acne, especially on the scalp, forehead, or areas where hair touches the skin. These products typically avoid comedogenic ingredients like oils, silicones, or fragrances that can contribute to breakouts.

Insight - Acne-prone individuals often search for products that do not negate their skincare routines, allowing them to maintain clear skin while also addressing their personal care needs. In response, haircare brands are recognizing the impact their products can have on skin health and are increasingly developing formulas to avoid irritating acne-prone skin. By understanding a product's benefits and potential drawbacks, brands can make informed development decisions that prevent losing certain customers.

Implications - Consumers are flocking to consignment stores to purchase authentic apparel from generations past as well as raiding racks of designers simulating antique fashion. Similar to decades gone by, people are focusing more on details like accessories and extravagant hairstyles when putting themselves together.

Implications - A step above accessories but less permanent than tattoos and piercings, bizarre hair colors provide the next best thing when it comes to making a fashion statement. Chromatic hair hues impart a sense of stylish radicalism in which traditional views of beauty are eschewed for unique self-expression.

Implications - While anime still holds much popularity, manga is currently surpassing the former as a source of inspiration. Manga, often characterized by whimsical-looking drawings, has been around for centuries, and since manga's genres includes a wide range of subjects, with everything from business to violence to sex, almost anything can be mangafied.

Implications - Traditionally, braids are worn on a younger audience of girls; however, plaits are now being adopted by the adult fashion elite. This youthful style is an easy way to downscale on lifestyle expenses while adding a chic and simple touch to personal style.

Implications - Fashion is putting avian influences in the spotlight, but this time, bird-like creations aren’t limited to clothing. Feathered accents are appearing more on and around the face in the form of feathery eye-brows, hair pieces and bird-inspired makeup. Fashion may be one industry influenced by fowl, but this looks like a creative influence that could reach all areas of design.

Implications - Extending the “try before you buy” concept to the online world, businesses are creating social media sites that allow consumers to try on makeup products and hairstyles virtually prior to purchase. With the convenience of these websites, individuals can then give themselves virtual makeovers in the comfort of their own homes, and test out products in a hassle-free manner prior to purchasing them.

Implications - Tie-dye fashions may be a thing of the past, but the repurposing of this once DIY concept is surely something that will attract individuals who enjoy retro looks. Combining this colorfully abstract art form with modern-day fashions, designers are creating pieces that emit an old-school vibe with a contemporary touch, giving fashionistas more options when it comes to retro-inspired outfits.