What haircare consumers want, according to haircare consumers

In case you missed Showcase 2025, let's take a stroll down memory lane: Back in October in our session called From Gifts to Groceries, we looked at year-over-year data asking consumers how they planned to spend (or not spend) in the upcoming holiday season. At the time, we found that although a growing segment of US consumers stated they had no plans at all to splurge during the holiday season, one segment certainly did: Gen Z women. And specifically, they planned to spend on beauty & personal care products.

According to the retail measurement data looking back on the holiday season, those consumers did what they told us they would do, but the story went deeper than the general beauty and personal care category.

In Beauty Independent's coverage, they found:

• Haircare accounted for 39.7% of Amazon's beauty sales over Black Friday/Cyber Monday, up 6.3% from 2024

• Haircare product sales surged by 32.5% on TikTok Shop, with styling products fueling the majority of growth
• Prestige haircare sales had already increased 8% between January and September, the highest growth rate of any beauty category.

Clearly, there's a story to be told behind the growth of the haircare vertical. So we turned to Highlight's nationwide community of respondents and product testers to learn more about the consumer expectations, attitudes, behaviors, and unmet needs driving so much growth. 

How we designed our study to glean haircare consumer insights

To conduct this research using the Highlight product intelligence platform, we wrote 17 multiple choice (quantitative) questions, followed by three optional open-ended questions to collect qualitative data. These verbatims were key to understanding the "why" behind the trends revealed in the quantitative results.

We submitted this survey to an audience targeting 1,000 completes, and sent out on a Friday in mid-January. By the time we came back from the weekend, we had all our data in the platform. 

The respondents were: 

• 82% female, 15% male, 3% non-binary

• Had hair types (self-reported) as follows:
  
  • 48% wavy
  • 34% straight
  • 14% curly
  • 4% coily
    
    

Results from the haircare consumer research: Product usage & routines

Let's start with the basics around everyday usage and routines. When we asked respondents how many haircare products they use daily, they told us:

The majority are using one to three haircare products on a daily basis (72%) and 4-6 haircare products on a weekly basis (48%). 

When it comes to how much time haircare consumers are spending daily or weekly, our respondents told us:

Most commonly (44%), haircare consumers are spending less than 10 minutes on their in-shower haircare routine - although 11-19 minutes was nearly as popular an answer (42%). 

Once out of the shower, haircare consumers continue to value efficiency. 43% say they spend less than 10 minutes on their hair, although over a third (35%) said they spend 11-19 minutes, while another 16% said they spend as much as 39 minutes on their hair. 

Results from the haircare consumer research: Trending ingredients, forms & messaging

When digging into product forms, we asked respondents: Which of the following hair product types have you purchased and/or used in the past six months? and then allowed them to select all that apply. Here were the top ten most popular answers:

1. Shampoo and/or conditioner (99%)

2. Leave-in conditioner (63%)

3. Detangling comb/brush (52%)

4. Hair mask (44%)

5. Dry shampoo (aerosol) (40%)

6. Hair oil (39%)

7. Hair towel (37%)

8. Hair spray for hold (36%)

9. Hair serum (32%)

10. Mousse / foam (32%)

Even as long-established products like leave-in conditioner and detangling combs topped the charts, it's notable to see relative newcomers to the haircare category like hair masks now ranking as the fourth most popular product type haircare consumers are using regularly.

(When filtered for our beauty & personal care category power purchasers, Gen Z, these respondents respondents ranked hair masks even more highly. Hair masks (65%) and hair oil (60%) ranked third and fourth most popular amongst Gen Z haircare consumers, respectively.) 

We also wondered what on-pack messaging and ingredient call-outs resonate most with haircare consumers, so we asked: Do you look for any of the following features or ingredients when shopping for hair care products? Here were their top ten most popular choices:

1. For hair “health / wellness” (64%)

2. Biotin (39%)

3. Shea butter (31%)

4. Aloe vera (22%)

5. Hyaluronic acid (22%)

6. Peptides (21%)

7. Bonding (17%)

8. Amino acids (16%)

9. Detox (12%)

10. Niacinamide (12%)

While many of these terms will sound familiar to haircare consumers - for example, shea butter hasn't lost any popularity - others reflect the growing phenomenon of what's known as the "skinification" of the haircare industry; in other words, consumers and product builders alike viewing haircare as a part of one's health and wellness routines, incorporating increasingly clinical terminology into their vocabulary and expectations. For example, while hyaluronic acid has long been valued in skincare products, we now see a growing number of haircare consumers seeking it in their haircare products.

In a separate question, we tested the waters of consumer openness to more forms of sustainable haircare packaging and products. When offered more sustainable options - where the value and "greenness" were clearly communicated - haircare consumers made some interesting choices:

In earlier research related to sustainability as a value proposition in beauty and personal care products, we learned some interesting things:

• Packaging is the #1 signal to consumers as to whether or not a product is sustainable 

• Younger consumers (Gen Z) are not necessarily willing to pay more for products that are sustainable, because for them, sustainable is table stakes. As one exemplary verbatim said: "I think companies should already be aware of their damages to the earth instead of leaving it upon the consumers," said one respondent age 26, from OK, she/her pronouns
• Even though labels like "locally sourced" and "concentrated formula" are some of the most effective and efficient ways to build more sustainable products, these messages score lower with consumers because more education is needed. For example, in this survey, when we included "sustainable and longer-lasting" in the concentrated formula option, suddenly that option topped the list.

Read the full 2025 Sustainability Report.

Results from the haircare consumer research: Fragrance

One fast-growing niche within haircare is fragrance such as hair mists, so we had to ask: What fragrance do consumers want in their haircare products?

The results surprised us. Walk into any grocery store, big box store, or specialty store and you'll see scents like Rosemary and Guava everywhere. The consumers we spoke to had different preferences:

Coconut topped the charts, and even when filtered to just Gen Z haircare consumers, the top three remained the same - except that Gen Z consumers prefer vanilla to coconut. 

There's a lot more to say on fragrance as a growing and dynamic category of its own. We'll bookmark that for future research. But in the meantime, watch this video testimonial from a Highlight user in the fragrance space to see how they're using research to create products people love. 

Results from the haircare consumer research: Attitudes & expectations

Let's return to the topic of "skinification" in haircare, as we see evidence of the phenomenon throughout our results. In one question, we asked: To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “Taking care of my hair is an important part of my overall health and wellbeing.”

We expected haircare consumers to take their hair health seriously, but we didn't expect them to be this serious. Overall, a whopping 93% of respondents agreed with this statement, with over half (56%) saying they strongly agree. Only 6% were neutral and 1% disagreed. In other words, consumers are looking for haircare products that help them prioritize their health and wellbeing.

The rise of scalp health

A major component of the renewed emphasis on health and wellbeing in haircare is the growth in popularity of scalp health products.

• One third of consumers (34%) say they currently use products to promote their scalp health
• Another 60% say that while they don't use scalp health products, they'd be open to trying them
• Only 7% say they're not interested in scalp health products at all

The interest in scalp health also came through in the answer to our question around skincare priorities. We allowed respondents to select up to three, and here were their results:

Hair thinning or loss was the number one concern for our haircare respondents followed by frizz and scalp care, but those results fluctuated significantly once filtered for Gen Z alone - they ranked "growing long, healthy hair" as their top priority. (Also followed by frizz and scalp care, then followed by hair thinning/loss.)

So a significant proportion of haircare consumers have already or are coming around to incorporate scalp health products into their haircare routines. But what are they look for these products to help them address? Here's what our respondents said: 

While dry scalp (43%), breakage (41%), and hair thinning (39%) took the top three spots overall, if we once again look at the numbers for Gen Z respondents alone, we see a much greater emphasis placed on dandruff (58%), itchy scalp (54%), and dry scalp (53%). Even the disparity in the overall numbers - over half of Gen Z respondents expressing scalp health concerns, versus the overall results you see above - shows us that to Gen Z haircare consumers, scalp health is a greater priority.

What are haircare consumers top priorities in a product?

The question on everyone's mind, though, comes down to this: What is the most important thing a haircare product can actually do for you as a consumer? Here's what our respondents told us:

At the end of the day, haircare consumers want a product that performs well and does what it claims to do, ranking that as even more important than affordability. (If consumers are ranking anything above affordability in this economy, you know it's important to them.) 

Where are haircare consumers learning about new products?

The answer, it turns out, really depends on your age. Here's what respondents told us:

For the majority of haircare consumers, browsing in-store is still their preferred method for product discovery. (Unsurprisingly, "my friends and family" is still #2, everyone's favorite and most trusted channel.)

But if we sort by Gen Z, you may not be shocked to see a difference: 

TikTok tops the charts for Gen Z product discovery. While previous generations placed more trust in their stylists or barber, we see that drop way down the list for the Gen Z consumer set.

Finally, we asked haircare consumers to weigh in using their own words. We asked them:

• Do you have a hair care challenge you’ve never found a product that could fix? If so, what?

• What’s one hair care product you couldn’t live without, and why?

• Do you have any outstanding thoughts or opinions?

Thanks to Highlight AI, we were able to summarize those responses as follows:

Do you have a hair care challenge you’ve never found a product that could fix? If so, what?

Responses featured verbatims like:

"I use so many products. It would be nice to have 2-3 that accomplish everything I need. And that actually last."

"A product that actually helps hold your light wave curls while actually keeping all the frizzies down."

"I struggle a lot with shampoo that rinses easily out of my hair without leaving any buildup on my scalp."

What’s one hair care product you couldn’t live without, and why?

Responses featured verbatims like:

"I couldn't live without hairspray. My hair is fine and fly away makes me look like a scary monster."

"My shampoo soap bar. Easy to carry and clean ingredients."

"I love Drybar’s Prep Rally spray. I didn’t know this was a product I needed until I got it in a package with my blow dry brush. Using it detangles my fine hair (so I lose less of it brushing), makes it shiny and cuts down on frizz dramatically."

Many responses like the example above mentioned brands and products by name. Others mentioned include Amika, Tresemme, Ouai, Olaplex, Bumble & Bumble and more. We also included the option to submit a photo of your favorite product - of the 1,000 respondents we surveyed, 432 submitted photos of their "can't live without" hair products.

Do you have any outstanding thoughts or opinions?

Responses featured verbatims like:

"Products that are versatile and have multiple benefits are so helpful."

"There needs to be products that contribute to hair health but also keep hair feeling and looking clean for more than a few days."

"It would be nice to have quality products that do what they say at an affordable price."

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