Industry News: The Social Media Secrets of Gen Z's Favorite Hair Care Brands (Part 2 )

4 Gen Z Hair Brand Social Media Campaigns: First Person

1. Divi: Every Hair Story Is Individual

“In August, for National Hair Loss Awareness Month, we launched a campaign called “Every Hair Story is Individual,” featuring nine members of our community–real customers who have used and loved Divi for years. These community members shared deeply personal stories about their hair journey and experience with hair thinning and hair loss. Their stories were launched on-site and social–and the reception has been tremendous with many people writing to express their appreciation for this compassionate approach to hair care, and resharing these touching stories with friends and family.”

www.instagram.com/p/C-K6jj9hgDV/

-Jen Hsiao, chief marketing officer, Divi

2. Good Hair Day (GHD): Wow Moments

“One of our best performing pieces of content was a back of head transformation that had that wow moment! It clearly showed the styling technique right alongside the perfect finished result that everyone loves.”

www.tiktok.com/@ghdofficial/video/7392897941779795232

-Montse Passolas, chief marketing officer, GHD

3. Lobie: Leveraging Reels

“Our most successful social media content piece to date has been the launch day Reels, where we took consumers behind the scenes at the factory where Lobie products are made. These Reels provided an authentic, inside look at the meticulous process behind our hair care line, showcasing the high-quality ingredients and dedication to excellence that define our brand. The transparency and personal touch resonated deeply with our audience, driving significant engagement, shares and positive feedback.”

www.instagram.com/reel/C2poa7zRrAw/

-Anastasia MacKay, founder and CEO, Lobie

4. Being: Keeping it Simple

“Our most successful organic content piece to date is a product showcase video on TikTok, currently sitting at almost 1 million views. It encapsulates the approach we take to content on this platform specifically–it’s very lo-fi, with minimal editing or production and set to a popular audio.”

www.tiktok.com/@beinghaircare/video/7387919803991772424

-Jamiee Lupton, founder, Being

Hair Care is Driven by Premiumization in 2024: Sales Data

Hair product sales in the prestige market increased by 10%, based on dollars, in the first half of 2024, per Circana.Karolina Kaboompics at Pexels

Hair product sales in the prestige market increased by 10%, based on dollars, in the first half of 2024, per Circana. Notably, hair products with average prices above $30 grew 3x the rate of lower priced items and now account for 25% of unit sales for the hair care category. That's a 10% gain of market share in just the last three years.

· Mass hair care also experienced the largest growth compared to other categories tracked in a recent Circana report.

· Hair care is also the only category with the majority of its sales coming from ecommerce, per Circana. Sales in that channel are experiencing double-digit growth.

· Meanwhile, styling and treatments were the fastest-growing areas of the category. In 2023, Circana reported double-digit growth in most hair styling segments.

Insights Into Action: New Ingredients & Products

To kickstart brand innovation, a range of suppliers and contract manufacturers have launched resources for product development.

Hair Gel Stick

Lady Burd’s new Hair Gel Stick adds instant hold to any hair style. The format is ideal for addressing flyaways and achieving a slicked back bun look.

Enhancing Hair Care Fragrance

Givaudan’s Bloomful Splash and Bloom Drops are designed to enhance the olfactory perception of hair products at the ingredient and formulation level.

Bloomful Splash is designed to offer consumers a “mesmerizing journey,” amplifying and boosting the bloom outcome to intensify the fragrance, elevating the overall shower routine.

Bloom Drops are a collection of six perfumery accords infused with Givaudan’s signature captives to deliver a superior bloom impact.

The two solutions are part of Givaudan’s Bloomful platform, said to define and measure the scent bloom of fragrances in various applications both when the fragrance becomes instantly noticeable to the wearer’s olfactory senses and when the fragrance fills the surrounding space.

Philippe Poirier, head of global fragrance technology, says, “Bloomful Splash, a patent-pending innovation, represents a significant advancement in fragrance technology. It is the result of developing a ‘bloom’ olfactory effect at both the ingredient level with Bloom drops and composition levels with Bloomful Splash, combined with our expertise in optimizing creation rules for optimal performance.”

Targeting Collagen XVII to Prevent Hair Loss and Graying

Provital’s Kerascalp preserves and increases the expression of collagen XVII, the deficiency of which can lead to hair loss and hair graying via incomplete melanocyte stem cell maintenance.

Silvia Benito, Provital SA’s science communication manager, notes, “Hair loss and premature hair graying are related primarily through the processes of aging, oxidative stress and stem cell dynamics.”

She adds, “Damage or depletion of … stem cells can lead to both hair loss and premature graying.” In addition, she says, “Excessive ROS can damage melanocyte stem cells, leading to premature graying, and can also damage hair follicle stem cells, contributing to hair loss. Environmental factors like UV radiation and pollution can exacerbate oxidative stress.”

Genetic factors and cellular senescence (melanocyte stem cells and hair follicle stem cells) also play a role, as do hormonal changes involving androgens, which can cause hair androgenetic alopecia and may influence hair graying.

Boosting Hair Shine

Seppic’s Xylishine C (INCI: (INCI: xylitylglucoside, anhydroxylitol, maltitol, xylitol, Pelvetia eanaliculata extract) taps into the skinification of hair and scalp care by repairing the scalp and hair cuticles to boost shine, enhance curl definition and control volume.

Xylishine C works by smoothing cuticles and repairing the surface appearance of damaged cuticles while restoring hair and water interactions. In this way it can revive hair impacted by bleaching, for instance.

The Xylishine C natural active is derived from a patented complex of sugar with moisturizing effects and Pelvetia canaliculate harvested in Brittany, France, which offers resistance to dehydration.

The technology is compliant with Chinese IECIC and IECSC regulations, per Seppic, and is COSMOS and Natrue approved with a naturalness rating of 99.7% according to ISO 16128.

Rejuvenating Hair to Combat Loss

“Some years ago, the mechanisms to fight hair loss were very much based on the hormones,” says Anna Balaguer Provital SA’s global trends manager. “Still, we can find this kind of products on the market because, of course, hormones play a key role in hair loss. But now there are many other great alternatives with different mechanisms that we can claim are more inclusive, match today’s trends, and are genderless. A clear example is our awesome Baicapil, one of our best sellers, which works at a cellular level with a rejuvenating and energizing effect, and all natural because it is a combination of three plants, something that consumers absolutely love.”

Baicapil is a plant-based ingredient used in hair care products to stimulate hair growth, increase hair density and reduce hair loss. It functions by addressing the various challenges facing aging hair.

“The connection between cellular senescence and hair loss is rooted in the biology of hair follicles and the aging process,” says Silvia Benito, Provital SA’s science communication manager. “Cellular senescence refers to a state where cells cease to divide and function properly, often in response to stress or damage. These senescent cells accumulate over time and can contribute to various age-related conditions, including hair loss.”

Benito explains that as hair follicles age, they suffer from an “accumulation of senescent cells.” She notes, “These cells can affect the hair growth cycle, leading to shorter anagen phases and longer telogen phases, resulting in thinning hair and hair loss.”

In addition, Benito says, “Senescent cells secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines, growth factors and proteases, collectively known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). This chronic inflammatory environment can damage surrounding tissues, including hair follicles, exacerbating hair loss.”

Cellular senescence can also deplete regenerative stem cell reservoirs or impair their function, Benito explains, “reducing the follicle's ability to produce new hair and leading to hair thinning and loss.”

Other stressors can include UV radiation exposure and oxidative stress. “These stressors can induce DNA damage and other cellular stresses that push cells into senescence,” says Benito, “thereby contributing to hair loss.”

Telomere shortening is yet another concern for aging hair because critically short telomeres can cause cells to enter senescence. “Hair follicle cells with short telomeres are more likely to become senescent,” Benito says, “which can impair hair growth and maintenance.”

Microalgae Solution for Hair Graying and Loss

A new generation of ingredients is combatting hair thinning, loss and graying through novel means.Joel Santos at Pexels

Algaktiv’s Densidyl combats hair loss and graying via the benefits of phycocyanin (Spirulina maxima) and xanthophylls (Chlorella emersonii), which strengthen hair follicles from the inside out. The ingredient also reduces oxidative stress, balances cortisol and reportedly boosts melatonin activity to promote hair growth and restore natural pigmentation.

Per Algaktiv, Densidyl increases hair density by more than 11% in 5 months, while protecting against environmental and emotional stressors. The supplier also claims that the technology outperforms market standards such as Minoxidil and EGF, delivering 4x faster results.

Defending the Hair from Oxidative Stress

Provital’s Keradeep ingredient is designed to protect damaged hair by prevents the oxidation and carbonylation of hair proteins in both cuticle and cortex. According to Natalia Robles Benito, product manager, Provital S.A, this activity can also prevent future damage by mitigating the effects of oxidative stress on hair proteins.

The ingredient taps the antioxidant effect of Pinus pinaster bark to act on the hair at the molecular level.

Per Benito, under stressed conditions (30% H2O2 for 45 minutes), Keradeep not only prevents protein carbonylation of the cuticle, but also prevents breakage of disulfide bonds the appearance of cysteic acid.

Under the same conditions, the ingredient technology protects against both protein carbonylation and maintains the positional structure of keratin.

When subjected to 95oC for 60 minutes, Keradeep reportedly prevents a high level of protein carbonylation of the cuticle.

This article references insights from "The Social Media Secrets of Gen Z's Favorite Hair Care Brands," published by GCI Magazine on November 4, 2024