The haircare category is heating up. As awareness of hair and scalp health grows — and taboos around hair loss and shedding decline — more consumers are expanding their haircare knowledge, exploring ingredient innovation and investing in products that combat dryness, signs of aging, damage from GLP-1 drugs (which can cause thinning), and more. Brands are tapping in.
According to Euromonitor, the global haircare category is forecasted to grow 24% by 2030, reaching £129 billion, while outpacing the growth of established beauty verticals like makeup and fragrance (both in the double digits). Driving that growth are the rising expectations for how their products perform, creating white space in the market for more clinical ingredients packaged for a modern, more savvy consumer.
The industry is gearing up for its most scientific stage yet. In February, biotech beauty brand Goddess Maintenance Co. launched its Biotech Blowout shampoo and conditioner, featuring its Goddess Molecule, a technology that claims to mimic the strength of spider silk by protecting hair against heat, pollution and frizz, as well as increasing hair strength by 173%. At the In-Cosmetics Global trade show in April, pharmaceutical companies presented an exciting future ahead of the haircare category. Laboratoires Expanscience unveiled Osmolya, a new active ingredient that helps the hair and skin balance water solutes (electrolytes and salts) in all environments, while Core Biogenesis introduced Peaureva, a protein scalp active to help hair thinning, scalp aging, tissue regeneration, and hair follicle activity.
Conglomerates are also investing in haircare brands to secure their standing in the growing category. In April, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s haircare brand Anomaly was acquired by Reliance Retail for an undisclosed sum. In March, German group Henkel snapped up Olaplex in a $1.4 billion deal, as well as Not Your Mother’s for an undisclosed sum, and private equity firm Quadrivio Group took full ownership of French haircare brand Les Secrets de Loly.
Overall, the haircare category stands out for its growth potential. In L’Oréal Group’s 2026 first-quarter earnings, haircare grew double digits with help from its masstige brands L’Oréal Paris and Garnier, as well as the haircare arm of its dermatological beauty brands, Vichy and Cerave.
Vichy is currently eyeing up to hit the €1 billion revenue mark by the end of the year. “Our main focus remains the growth of our haircare franchise, Dercos, which is experiencing double-digit growth,” says Jamel Boutiba, global brand president for Vichy. The brand is betting on the 2026 Fifa World Cup in June to help win men’s market share in the category. In April, the brand tapped Vitinha, the Portuguese soccer player and Paris Saint-Germain FC midfielder, as an ambassador for its Dercos dermatological haircare range.
At Unilever, haircare witnessed high-single-digit growth in Q1 2026, driven by Dove, which experienced double-digit growth for its Fibre Repair range. According to the company, its other haircare brands Sunsilk, Clear, and K18 also had strong start to the year.
However, at Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), haircare remained flat in the third quarter of fiscal 2026. In the company’s Q2 results, haircare sales rose 5% to $812 million. The company owns Aveda and Bumble and Bumble. Amanda Le Roux, SVP of Aveda International, says that the factors leading to growth in the haircare category are the intersection of conscious consumption, premiumization, digital influence, and targeted innovation.
But to succeed in the category, brands must tread carefully, says McKinsey partner Sara Hudson, as there’s a risk of saturation. “Expanding too quickly into adjacent categories or proliferating SKUs can dilute brand clarity and weaken hero products, particularly in a market where consumers are looking for clear, results-driven solutions,” she says.
