​Hair care formulators turn to skin care for the latest concepts in shampoos and conditioners.

They’re already loaded with good-for-you ingredients that promise to give your hair sheen, body and manageability. But today’s shampoos and conditioners promise more than clean, shiny locks. Some of the newest formulas make skin-caring claims; specifically, scalp-caring claims to appeal to health-savvy consumers.

“Consumers now view their hair as an extension of their skin, especially the scalp,” explained Hannah Symons, research manager, beauty and fashion, Euromonitor International. “Scalp health is a growth segment for hair care.”

The move comes at a time when consumers more than ever care about their hair. A mane attraction is the first thing most people notice about each other and looking one’s best often starts at the top. In the US, nearly everyone already shampoos nearly every day; yet, according to IRI data, US mass market shampoo sales, including dandruff formulas, rose more than 3% during the past year to more than $3 billion. Meanwhile, sales of conditioners rose less than 1% to $2.1 billion. The biggest gains, albeit from a smaller base, were in the shampoo and conditioner combo pack category, where sales surged more than 30% to over $230 million, according to IRI.

Within the regular shampoo category, Procter & Gamble dominates with more than 23% of the market. It’s a blowout in the dandruff shampoo segment, where P&G controls nearly 73% of the category, well ahead of private label’s 9.5% share. P&G is tops in conditioners, too, with a market share of more than 19%.

Euromonitor International takes a global approach to the $72 billion hair care market. It predicts that the $16.2 billion conditioner category will post a CAGR of 2% during the next five years, which is faster than 1.5% CAGR expected for the $26.8 billon shampoo market.

The best regions for growth in terms of absolute value are Asia-Pacific, Latin America and North America. But winners and losers in the shampoo and conditioner category are changing, according to Symons.

“We see a change at the top, as P&G is losing share on the global level,” she told Happi.

New Players in a Global Market

Specifically, Procter is falling behind in India and China, where local players that know the consumer’s habits, are making strides. For example, in India, Patanjali is an Ayurvedic company that operates across a range of sectors including food and personal care. Founded by Baba Ramdev, arguably India’s most famous yoga guru, Patanjali’s global sales rose 34% last year, according to Euromonitor International. It’s grabbing market share at the expense of P&G’s Head & Shoulders and Pantene brands.

Also out of India is Dabur, which calls itself the fourth-largest FMCG company in India with sales of more than $1 billion. Products are available in more than 60 countries around the world and international sales account for more than 30% of Dabur’s total revenue.

“Dabur is moving beyond India and into the Middle East, where its products are very popular,” noted Symons. “They understand the consumer market in the Middle East.”

Another example comes from China, where See Young has posted triple-digit gains during the past two years. Thanks to that surge, the Korean brand has pulled ahead of the likes of Neutrogena and John Frieda in Euromonitor’s global rankings.

As fragmentation takes a toll on multinationals’ market share, Euromonitor notes that indie startups have leveraged social media and e-commerce to expand beyond their traditional borders.

“In the future, the winners in the hair care category will be local players who understand the needs of the local population,” asserts Symons. “Instead of trying to crack the US market, they stay closer to home where they better understand the consumer.”

Fast-growing companies to watch, according to Euromonitor, include Ouai, Verb, Form and Deva Curl. Trends to keep an eye on include Halal, which has become a big part of so many consumer product categories and Symons expects the same to happen in hair care. As a result, more companies are expected to cater to the specific needs of hair covered by religious headwear.

“Only local players understand these needs,” concludes Symons. “We expect locals to continue disrupting the hair care category.”

But that doesn’t mean multinationals are ready to give up their hold on the top spots in the global shampoo and conditioner markets. For example, Unilever’s new DermaCare Scalp is an anti-dandruff shampoo that features “the perfect blend of powerful skin-focused technology with the mild care of Dove,” according to the company.

The six-item line includes 2in1 and shampoo, Invigorating Mint 2in1 and shampoo, and Dryness & Itch Relief shampoo and conditioner. All contain zinc pyrithione to banish flakes, but they also contain a blend of oils to nourish and protect the scalp.

Next month, Unilever launches Love Beauty and Planet, a planet-friendly hair and skin care brand “built on a commitment to do good through small acts of love,” according to the company. Love Beauty and Planet is the result of Unilever’s commitment to its Unilever Sustainability Plan and incorporates distinct purpose into the entire product lifecycle and beyond: giving careful thought to ingredients, formulas, product packaging, value chain and social partnerships, according to the company.

Neutrogena didn’t add any new shampoos or conditioners to its lineup during the past year, but parent company Johnson & Johnson did acquire Vogue International 18 months ago for $3.3 billion. The deal included the OGX collection of shampoos, conditioners and hair treatments, as well as Proganix and Maui Moisture hair care products, and FX hair styling products.

In the third quarter of 2017, sales of OGX helped offset a decline in baby care products at J&J. With shampoo and conditioner formulas such as Biotin & Collagen, Brazilian Keratin Therapy and Bamboo Fiber-Full, OGX was one of the first brands to make hair strengthening a key marketing message. It’s certainly paying off for the brand and for J&J, as OGX has become the leading shampoo and conditioner brand in the US mass market.

Consumers are getting the message when it comes to ingredients that are good for their hair, said Seven Haircare flagship educator Travis Clay.

“Consumers are savvy about ‘bad’ ingredients and are searching for the most nurturing products for their hair. They expect shampoos to lather well and get hair squeaky clean, hydrate and repair while conditioners must proteinize, add moisture, and repair damage too,” he said. “Products that work, smell great, and cover all of these bases are very few and far between. I know we’ve found a game changer with our Kente Bond collection.”

The Kente Bond shampoo, conditioner and reparative spray promise to deliver sustained benefits to damaged hair. The shampoo contains guar, pro vitamin B5 and green tea to intensely hydrate and soften dry damaged hair. The conditioner contains B5, amino acids and lotus to seal split ends and aid reconstruction of broken disulphide bonds, infuse moisture into hair’s cortex and create volume. Finally, the spray is said to target points of damage on the cuticle to protect hair from future harm, add shine and reduce blow dry time.

“The interest for products that do more was inspired by consumers getting older and having drier, more fragile hair. But the real truth is that they wish they had stayed ahead of it before this happened,” explained Clay. “That’s why younger generations are so careful with what they use. They are a more informed group with all the internet information and know they must stay ahead of the game to prevent their hair from ever becoming fragile or dry.”

To help maintain hair, Clay avoids harsh sulfates like SLS and SLES as well as heavy fragrances as they can sometimes trigger allergies.

“Things I definitely look for in products are coconut oil, aloe and amino acids. Seven hair care uses superoxide dismutase, which has anti-aging benefits to the scalp and actually helps to prevent premature graying—an obvious concern for most of my clients.”

Clay called sweet almond extract in the new Bond system a “smart ingredient,” as it is magnetically attracted to points of damage on the hair shaft, giving the formula “unparalleled healing properties.”

Babies’ hair may not need healing, but formulas have to be gentle. According to a new study by ReportsnReports, the global baby hair care products market post a CAGR of 6.20% from 2017 to 2021, driven in part by BRIC demand. The study ’s authors note that babies require special, but simple, hair care. As the scalp of infants is fragile and the hair follicles are in the developing stage, they require gentle hair care.

And there it is; whether you’re a middle-aged balding man showing too much scalp, or a newborn babe with cradle cap, good-for-your-skin hair care is the new normal in the multibillion dollar shampoo and conditioner market.
 
This article first appeared on happi

(from Dr Axe - Food is Medicine)
 
Have you ever wondered, “what is a hair mask and do I need a hair mask?” First, let’s be clear that it isn’t something you wear on your head. But it is something you put on your hair, and it can help you have the locks you’ve longed for. A hair mask is an easy and simple way to improve shine and manageability while providing nourishment to the cuticle, and it can be done right at home.

But who needs a hair mask? Well, it’s great for just about anyone, but can definitely offer hair health benefits for anyone who spends a lot of time in the sun, pool or adds color or other chemical products to their hair.
 
How to Make a DIY Hair Mask for Dry or Curly Hair

1 application (double the recipe if you have very long hair)
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
      (optional: 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon coconut oil)
½ ripe avocado
2 eggs
1 tablespoon raw honey
5–10 drops rosemary essential oil
5–10 drops lavender essential oil

​Directions:

• Place coconut oil and avocado in the blender. (For curly hair, you may want to try the olive oil per the ingredients list above.)
• If you are using the whisk method, you will need to soften the coconut oil first by slightly heating it.
• Add the eggs and honey and blend.
• Add the rosemary and lavender oils and blend.
• To apply, dampen your hair, then apply the mask evenly throughout, making sure to cover all of the hair, especially the ends.
• Once you have applied it, cover the hair with a shower cap or towels so that you do not get it on your clothes. (If you have long hair, tie it up first, then cover it.)
• Allow the mask sit for 45 minutes to an hour.
• Wash out the mask with all-natural shampoo and conditioner.
• For best results, try applying this mask once a week.

Precautions
Most have no problem using any of these ingredients; however, if you notice any irritation, stop using immediately. One or more ingredients could cause an allergic reaction. Also, be careful avoid getting the mixture in your eyes. Make sure your essential oils are 100 percent certified organic for best results. 
 
This article first appeared on Dr. Axe - Food is Medicine

Your Ultimate Guide to What All Those Ingredients on Your Shampoo Bottle Mean

Considering it’s something we use every single day (or every eight days, depending on how serious your dry shampoo habit is), it’s kind of crazy that we don’t really know what’s in the shampoo we’re pouring all over our hair. Sure, it smells good, and there’s a kind that works best for every hair texture and need, but what’s actually doing the work? We did a little investigating. Consider this your glossary to all the weird and impossible-to-pronounce words commonly found on the back of your shampoo bottle.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate:

This molecule, which often goes by SLS, is a surfactant, a.k.a. a cleansing agent. Its most important use is to cleanse the hair and scalp—and, as a bonus, it produces that foamy lather that makes a good hair-washing seem so luxurious. However, this family of sulfates has also been the topic of controversy. “Though sulfate-based shampoos do effectively clean the hair, they can also strip the hair of essential oils as well as irritate the skin,” explains Ron Robinson, cosmetic chemist and founder of BeautyStat. Think of how a too-strong face cleanser can strip skin and thus irritate it—same thing happens with sulfates. They can be harsh enough to fade hair color, so go for a sulfate-free formula to keep your color fresh and vibrant.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate:

Nope, not a typo. While sodium laureth sulfate (SLES, for short) is in the sulfate family, it’s not the same thing as SLS. “SLES has molecular attachments that make it bigger than SLS,” explains cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson. Because of that, SLES tends to cause less scalp irritation than its smaller sibling.

Dimethicone:

This silicone-based polymer is also common in complexion products like primers, since it gives skin that velvety slip. It serves pretty much the same purpose in your shampoo. “Dimethicone both conditions the hair and makes it feel smoother even before you add conditioner,” explains Robinson.

Panthenol:

Probably one of the better-known—and more crucial—shampoo ingredients, panthenol is a form of vitamin B5. It’s basically the moisturizer of your hair care regimen, says Robinson, and is used to hydrate and condition hair.

Citric Acid:

“Citric acid is an inexpensive yet highly effective ingredient to adjust the pH of the shampoo,” says Wilson. A low pH matters for skin, but what’s the big deal with your hair? Actually, the conditioning agents in both shampoos and conditioners work better under acidic conditions—so, in a low-pH environment.

Parabens (Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben):

You’ve probably heard of parabens already, because, like sulfates, they’re a serious point of contention in beauty products. “Parabens are preservatives used to prevent bacteria from growing in the product,” says Wilson. And while that sounds like a good thing—because who wants moldy shampoo?—parabens aren’t exactly innocent. “Certain forms have been shown to have the estrogen-like effects,” explains Wilson. This is definitely an issue, since high estrogen levels have been linked to multiple forms of cancer. However, Wilson says that it’s still much weaker than the phyto-estrogen effect of soy—so if you’re comfortable ordering edamame, you’re probably fine using parabens.

Zinc Pyrithione:

The #1 dandruff destroyer, this additive is more about your scalp than hair. Since it slows the production of skin cells, explains Wilson, it also puts a stop to flakes (which are essentially clumps of those skin cells). A few hair care brands use it in their non-dandruff formulas just to ensure scalp health, but there’s really no need for it unless you actually have flakes.

Cocamidopropyl Betaine:

This molecule, derived from crowd-favorite coconut oil, is kind of like a gentler version of SLS and SLES. “It’s a mild cleansing agent with conditioning properties,” says Wilson. The benefit is that it cleanses and softens hair, but it can still cause slight irritation.

 
This article first appeared on Glamour

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. if all types are combined. Melanoma specifically is among the top 10 cancers in both men and women, totaling more than 87,000 cases this year.

The best way to catch melanoma early is to have any new moles or patches of skin discoloration checked out—but only if you know it’s there in the first place. Half of melanomas go unnoticed by the person who has it, often when abnormality is on the scalp or neck. You can’t have a dermatologist examine the strange new mole on the base of your neck or behind your ear if you don’t even know it exists. And even if you’re looking, you usually can’t see enough of the back of your head and neck to notice anything unusual.

But your hairdresser can — as long as they know what they’re looking for. And it only seems to take 5 minutes of watching a video for hair dressers to become significantly more confident and knowledgeable about finding potentially cancerous skin lesions, according to a new study published in JAMA Dermatology.

“Hairdressers have the ability to monitor a large extent of the general public’s scalp and neck, highlighting their usefulness for the detection of scalp and neck melanomas via population-based screening and dermatologic referral,” wrote Neda R. Black, MD, from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, and her coauthors.

“Findings from this study suggest that a brief educational video can be beneficial for educating hairdressers about melanoma risk and the criteria for melanoma detection while also building on self-efficacy skills in skin lesion detection that might carry over to improved screening of those individuals at risk for melanoma,” they wrote.

This same group of researchers had previously surveyed more than 100 hair dressers from 45 hair salons to find out what they already knew about melanoma, especially regarding what to look for. The acronym ABCDE is a helpful way to remember key features of a suspicious lesion on the skin: Asymmetrical, Borders are irregular, more than one Color, a Diameter greater than 6mm and Elevated (raised bump).

“Results uncovered room for improvement in knowledge regarding signs and symptoms of melanoma,” the authors wrote, but they also learned in other research that most hair dressers want to learn more about detecting melanoma. So the researchers tested how well a 5-minute informational video might improve hair dressers’ knowledge and self-confidence in identifying suspicious skin lesions.

The authors emailed out the study link with the video to 20 Los Angeles County beauty schools and 100 participants watched the video and filled out questionnaires beforehand and afterward.

Comparison of the pre-test and post-test revealed improved knowledge on all the questions about melanoma knowledge, the authors reported. Before viewing the video, 59% of the hair dressers accurately identified suspicious lesions using the ABCDE criteria, compared to 71% of hair dressers after watching the training video.

Only one in five hair dressers (19%) said they felt “very confident” about identifying a possibly cancerous skin abnormality before watching the video, but after seeing the video, the percentage of hair dressers feeling very confident doubled to 41%.

Of course, 100 hair dressers isn’t a very large group to test a training intervention, and all of the participants volunteered for the study. These results, therefore, don’t necessarily mean that showing the video to all beauty school students is going to double detection of melanoma. In fact, it’s always possible that it could lead to false alarms and over-diagnosis, at least until researchers do more work to learn how accurately large numbers of hair dressers actually detect possible melanomas.

Another caution in this study is that 79% of the participants said they had previously gotten some training on skin cancer, pointing to what researchers need to learn from future studies.

“It will be important to know if our educational video functioned to reinforce existing knowledge or to provide new knowledge about melanoma detection, or both,” the authors wrote. They also need to find out whether hair dressers’ knowledge and skills remain strong over longer periods of time, and they need to compare knowledge improvements among hair dressers who watch the video to a different group the doesn’t view it.

But the good news is that this study lays the foundation for what might become an additional set of eyes keeping a lookout for an extremely common cancer.

“Based on our initial testing of an educational video intervention, training hairdressers in melanoma screening and referral seems to be a promising avenue for future research,” the authors concluded.
 
This article first appeared on Forbes