Shampoo and conditioner bottles promote hair-raising sales: packaging must help hair-care products stand out on the shelf—and in the shower - Hair Care Packaging

Food & Drug Packaging, Oct, 2003 by Pan Demetrakakes

On the other hand, some designers believe white is losing its luster through overuse. Brian Saputo, manager of package engineering for Wella Sebastian (which recently was bought by Procter & Gamble), recently helped execute a directive to standardize the company packaging.

"One of the things we're finding out is a lot of the white packaging that we have tends to get lost on shelves," Saputo says. "Our current trend is to try to move away from that and add a little more color and a little more pop to our line."

The new look will include a translucent black bottle with pink overtones that will give an elegant look, like some of the Victoria's Secret fragrances and other products. "We're looking at colors that are not necessarily bright, but more fashion-inspired, more modern, more chic," Saputo says.

The shape of things

Wella Sebastian is looking at shape as the main component of brand identity. "We don't want to tie it in through color, because we don't feel that the white has enough impact," Saputo says. "It was very impactful in the '80s and the early '90s, but the trends have changed. We're seeing a lot more colors and transparencies. Curves seem to be coming back. Curves combined with straight lines seem to be very popular." Saputo also is seeing a lot of attempts to stand out on the shelf though odd shapes--oversize or extra-small bottles, tall and slender or short and stubby.

One of Wella Sebastian's redesigns is an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Shaper hairspray, its best-selling product. Packaging for the Shaper line of shampoo, conditioner, mousse and other styling products is based on the hairspray's container.

"What we tried to achieve was these long, cylindrical looks that, on shelf, would look similar to a can of hairspray," Saputo says.

Procter & Gamble adopted a similar strategy with Physique, a line targeted toward consumers in their twenties and thirties. The packaging consists of cylindrical shapes with special metallic labels for the plastic shampoo and conditioner packages that matches the aluminum hairspray and mousse cans. "We designed the total package line to mimic a brushed aluminum look," Winkler says.

Material issues

The choice of packaging material is as important for hair care products as for other consumer goods. HDPE and PET are the two most popular materials. It basically comes down to how much you want consumers to see the product, says Craig Sawicki, executive vice president of design and development for TricorBraun. PET brings clarity and/or high gloss, while HDPE almost always involves a matte finish.

"If you have a product that you don't need to see and you don't have a compatibility issue [between product and packaging], you might as well go with polyethylene," Sawicki says. "It's cheaper and the [molding] tools are cheaper. However, if you want the gloss, clarity or translucent color, PET is the way to go."

Wella Sebastian has mostly used HDPE, but is looking at both PET and vinyl for its new packaging, Saputo says. The problem with vinyl is that it generates resistance on environmental grounds, especially overseas.