Ethnic Hair Care

Drug Store News, May 21, 2001

A desire for radiant color and natural looking hair with more texture are trends that drove the African-American hair care segment in ethnic beauty last year, according to Shawn Tollerson, senior vice president of marketing at Soft Sheen/Carson. "Women are more comfortable with coloring their hair," she said, a trend being driven further by the growing number of African-American celebrities coloring their hair these days, including R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige. Tollerson called hair color a "fashion accessory."

According to Information Resources Inc. data, sales in ethnic hair coloring increased more than 6 percent during the 52 weeks ended March 4, 2001, reaching more than $21.28 million in drug stores alone. Shampoo--albeit a much smaller segment of the business, given the ethnic consumers propensity to buy into mainstream shampoo brands--saw an increase of 18.2 percent for the same period, according to IRI, reaching the $2 million mark.

Last year, women strove for a more "natural look," wearing twists and coils, and also began using more hair dressings, said Mikki Taylor, beauty director and cover editor at Essence magazine. Drug store sales of hair dressings--including pomades, rose more than 10 percent through the first week of March.

On the flip side, segments such as styling, chemical and curl/wave maintenance products took a bit of a hit as ethnic consumers rediscovered the natural look last year. The biggest losses came in curl/wave maintenance, which fell 10.7 percent last year to just under $16.5 million in food, drug and mass outlets. In drug, the drop was slightly sharper, falling 12.1 percent to a little more than $7.2 million.

In all, sales of African-American hair care products totaled almost $251 million in food, drug and mass outlets. Nearly $104 million of that passed through drug store cash registers.

Taylor also agreed that the trend in hair color should continue to grow this year. "It's all about expression," she said, further explaining that African American women last year wanted "freedom" with their hairstyles. "[Hair coloring] is probably one of our biggest moves," Taylor said. "It's come a long way from [just] coloring gray."

SHAMPOO
Mass                          $3.5 [*]   12.6%
Food                          $1.4 [*]   34.2%
Drug                          $2.0 [*]   18.2%
Total F/D/M:                  $6.8         18%
CONDITIONER
Mass                          $8.9 [*]   -1.4%
Food                          $3.5 [*]   -3.7%
Drug                          $8.3 [*]   -7.0%
Total F/D/M:                 $20.7       -4.1%
HAIR DRESSING
Mass                         $16.4 [*]   -3.2%
Food                          $9.0 [*]   -3.0%
Drug                         $15.9 [*]  -10.6%
Total F/D/M:                 $41.3        1.7%
HAIR COLORING
Mass                         $11.2 [*]    5.7%
Food                          $6.9 [*]   11.9%
Drug                         $21.3 [*]    6.2%
Total F/D/M:                 $39.4          7%
STYLING PRODUCTS
Mass                         $17.1 [*]   -6.4%
Food                          $6.9 [*]   -0.6%
Drug                         $12.9 [*]   -5.5%
Total F/D/M:                 $36.9       -5.1%
CHEMICAL TREATMENT PRODUCTS
Mass                         $33.6 [*]   -5.1%
Food                         $12.2 [*]   -1.2%
Drug                         $30.8 [*]   -6.5%
Total F/D/M:                 $76.7       -5.1%
Source: Information Resources Inc. for
the 52 weeks ended March 4, 2000
(*.)All sales in millions.
Note: Table made from pie chart
                       Top vendors in drug stores
Vendor                                  $ sales in millions
African-American shampoo
Revlon                                         $0.7
Soft Sheen                                      0.6
Namasday Laboratory                             0.2
JM Products                                     0.2
Luster                                          0.1
African-American hair care conditioner
John Frieda                                    $1.2
Soft Sheen                                      0.9
Bronner Bros.                                   0.8
General Therapeutics                            0.7
African Pride                                   0.5
Cheatham Chem                                   0.4
Scientific Research                             0.4
Alberto Culver                                  0.4
Hollywood Beauty                                0.3
African-American hair dressing
Luster Products                                $2.8
Namasday Laboratory                             2.4
Carson                                          2.0
Soft Sheen                                      1.3
Bronner Bros.                                   1.1
Alberto Culver                                  1.0
J. Strickland & Co.                             0.9
Pro-Line                                        0.9
African Pride                                   0.7
Imperial Dax                                    0.7
African-American hair color
Combe                                          $5.9
Carson                                          5.8
L'Oreal                                         4.8
Clairol                                         2.7
Garnier                                         1.0
African Pride                                   0.4
Revlon                                          0.4
Soft Sheen                                      0.3
African-American hair care - chemicals
Carson                                         $8.8
Pro-Line                                        5.3
Luster Products                                 4.4
Soft Sheen                                      3.6
Revlon                                          3.4
African Pride                                   1.7
Alberto Culver                                  1.1
African-American hair styling products
JM Products                                    $2.8
Carson                                          1.5
Ampro                                           1.3
Bronner Bros.                                   1.1
Luster                                          1.1
Soft Sheen                                      0.8
Source: Information Resources Inc. for
the 52 weeks ended March 4, 2001