Daily Times

Sales of shampoo have plummeted as more women grow their hair out and wash it less often, research says.

The market for shampoo, conditioner and hair-styling products has dropped by £23 million over the past year.

And experts have linked the drop to more women working from home and the decline of smoking.

Jessica Ragoschke, of consumer analyst company Nielsen, said, “People are working from home, detoxing and using no shampoo, and fewer people are smoking, so females are using less shampoo less frequently than before. Consumers are simplifying their hair care routines and opting for a more casual or natural style as well as increasingly using substitute products like dry shampoo.”

The figures, which were compiled by Nielsen with The Grocer magazine, reveal that sales of shampoo brands including Pantene and Head & Shoulders fell by up to 7.9 percent from last year.

And Herbal Essences saw a fall of 14.6 percent over the year – with revenue dropping by £3.2 million.

Ian Morley, group sales director of northern Europe for Procter & Gamble, which owns Herbal Essences, Pantene and Head & Shoulders, told The Grocer, “We are also seeing a trend for longer hair, with more women growing their hair which is having an impact on the number of times per week women are washing their hair. Therefore less product is being consumed on a weekly basis.”

Styling products saw the biggest drop in sales and when shoppers did buy them, they opted for cheaper brands such as VO5.

Top-end items suffered as a result, with British celebrity hairdresser John Frieda’s products seeing a sales fall by 11.1 percent – meaning a loss of £2 million.

The demand for items such as deodorant has also fallen dramatically with a £3.1 million slump across the market. Sales of Lynx men’s deodorant fell by 3.3 percent.

Across the personal care industry, there was a sales drop of £30 million.

Traditional shower products such as Radox and Imperial Leather also took a hit, losing £4.3 million and £2.6 million respectively.

And soap was also down with a drop of 6.6 per cent across the area as a whole.

Bars of Imperial Leather soap fell as well, dropping by 7.1 percent with sales valued at £9.8 million. Liquid hand washes fell in popularity too, with Palmolive losing a 10th of its revenue in the area over a year. Yet while other personal care products struggled for sales, Britons still cared about their dental hygiene with 74 percent saying that they would like whiter teeth.

Sales of toothpaste, mouthwash and toothbrushes surged by £7 million. Morley said, “Oral care has always been treated as a health category but in recent years it has been moving more towards the beauty arena where a white smile is no longer only there for celebrities.”