Men colouring their hair more as temporary hair dyes boost colourant category

04-Feb-2015 - Last updated on 04-Feb-2015 at 12:31 GMT

More men in the UK are reaching for the hair dye as the practice becomes more accepted and breeds confidence; and this has helped to boost the nation’s hair colour market as sales tripled thanks also to the increased popularity of temporary products.

According to market researcher Mintel, between 2013 and 2014, sales in hair colour products grew from £1 million (€1.33m) in 2013 to £3 million (€3.98m) in 2014.

And the information company’s research has found that young men are unafraid of streaking ahead when it comes to hair dye, as a third of men aged 16-24 have coloured their hair in the past year themselves, compared to an overall average of 16% of men.

In addition, 12% of men aged 16-24 have used permanent hair colour and 11% have used semi-permanent hair colour at home in the last year, as he practice becomes more accepted.

“The high usage of new colouring techniques amongst men shows that they are taking greater pride in, and take a greater confidence from, maintaining a well-groomed appearance whilst experimenting with new and different products,” saysRoshida Khanom, Senior Personal Care Analyst at Mintel.

And it seems that in the comfort of their own home men are becoming more confident with usage soaring amongst men, as a third of those who have used hair colour at home in the past twelve months used a new colour technique, compared to just 5% of women.

Grey hair worries

Perhaps as expected, the presence of grey hair is also a factor here as Mintel found that young men are more likely to have grey hair than young women.

Its figures show that over a quarter of men register some level of grey hair compared to less than one in five women of the same age.

This then increases, naturally, with age as almost half of UK adults aged 25-34 claim to have some grey in their hair, compared to 23% of 16-24 year olds.

“It may be that grey hair on men is only acceptable after a certain age, which may drive younger men to use hair colour, whereas older men are less likely to. Additionally, young men may be more likely to want to follow fashion trends,” Roshida continues.

Temporary trend boost

Overall the hair colourant category saw a 5% decline in sales in the last year, noticeably in the permanent and semi-permanent hair colour categories; but the temporary hair dye trend could boost this.

“Temporary hair colour products have seen a big jump in value in 2014, driven by the breadth of recent innovation and experimental nature of the segment,” says Roshida Khanom, Senior Personal Care Analyst at Mintel.

“As a large number of celebrities have been sporting the look, with everyone from Helen Mirren to Katy Perry showing one-off pastel shades, this has given consumers encouragement to think beyond natural shades, if only for a day. Growth of the temporary colour segment offers opportunities to extend its appeal further, possibly by targeting the older demographics.”