Following a wave of acquisitions of color cosmetics and skincare brands over the past few years, activity in the hair care category, particularly with prestige and salon brands, began heating up. Among the action in Fiscal 2017 (as detailed in Beauty Packaging’s report on The Top 20 Global Beauty Companies), J&J accessed AGX, and Unilever placed bets on prestige brand Living Proof. At the end of 2017, Kao USA Inc. announced it was adding prestige brand Oribe to its upscale hair care portfolio that includes Goldwell.

Henkel seems especially bent on increasing its market share in the category. In October 2017, the global company signed an agreement to acquire Zotos International Inc. (which also includes Joico), the North American Hair Professional business of Shiseido for $485 million. The venture built on Henkel’s 2014 acquisitions of Sexy Hair, Alterna and Kenra, and in May 2017, Nattura Laboratorios, with its strong U.S. hair professional brand Pravana.

These successive moves pushed Henkel ahead of Coty and ELC to take the No. 2 slot as Professional Hair Care Marketer in North America. According to data from Kline’s Salon Hair Care Global Series, Henkel’s acquisitions will nearly double the company’s share in North America from 7.7% to 13.6%, ahead of Coty’s 11.1% and ELC’s 8.1%.
“On the heels of Henkel’s acquisitions of Pravana earlier this year and TSG brands not long ago, Henkel’s activity is the most aggressive we’ve seen on the professional hair care M&A front in 15-20 years…the era when L’Oréal gobbled up Matrix, Redken and Softsheen-Carson, while Procter & Gamble took hold of Clairol and Wella [now owned by Coty],” said Carrie Mellage, vice president of Kline’s Consumer Products Practice.

This month, Henkel says it is “revolutionizing” Pro Hair Care with its introduction of Schwarzkopf Professional SalonLab, described as “a digital ecosystem for quantifying and customizing the hair care experience.” SalonLab was a two-time recipient of this year’s CES 2018 Innovation Awards). Also check out other CES 2018 beauty gadgets.

Meanwhile, No. 1 L’Oréal continues to forge ahead, at press time, unveiling its hair care line to revive damaged hair: Elvive. This follows the world’s largest beauty company’s announcement of Botanea, a vegan, 100% plant-based hair dye collection. And let’s not forget L’Oréal’s new Redken Heatcure product, which literally heats up the hair care market—with air-activated heated packaging. 

We hope you enjoy this issue,