Funmi Phet recalls the first time she encountered a bottle of hair perfume 10 years ago. She was acting beauty director for British Vogue and thought it was ridiculous: “Who needs hair perfume?”
It turns out there are a lot of people. Hair perfumes are the fastest-growing category in the $60 billion global fragrance industry thanks to a perfect storm of post-pandemic fragrance booms, a trend in scalp-friendly formulas, and relatively affordable prices. (hair perfumes tend to be a fraction of the price of concentrated eau de parfum). Fett has also arrived. She loves Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Baccarat Rouge 540 Hair Mist. According to the brand, this mist “subtly scents hair while softening it.”
“It’s very simple. We want our hair to smell good,” Fett said. “Not in an off-the-shelf shampoo kind of way, but in an elevated, sophisticated way.”
DSM-Firmenich perfumer Nicole Mancini said the category is “exploding.” According to Google Trends, search volume for hair perfumes has more than doubled worldwide since the pandemic.
According to Circana, two categories are driving the U.S. luxury beauty market, which has grown 8% this year. Hair care brands like Oribe have long used scent to enhance the value of their collections, positioning hair perfumes as luxury products. Meanwhile, luxury perfume makers from Kurkjian to Chanel distill some of their best-sellers into low-concentration “hair mists” that are often sold at a fraction of the original price.
Conor Spicer, a consultant at Euromonitor, says hair fragrances, like candles and bath products, offer an opportunity to expand the “fragrance ritual”, with particular demand for hair fragrances in the US, UK and UAE. Point out that there is. But Mancini says that while it can be chemically difficult to change perfume scents into candles or bath products, it’s relatively easy to change perfumes for hair, reducing scent concentration and alcohol content. That’s all it takes.
The hair care field’s recent focus on scalp health, or the “skinning” of hair, has also contributed to its popularity. According to Spicer, many formulas have an adjusted alcohol content “so that your hair and scalp won’t feel overly dry or irritated when applied to your hair and scalp.” Some clever marketers will add ingredients that promise benefits like UV protection, conditioning, and added shine.
It smells good
Humans have been wearing scents on their heads for centuries. The ancient Romans traded honeysuckle oil specifically as a hair scent, but only recently have they decided to bottle and sell their own formulations specifically for this use. In 1955, Parfums Christian Dior launched La Chihonnette, a small brush that released the scent of Votre Coiffure when dipped into a small vial of Miss Dior. Dior was also the first fragrance house to remix its best-selling hair perfume, launching J’adore hair perfume in 1999.
The hair perfume category as we know it is a byproduct of the fragrance boom of the 2000s, when celebrities flocked to the licensing gold rush and designers “adjacent” their best-selling scents with a variety of new combinations. Because it started. Chanel launched Coco Mademoiselle Hair Mist in 2003. Tom Ford and Estée Lauder’s first fragrance, Black Orchid, was mixed into Luminous Hair perfume in 2008, and the following year Byredo launched a collection that reimagined the bestseller as hair. -Friendly formula. By 2010, the New York Times reported that hair scents “could be the next fragrance frontier.”
Larissa Jensen, a beauty analyst at Circana, said the post-pandemic period saw a renewed fragrance boom driven by Byredo’s prestige and “ultra-luxury” fragrances. Consumers are also increasingly abandoning signature scents for a wardrobe tailored to their whims. This phenomenon is driven by Gen Z, who are obsessed with scents, hoarding them and layering them like accessories.
“Scent is one of the most important things that gets people excited about using a hair care product,” says Diana Cohen, who founded hair care brand Crown Affair in 2019.
Cohen’s fragrance of choice was previously Byredo Gypsy Water ($225 eau de parfum). She purchased the hair perfume ($85) as a way to refresh her scent throughout the day. Before she began designing and financing her own line, Cohen wanted to create a scent that evoked “a little bit of funk and a little bit of zen,” so she contacted the fragrance house.
The resulting signature scent permeates all Crown Affair products and was launched as a hair perfume in October 2022. It costs $85, the same price as those from Byredo and Kurkjian, but twice as much as a dry shampoo or finishing spray.
“Our core customers bought right away,” Cohen said.
Direct-to-consumer sales were even more difficult for shoppers who weren’t familiar with scents. But the Allure Best of Beauty award and some viral TikToks are convincing. Signature Scent sales nearly doubled this quarter.
More than a decade later, this fate seems clear. Cohen said fragrance is a top priority for Sephora, one of Crown Affair’s retailers, and it’s a place where the selling power of good scents cannot be overstated. “Every year, like clockwork, Sephora tries to put hair fragrances on top,” Cohen says. “And it’s selling.”
On Saturday, the brand will expand its fragrance range with the launch of the Signature Scent Candle in partnership with Sephora Net. The key is to “elevate the conversation around the (hair) category.” said Cohen. “It’s great from a business perspective.”
Sign up for The Business of Beauty newsletter for free reading of the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.
