Hair Care Brands Pivot Bond Repair from Targeted Treatment to Daily Maintenance

Bond Repair Shift Towards Prevention Across Hair Care Brands

Hair care brands are pivoting bond repair products from an occasional targeted treatment into everyday maintenance as consumers face constant friction from styling, chemical treatments, and environmental damage. “Bond repair has evolved from a targeted treatment into essential daily maintenance,” Katie Gohman, CMO of Olaplex, told Cosmetics Business.

The Tech TL;DR:

• Prestige hair care sales across Europe grew by 24% to a value of €1.2bn in the 12 months ending August 2026, according to Circana data published by Cosmetics Business.

• Hair growth products represent the fastest-growing sector with a 32% sales increase, while hair serum sales have surged by 101%.

Market Growth and the Rise of Hair Longevity

The transformation of the hair care sector mirrors the shifts seen in skin care, with shoppers seeking biological solutions rather than purely cosmetic fixes. According to figures supplied exclusively by Circana to Cosmetics Business, European prestige hair care sales reached €1.2bn in the 12 months ending August 2026. Mathilde Lion, Circana’s Executive Director of Beauty in Europe, noted that hair care has effectively become the new skin care, adding that consumers want biological solutions that improve hair health directly from the root.

This prevention-first mindset is reshaping product pipelines. Search interest in hair shedding jumped by 105.6% according to Spate data from January 2026 compared to the previous year. Concurrently, data from Worldpanel by Numerator indicates that UK scalp care grew by 50% over the past five years, with UK scalp treatment sales up 12% for the year ending August 9, 2026. Matt Maxwell, Business Unit Director for Health and Beauty at Worldpanel, identified hair growth products as the fastest-growing sector with a 32% sales increase.

Expanding Portfolios Across Major Brand Lines

Brand executives point to chemical and environmental stressors as key drivers for continuous daily usage. Constant exposure to hair coloring, bleaching, heat styling, brushing friction, and UV pollution continuously breaks internal disulfide bonds. Gohman explained that consumers seek products to repair internal damage, protect against future breakage, and maintain hair health across all hair types. Megan Curtin, Briogeo’s Global Marketing Leader, added that successful brands must make bond repair smarter, more effective, and easier to use.

Leading companies are restructuring their flagship offerings to capitalize on this shift. Beyoncé-owned hair care line Cécred became Space NK’s biggest brand launch in history, led by its Edge Drops serum, which is clinically tested to deliver 1.5x visibly denser hair and target shedding. Similarly, Dove introduced Scalp + Hair Therapy as its largest hair innovation in a decade, moving from reactive repair to a proactive approach. BondiBoost reported that treatments and topical scalp treatments represent its highest growth categories, with its Lock Drops Anti-Shedding Scalp and Hair Serum emerging as its bestselling treatment since launching the prior summer. Julia Ramanadhan, President of BondiBoost, confirmed this trajectory alongside Korean hair care expansions such as Unove launching in Sephora in the US and Boots in the UK.

Molecular biologist and longevity expert Dr Nichola Conlon issued a warning against “longevity washing” within the category, emphasizing that brands must explain their exact mechanisms and provide concrete evidence that the technology works.