Hair conditioners are used around the world to improve the feel, appearance and manageability of hair. While the performance of these products is a must, in the last few years, consumers have clamoured for more sustainable products.
Indeed, according to Euromonitor International, 1 the ‘Clean Beauty’ buyers are not an isolated fraction of consumers, as more than half of them seek “natural”, “environmentally friendly”, “locally sourced” claims. Daily actions that have a positive impact on the environment is also a goal for nearly half of consumers. For more than a third, the belief that “natural” is healthier than “non natural” (which from a scientific perspective is highly debatable) is still strong, while GMOs are negatively perceived. Lastly, for more than 25% of consumers, the choice of buying “eco-conscious” products makes them feel good about themselves.
Stepan Company recognised this need and the opportunity to develop a modern hair conditioning agent that would offer both high performance and meet sustainability expectations.
According to Euromonitor International, 1 the global hair conditioner market sold 1,358 kMT and generated $16.7 billion at a 2.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Of the 1,358 kMT of hair conditioning products sold globally, about 20 kMT are cationic conditioning agents. According to Mintel data, 2 almost 10,000 new or reformulated hair conditioners were introduced globally from 2016 - 2018. Figure 1 shows the evolution of sustainability claims in hair care products launched in Europe between 2015 and 2019. The y-axis indicates the percentage of products that had a specific claim. These “eco and natural” claims have all shown increases in the past five years.
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