According to a report in Chronicle Live, the hair care range, Shampooheads Professional, has been trialled in a top hair salon chain, with its shampoos, conditioners and detanglers proving popular.
The products are aimed at children between six and 15 years old, a group that the brand has dubbed tweenagers, and boast a strong ‘natural’ profile: they contain between 93% and 98% natural ingredients, depending on the product.
Geoff Bell, owner of Shampooheads, told Chronicle Live: “To work with Gieseke and to become the first UK supplier in their portfolio of leading worldwide brands is testament to the strength of our product range and the growing ‘tweenage’ hair care market we are aiming to dominate across the world.”
Child- and baby-specific
Shampooheads Professional’s distribution deal, comes as bbaby and child specific skin care products are seeing increasing popularity.
In the UK, for example, baby and child-specific products increased by 4% in current value terms in 2015, according to Euromonitor, which indicates a slightly better year-on-year performance compared with the 2% current value growth in 2014.
Although the UK continues to see its birth rate drop year on year, the category parents are spending more than ever on baby and child-specific products, he research firm observes, with child- and baby-specific products reaching total sales of £425 million in 2015.
As Bell, Shampooheads’ co-founder, notes: “Until Shampooheads came along, tweenagers had to use either kids’ or adult products. Feedback from both customers and salons so far has shown just how much demand there is for products which the ‘Tweenage’ age group can call their own.”
Naturals and social
With demand on the up, working out how best to tackle the opportunity of baby- and child-specific skin care becomes a focus for the industry.
According to Euromonitor, naturals is a key demand from safety-conscious parents.
“As consumers come to expect natural and organic formulations as standard, there is likely to be a move away from greenwashing of products, and consumers’ interest being captured by the design, story and marketing of brands,” the firm notes.
“Therefore, social media is expected to play an even more integral role in helping newer brands to succeed.”
Johnson & Johnson is one brand that has spoken about the rising importance of successful formulation for baby and child skin care, noting that industry knowledge sharing is essential in the segment.