Creating hydrated, moisturized hair is the top concern for consumers seeking out hair care products, according to Kline’s digital beauty tracking service, Amalgam.
No longer satisfied with merely shampooing, conditioning, and styling their hair, consumers now want to purchase hair and scalp hydration and moisturization products that will create healthier, fuller locks.
The consumer desire for products that can deliver moisturized hair has been steadily building over recent years. According to new research, hair care products that “focused on delivering intense moisturization and hydration accounted for more than 55 of the top 600 hair care treatments as of summer 2018.”
What’s behind the consumer craving for moisturization?
Consumers are craving hair care products that deliver intensive moisture for two key reasons: their hair health and a desire for thicker, more luscious locks.
Healthy hair is often denoted by thickness, shine, strength, and volume. However, hair strands are easily damaged by a variety of lifestyle factors. Some of the top offenders?
The include frequent usage of heat-based hair styling tools, harsh weather conditions, bathing in hard water (water with appreciable amounts of dissolved chemicals like calcium and magnesium), swimming in chlorinated water, the dry heat from central heating systems, hair treatments like braiding, and the use of too much styling product. And, there’s also the damage caused by hair coloring and styling: dying, straightening treatments, and perms all also greatly impair hair health.
In short, there’s plenty of ways to create the dry, brittle strands, split ends, dullness, and flyaways that signify damaged hair. And with so many of these factors an unavoidable part of daily life, it’s no wonder consumers are turning to intensely moisturizing hair care products to help fix overworked, overstyled, and otherwise damaged tresses.
How to deliver intensive moisture? Olive oil
Luckily for consumers, dry, damaged hair can be treated, managed, and greatly improved with a regular routine of moisturizing, hydrating hair care products that work to protect and maintain the hair and scalp health.
And one of the absolute best ingredients for products that impart intensive moisture and hydration to the hair and the scalp? Olive oil.
The new global benchmark for high purity glycolic acid.
A superpowered trio
Olive oil is one of the top natural ingredients to incorporate into hydrating, moisturizing hair care products for several key reasons. First, olive oil is comprised of the super-hydrating fatty acids oleic acid and palmitic acid. Olive oil’s natural chemical makeup also features substantial amounts of squalene, a lipid which protects against environmental stressors and also acts as an emollient.
This trio of superheroes – oleic acid, palmitic acid, and squalene – are all natural emollients, and all have an excellent ability to lend softness to brittle, dry hair. Plus, these naturally occurring fatty acids and emollients also impart hefty doses of moisture to the scalp and hair strands and can boost hair growth.
So through the application of olive-oil based hair care products, consumers can get a boost of moisture and intense nourishment via the oleic acid, palmitic acid, and squalene found in olive oil.
More effective retention
Additionally, high-quality olive oil is excellent for the formulation of intensive moisturization haircare products because olive has an uncanny ability to penetrate the shaft of a hair strand. Thanks to this penetrative ability, olive oil based hair care treatments can remain within the hair shaft for longer than other oils, and this helps individual hair strands to retain moisture.
More moisturized hair is more elastic, and thus less likely to become damaged by styling tools, heat, and other lifestyle factors in the future. Simply put, olive oil is the perfect ingredient and emollient to include in hair care products designed to impart moisture, hydration, and repair dry damaged hair.
For hair care products that can seriously deliver on the hydration and moisturization consumers are currently craving, olive oil-based formulations are a fast track to delivering healthier, shinier, and more moisturized hair for consumers – and the accompanying sales.
