Audio: Trends in the Ethnic Hair Market

PODCAST - In this monthly Fashion Friday podcast series by Euromonitor International, we will have a closer look at Ethnic Hair Market in Africa: Untapped Opportunities and Challenges. What trends are we seeing in the ethnic hair market?

In Sub Saharan Africa, products such as perms and relaxers are showing positive growth, with South Africa growing at 7 percent and Kenya at 8 percent in value terms in 2016. This stands in stark contrast with the US and European markets where perms and relaxers is a declining category.

In fact we are seeing two trends here on the market. On the one hand, the rising of the middle class, with more women joining the labour force and urbanisation, women have more disposable income to allocate to beauty and personal care products. A general trend towards personal grooming is further helping to drive growth in this category. As per EMI estimates, consumer expenditure on personal care is forecasted to grow in Sub Saharan Africa, and in the case of South Africa and Kenya strong single digit growth is expected. Hair being an important aspect of personal grooming for African consumers, the category is expected to see good growth as a result.