Henkel UK&I Backs Hair Gloss as Colourants' Fastest Growth Engine

Hair gloss sales in the UK grew 21% this year to £19m, according to analyst Circana, and Henkel Consumer Brands UK & Ireland is positioning its new Schwarzkopf Live Go Gloss treatment to capture that growth before the category matures in 2027.

Henkel entered the gloss segment this year through Schwarzkopf's Live brand, the number two at-home hair colour brand in the UK. Live Go Gloss is an in-shower, five-minute temporary colour glossing treatment that the manufacturer claims lasts up to eight washes. The claim is attributed to the brand; no independent performance data accompanies the launch.

The company is committing what it calls "over proportional funds" to establish Live Go Gloss as the default easy option for UK and Ireland shoppers, with a stated aim of being ahead of the curve as the category develops toward 2027.

How big is the gloss segment within colourants?

"[Hair gloss is] the most dynamic segment within colourants," said Stefan Pichler, General Manager of Henkel Consumer Brands UK&I. He anchored the opportunity in three figures:

• Glosses account for around 8% of all colourants, still small against permanent and semi-permanent colour
• Overall colourants are growing 5%
• Glosses are growing 21% — more than four times the category rate, and, in Pichler's words, "clearly driving category growth"

"Colourants are an absolute priority category for us, and we are providing over proportional funds to support our brands," he said.

What is driving the switch to wash-out colour?

Pichler said consumer demand centres on lower cost, lower effort and lower risk colour solutions: non-permanent products that wash out after eight to ten uses, refreshing an existing colour or testing something new without long-term commitment.

Henkel's strategic thesis is trade-up. "We do not have official data yet, but we are convinced [glosses are] a gateway product to upgrading customers — they can try out a colour and, if they like it, they then might switch to semi-permanent or even permanent," Pichler said.

That conversion path — gloss to semi-permanent to permanent — is the mechanism Henkel hopes will lift its entire colourant portfolio, not just the gloss line.

Is aesthetics shifting too?

The industry's move away from the 'clean girl' aesthetic is a second tailwind. Consumers are abandoning the pristine, minimal look in favour of more colourful expressions of personality, and gloss treatments — low commitment, high shine, temporary tone — fit that shift.

What comes next?

With the category at £19m and compounding at 21%, Henkel's bet is that early, heavily funded positioning in gloss will convert wash-out experimenters into permanent colourant buyers across the UK and Ireland by 2027.