Irish shampoo spend is hair-raising

IMAGE-conscious Irish are spending more and more on haircare — because we’re worth it.

New research from independent market analysts Datamonitor found that while the average Norwegian spends more on haircare products than anyone in Europe, Ireland’s economic boom has driven spending on healthy hair up to 8% per year, the second highest in western Europe. Only Spanish growth is ahead, at 8.3%.

Datamonitor forecasts that the Irish haircare boom hasn’t petered out yet, either: more impressive growth of 8.7% is forecast every year between 2002 and 2007. This will move Ireland’s position within the European per head spending table from twelfth in 2002 to seventh by 2003.

“Ireland is historically a very price-conscious market for haircare,” said Datamonitor analyst John Band, the author of the report.

“But as the economy comes in line with other rich European countries, people are trading up to more expensive products. Premium brands are on the up, and supermarket own-label sales are down.”

Research shows the Irish haircare market was worth €63m in 1997, €92m last year and a projected €140m in 2007.

Britain and France spend similar amounts, but the British prefer to spend on shampoo and conditioner, while the French prefer styling and colouring products.

By far the biggest spenders are the Norwegians and the Finns, who spent almost €50 and €38 per person on haircare products in 2002. France is in third place, followed by Britain, with a typical per-person spend of €27.

However, the spending mix is very different. British consumers spend far more on shampoos, conditioners and two-in-ones, which account for less than 40% of sales in France. Instead, the French splash out on perms, relaxants and colourants.

So who fakes it most? That would be the Finns. As the largest buyers of hair colourants, the average Finn buys 1.8 packets of hair colourant a year, compared to just 0.6 in Britain.