If you ask what is the hottest concept in the field of hair care, it must be "silicone-free".


In 2014, Seeyoung was born and quickly set off a whirlwind with its differentiated product, silicone-free shampoo. Wherever the wind blows, there is the shadow of silicone-free. Subsequently, hair care brands under international daily chemical giants such as L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Henkel, and Shiseido have all entered the silicone-free field.


Silicone hair care products, which are relatively silicone-free, came from Procter & Gamble in 1986. The reason for adding silicone oil is that it can fill the gaps between hair scales and achieve a "soft" effect. This has also been the long-standing demand of consumers for hair care products.


The concept of silicone-free first came from Japan. It was proposed by the Japanese hair care brand Scalp-D around 2008 and positioned at the high end with a price of around RMB 300. In 2011, another Japanese company launched the Reveur brand, which focuses on the concept of silicone-free. It promoted the benefits of silicone-free and the disadvantages of silicone, and priced it at a low price. Since then, silicone-free shampoo and care products have really entered thousands of households in Japan.


In 2013, Beiersdorf's Meitao was the first to launch the silicone-free banner, but it was not until 2014 that the emergence of Seeyoung, a subsidiary of Huanya, really heated up the silicone-free market in China.


For a time, silicone-free products made P&G, the "leader" of silicone products, feel awkward, but out of consideration for the freshness of the shampoo market, it finally decided to test the silicone-free concept with its more youthful Clairol brand and launched zero silicone products, but sales have been mediocre.


Many other brands took advantage of the silicone-free "ride" promoted by Seeyoung, and related products also ranked among the top online rankings. Statistics show that from January 2015 to March 2016, Ziyuan became the leader of online silicone-free shampoo products with a share of more than 20%.


However, a phenomenon that cannot be ignored is that, looking at the entire hair care market, the top ten brands are almost firmly held by the five major groups. Overall, in this battle provoked by "silicone-free", L'Oreal, which occupies 20% of the online silicone-free products and nearly 8% of the online hair care sales share, seems to be the biggest winner.


Under the bombardment of the concept of silicone-free, what is the attitude of consumers?


"In China, the status of silicone-free shampoo products is indeed embarrassing." Xingtu data analysts said that compared with Japan, the birthplace of silicone-free products, China's silicone-free shampoo market share is limited.


According to statistics, nearly 60% of Japanese people recognize the concept of "silicone-free" shampoo, and silicone-free shampoo accounts for about 30% of the market share in Japan. According to Star Chart data's statistics on China's online shampoo market from January 2015 to March 2016, silicone-free shampoo only accounted for 9.3%, "which shows that consumers do not have enough knowledge about silicone-free products, so they cannot show obvious likes and dislikes. In most cases, they consume just because of the hype and promotional benefits."


"This also shows that Chinese consumers are still in a state of half-understanding about silicone-free. In addition, with the continuous development of the Internet and consumers becoming more rational, blindly hyping concepts can no longer work like it did 10 or 20 years ago." An industry insider analyzed.


So, what kind of hair care products are more popular with consumers now?


According to Star Chart data monitoring, more rational consumers nowadays are more concerned about traditional hair care concepts. Functional products such as smoothness and anti-dandruff, which have always been the main selling points of hair care products, still maintain their vitality.


Data shows that anti-dandruff and deep cleansing products have been on a slight decline since 2016, while smoothing and oil control products have maintained a relatively stable monthly sales share. "It can be seen that the most basic and down-to-earth health needs will never go out of style."


It is worth noting that although the overall proportion of repair products is small, it has maintained a slight growth. This is largely because with the improvement of consumption levels, consumers pay more attention to hair styling, and will inevitably work hard on hair care and repair after damage.


This reveals the business opportunities behind consumer demand. This business opportunity cannot be won by a concept, but requires a full understanding of the needs of different hair types, and through innovation, to bring consumers more convincing products.