China Anti-Hair Loss Market: Essences Grow Against the Trend
By Quan Wenjun
9 min read
Key Points Of The Article:
1.In 2019, the number of people experiencing hair loss in China exceeded 250 million, with an average of 1 in every 6 individuals affected. The group suffering from hair loss is trending younger, with 84% of people experiencing hair loss before the age of 30.
2.According to Moojing Analysis+, the sales revenue for anti-hair loss products on mainstream e-commerce platforms from December 2022 to November 2023 was 4.14 billion yuan, which is a decrease of 33.7% year-on-year. Regulations introduced in 2021 raised the development threshold for anti-hair loss products, which has led to a general cooling of the market for this category.
3.Products such as anti-hair loss essences and scalp treatments have grown against the trend, and professional care products are gradually becoming a part of consumers' daily routines. We believe anti-hair loss products will need to keep improving through specialised research and closer segmentation of the market.
National Health Commission survey data shows that as early as 2019, over 250 million people in China suffered from hair loss, or 1 in every 6 individuals, of whom approximately 163 million were men and 88 million were women. Hair loss is also arriving earlier, with 84% of sufferers experiencing it before the age of 30, which is 20 years earlier than the previous generation. Many young people work under considerable stress, and staying up late and eating irregular and greasy meals are common habits, which helps explain why premature hair loss has become widespread.
Based on Moojing Social Listening, interaction volume on mainstream social media concerning the topic of anti-hair loss reached 150 million over the past year, which is a 172.6% increase year-on-year.
Although consumer interest continues to rise, sales revenue of anti-hair loss products on mainstream e-commerce platforms has cooled over the past year, and brands have slowed the pace of new product development. This article draws on data from Moojing Analysis+ and e-commerce listening, combined with publicly available market information, to set out the development trends of anti-hair loss products and identify the concepts and categories that are growing against the trend.
Overall Cooling Of The Anti-Hair Loss Market, Mid-To-High Price Range Holds Potential#
China's anti-hair loss market is large, and Guosheng Securities research values the domestic hair growth industry at approximately 114 billion yuan. According to Moojing Analysis+, sales revenue for anti-hair loss products on mainstream e-commerce platforms from December 2022 to November 2023 was 4.14 billion yuan, which fell by 33.7% year-on-year. Sales volume was about 29.845 million units, a decrease of 27.4%. This signifies a cooling in online sales.
The cooling of the anti-hair loss market is also reflected on the product side.
The "Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation," enacted in 2021, set new requirements for anti-hair loss products. Regulators had previously defined "hair fostering" as having three functions, promoting hair growth, preventing hair loss and preventing hair breakage, and under the regulation the concept of hair fostering is being gradually abolished. Most importantly, an anti-hair loss product must now pass a human efficacy evaluation proving that it prevents hair loss before it can advertise this claim, which has further raised the threshold for the category. According to the National Medical Products Administration, as of 2023, only 63 anti-hair loss products were among the 5178 approved domestic special cosmetics.
In 2023, the market for anti-hair loss products on e-commerce platforms was fragmented, with long-established domestic brands and large international companies selling alongside each other, while the high barrier to entry means that few new brands have entered the market. Domestic brands are mainly traditional ones such as Tongrentang and BaWang, which centre their product concepts on traditional Chinese herbal ingredients such as ginger and Polygonum multiflorum. International brands include Foltène, known for its Western essential oil hair care, and the professional hair care brand Kérastase.
Moojing Analysis+ data shows that 76.7% of anti-hair loss products on e-commerce platforms are concentrated in the low-to-mid price range below 148 yuan. This range is one of the main price segments chosen by consumers, accounting for about 35% of overall sales. The mid-to-high price range of 148-450 yuan is where consumers tend to purchase most, with sales making up over 50% of the total. Product quantity in this range is only about 20%, indicating a relative shortage in supply and opportunities for brands to focus on this segment.
Breakdown Of Popular Products: Anti-Hair Loss Essence Grows Against The Trend#
While sales of anti-hair loss products cooled overall, some concepts have grown against the trend.
Anti-hair loss essence is one of the better-performing categories within the market. According to Moojing Analysis+, between December 2022 and November 2023, the sales of this category on mainstream e-commerce platforms amounted to about 160 million yuan, an increase of 25% year-on-year, with sales exceeding 564,000 units. Anti-hair loss essence is marketed on stronger and more targeted efficacy, and in recent years it has become the choice of more and more young consumers worried about thinning hair. According to Moojing Social Listening data, interactions related to anti-hair loss essence totalled 3.625 million over the past year.
International professional hair care brands such as Foltène, Kangru and Kérastase are well established in this niche, where years of work in anti-hair loss and hair care have given them deep experience in product development and marketing, and some newer brands have also entered the segment with distinctive products. The three brands below illustrate different approaches to product positioning.
FOLICULO密思丝密: A Scientist Brand at the High End#
The low price range below 276 yuan is a major purchasing choice for consumers, with nearly 80% of products in this segment, where competition is fierce, so we believe the mid-to-high-end product line has significant development potential. FOLICULO密思丝密, a new brand positioned on hair loss and hair fostering, has positioned itself in this high-end part of the market.
FOLICULO密思丝密 is a scientist brand under Jieren, which launched its first product line at the end of 2021. The brand's founder has held R&D leadership positions at well-known international companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever and General Motors, with a strong background in scientific research. Products under FOLICULO密思丝密 are priced between 439 and 3810 yuan, and the brand's best-selling product is a hair follicle nourishing ampoule marketed for hair loss, priced at 1280 yuan for 30 vials.
According to the brand, the product was jointly developed by scientists from China, the United States and France. It includes proprietary ingredients such as hydrolyzed yeast protein and chicory root extract, as well as scalp care components, and is designed to reduce hair loss by improving the environment in which hair follicles grow.
Foltène: A Three-Phase Serum Built on Long R&D#
Foltène belongs to the French pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre and has a long history with global operations.
The Triphasic Anti-Hair Loss Serum is Foltène's best-known product. Its core ingredients are Epilobium angustifolium extract and Cress extract, in a formula with 40 years of R&D history, and it uses three "freshness-locking" technologies, in which powder, oil and liquid are kept in separate states until the user mixes them before use. The user then applies the serum with an ergonomic massage head, which makes the scalp treatment more engaging to use.
The Triphasic Anti-Hair Loss Serum also does well on repeat purchase. Moojing E-commerce Listening shows that 35% of the product-related comments involve repurchases.
YangYuanQing: Herbal Formulation at an Affordable Price#
YangYuanQing is a scalp care brand under Yunnan Baiyao, which offers solutions for the scalp health of Chinese consumers based on Chinese herbal ingredients. It is one of the few domestic brands with a visible presence in anti-hair loss essence, and its product is priced well below most of the category.
Priced at 89 yuan, YangYuanQing's Anti-Hair Loss and Hair Fostering Liquid is affordable among anti-hair loss products that are priced in the hundreds or even thousands of yuan, and it also holds an invention patent. Its main components are natural plants and Chinese herbal medicines such as Platycladus orientalis leaves, Sophora flavescens and Cnidium monnieri, which are intended to create a healthy scalp environment. We believe the light competition at this price gives the product significant room to grow.
These three brands all hold invention patents, but they differ in product positioning: FOLICULO密思丝密 focuses on high-end ingredients, YangYuanQing on affordable traditional Chinese herbal formulations, and Foltène on its long history and the experience of using its product. Each has built its place in a niche through distinct product features.
Scalp Care Concept Continues to Rise in Popularity#
While online sales of anti-hair loss products cooled overall, the "scalp care" subcategory still grew. According to Moojing Market Intelligence+ data, from December 2022 to November 2023, the sales of anti-hair loss shampoo and conditioner products in this category reached nearly 600 million yuan, up 7.1% year on year.
A CBNData survey found that over 80% of the population undertook specific scalp care in 2023, and consumer awareness of "treating hair as you would skin" and of the need for scalp care has increased significantly.
Through Moojing social listening, we found that over a rolling year the volume of social media discourse on "scalp health" and "scalp care" rose 311% to 439,000 mentions, with interactions of up to 68.24 million. Consumers have even adopted a hair care version of "Vitamin C in the morning and Vitamin A in the evening", and concepts such as the scalp microbiome and anti-aging have begun to appear in hair and scalp care products.
Domestic and international brands such as Kérastase, Chando and Off&Relax have since launched scalp care products that claim soothing, oil-controlling, antioxidant, barrier-strengthening, scalp flora balancing, scalp micro-ecology and anti-aging effects, and Off&Relax, for example, has launched a scalp repair serum.
In summary, the development of anti-hair loss essences and scalp care products shows that professional-grade care products are gradually entering consumers' daily lives. As the number of people experiencing hair loss grows and gets younger, Generation Z is becoming the main consumer group for anti-hair loss products. Consumers' requirements for hair care ingredients and efficacy are rising and their purchase decisions are becoming more rational. We believe brands will need to use consumer data to understand these demands, and to keep upgrading their products through specialisation and market segmentation, with scientific innovation aimed at specific needs.
This content adheres to Moojing's editorial standards .
Frequently Asked Questions
National Health Commission survey data put more than 250 million people in China with hair loss as early as 2019, or one in every 6, of whom roughly 163 million were men and 88 million women. The condition is arriving earlier: 84% of sufferers experience it before age 30, some 20 years earlier than the previous generation, which coincides with work stress, late nights and irregular diets. Research sizes the domestic hair growth industry at around 114 billion yuan. Social interaction on the topic reached 150 million over the year covered, up 172.6%.
Regulation. Sales of anti-hair loss products on mainstream e-commerce platforms were 4.14 billion yuan from December 2022 to November 2023, down 33.7% year on year on volume of about 29.845 million units (-27.4%), even as social interest rose sharply. The 2021 Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation is the cause: the "hair fostering" concept is being phased out, and a product must now pass human efficacy evaluation before it can make an anti-hair loss claim at all. As of 2023 only 63 anti-hair loss products sat among 5178 approved domestic special cosmetics. The threshold rose, brands slowed new product development, and the category cooled, which we read as a contraction in supply while consumer interest kept rising.
In the mid-to-high band, where supply has not followed demand. 76.7% of anti-hair loss products on e-commerce platforms sit in the low-to-mid range below 148 yuan, and that band accounts for about 35% of sales. The 148-450 yuan range is where consumers actually concentrate their spending, with over 50% of sales, yet only about 20% of products are positioned there. That mismatch is the clearest structural opening in the category: a crowded low tier competing on price against an under-supplied mid-to-high tier where the buyer has already demonstrated willingness to pay.
Anti-hair loss essence and scalp care. Essence sales on mainstream platforms reached about 160 million yuan between December 2022 and November 2023, up 25% on volume above 564,000 units, with 3.625 million related social interactions, and it is marketed on stronger, more specific efficacy. Scalp care is the broader shift: anti-hair loss shampoo and conditioner products reached nearly 600 million yuan, up 7.1%, and social discourse on scalp health and scalp care rose 311% to 439,000 mentions with 68.24 million interactions. Survey work found over 80% of the population undertaking specific scalp care in 2023. The organising idea is "treat hair as you would skin", and it is pulling professional-grade care into daily routines.
