China Men's Hair Color: Content Commerce and Packaging Gaps

Executive Summary#

China's men's hair color and gray coverage segment posted CN¥ 139 million in MAT2023 sales on two leading established marketplaces, almost flat on the year. Macroeconomic headwinds briefly slowed a market that has grown at a +35.19% five-year CAGR. On a leading content-led marketplace, the category grew 689% YoY to CN¥ 6.89 million in January-August 2023, with sales closely following the volume of topic discussion on the platform. Bigen (美源) has built its business on heritage and reputation, while Schwarzkopf (施华蔻) has relied on product innovation and L'Oréal Men Expert (欧莱雅) on celebrity endorsement. Across the three brands studied, the most common consumer complaint is the same, which is that single-use-only packaging gives buyers a poor sense of value. We believe that a brand which offers multi-use packaging and widens its color range beyond basic gray coverage is well placed to drive the segment's next stage of growth.

Market Overview: Structural Growth, Cyclical Dip#

Men's hair color and gray coverage is a category driven by recurring need. Unlike discretionary skincare, gray coverage answers a need that does not go away, since men whose hair is graying keep buying. That steady demand shows in the five-year CAGR of +35.19% on the established marketplaces, which places this sub-category alongside depilatory cream as one of the two fastest-growing segments in China's men's personal care market.

MAT2023 sales reached CN¥ 139 million ^[1] at an average product price of CN¥ 56.07, compared with CN¥ 57.91 in the prior period, which we believe reflects modest pressure on price rather than weaker demand. Sales volumes in the September 2022 to August 2023 rolling year softened only slightly, and the market was almost flat on the year as consumers turned to trusted, established brands during a period of economic uncertainty.

Monthly sales peak at the November 11.11 and June 6.18 shopping festivals, with a consistent baseline of CN¥ 9-13 million a month. Sales became more concentrated among the larger brands over the three rolling years, which we believe reflects consumers consolidating their spending around brands they trust during a period of economic uncertainty.

Price Segment Dynamics: The Mid-Range Holds#

The price segments show a more nuanced picture than the polarisation seen in the wider skincare market.

The CN¥ 50-100 segment is the only price band in which both product count (+7.2%) and sales (+5.5%) grew, which shows healthy demand at moderate price points. The CN¥ 150-200 segment gives the least expected reading, since product count fell 11.6% while sales grew 1.0% YoY, so fewer products each sold more, driven by brand-loyal consumers buying multi-pack combination sets for repeat use. Sales in the bands above CN¥ 200 came under pressure, which suggests that men buying hair color put functional performance ahead of luxury positioning. Overall product count expanded by 11.5% while sales were almost flat, which points to intensifying competition, particularly at the affordable CN¥ 0-50 end, where barriers to entry remain low.

Content-Led Commerce: Sales Follow Topic Volume#

Content-led commerce is turning men's hair color from a mature category that consumers search for into one they discover through content, and it has become a source of growth for the category. On a leading content-led marketplace, sales reached CN¥ 6.89 million in January-August 2023, up 689% YoY ^[2], with monthly sales rising from under CN¥ 100,000 in early 2022 to over CN¥ 1.5 million by June 2023.

Sales on the platform follow the volume of topic discussion unusually closely:

Topic volume on the platform grew from approximately 300-600 mentions a month in early 2022 to 8,000-10,000 mentions a month by mid-2023, a 15-20x increase that closely matches the rise in sales. The average product price on the platform was approximately CN¥ 40, as small and medium brands compete on price to attract first-time buyers. We believe that brands which pursue the channel only through promotional pricing, without investing in their brand, risk wearing down the category's price level.

Brand Strategies: Three Brands, Three Approaches#

The three brands studied have each taken a different route in men's hair color.

Bigen (美源) has built its business on decades of reputation and a "gray coverage expert" positioning, and sells mainly through its brand flagship store. Its star product is the Bigen Men's Press-Type Hair Dye Cream, which dispenses its two components at the same time so that the color can be applied with a single comb.

Schwarzkopf (施华蔻) has relied on product innovation, with an in-bottle mixing design that applies the dye directly through a brush in the cap, so that no separate tools are needed. Its star product, the Schwarzkopf Men's Series Hair Dye Cream, is positioned on fast color development and low irritation.

L'Oréal Men Expert (欧莱雅) launched a twist-and-comb gel format in July 2022, endorsed by the celebrity Zhu Yilong. The L'Oreal Men's Hair Dye Gel is marketed as non-sticky, ammonia-free and gentle, with low irritation.

Portability satisfaction is high across the three brands' products, at 94-100%, which supports the category's move toward no-mix, single-unit application formats, while consumers' views of color and scent vary more from product to product.

The brands also use social platforms differently. On Xiaohongshu (小红书), Schwarzkopf's discussion consists mostly of hair dyeing diary posts written from a girlfriend's perspective, which reach the female partners who influence many purchasing decisions. L'Oréal Men Expert concentrated its KOL activity in July-September 2022, around the launch of its gel format.

Consumer Profile: Post-95s Trend Followers and Gray Coverage Converts#

The demographics of the hair color category differ from those of other men's grooming sub-categories in two important ways. Women account for a much larger share of the discussion, and the male buyer is younger than in segments such as depilatory cream.

Women account for 73.19% of social media discussion of men's hair color and men for 26.81%, driven mainly by female fans discussing celebrities' changes of hair color and by female partners sharing their experience of dyeing a partner's hair. Among male participants, the 21-30 age range accounts for the largest share, with 26-30 at 26.6% and 21-25 at 24.7%.

By city tier, Tier 1 cities account for 43.6% of discussion and new Tier 1 cities for 31.8%, which together make up 75.4% of the total. Second-tier cities contribute 11.1%, which suggests a wider geographic reach than in newer sub-categories such as depilatory cream.

Our consumer persona analysis identifies four distinct segments:

• Fan community members: Post-95s and Post-00s who follow the styling choices of idols and celebrities and treat hair color as an expression of fan identity
• Fashion trendsetters: men who care about their whole appearance and actively research skincare, outfits and styling combinations
• Travel enthusiasts: consumers who document their lifestyle through social sharing and treat personal styling as part of their identity
• Hobby spenders: consumers with a high willingness to pay, who spend on idol merchandise, live music and IP products

One demand appears across all four segments: male consumers want more than gray coverage. They are asking for trendy, skin-brightening, brown-toned hair colors, described on social media as "no-makeup-needed, no-bleach-required, and textured." The market's almost exclusive focus on black gray coverage leaves this demand unmet.

The Category-Wide Pain Point: Single-Use Packaging#

The most common complaint in consumer reviews across the category is the single-use-only packaging design. Consumers describe:

• Being unable to use the remaining product for partial touch-ups
• Poor value for money given the small quantity
• Staining during application that is difficult to clean

Bigen's press-type format addresses the single-use limitation in its flagship product, and consumers rate its color and color fastness more highly than those of the brand's traditional format.

We believe the opportunity is clear, since a brand that offers multi-application packaging and a color range beyond black, with consistent results at a mid-range price, would address the three most frequent pain points in the category at once.

Key Takeaways#

• Hair color on the established marketplaces held at CN¥ 139M, almost flat on the year, with a five-year CAGR of +35.19%, which we read as a cyclical dip in a category that is still growing structurally
• On a leading content-led marketplace, sales grew 689% YoY to CN¥ 6.89M in Jan-Aug 2023, closely following topic volume on the platform, so brands that invest in content creation help drive the category's growth
• Bigen (美源) has built its business on heritage and reputation, while Schwarzkopf (施华蔻) has relied on its in-bottle mixing design
• L'Oréal Men Expert built its launch on a new gel format and a celebrity endorsement, and we believe that sustained content investment, more than short promotional bursts, is what builds a lasting presence on content-led commerce
• Single-use packaging is the most consistent consumer complaint across the category, which makes multi-application design the most practical product innovation open to brands
• The Post-95s and Post-00s consumer segment wants trendy brown-toned hair colors beyond gray coverage, a demand that the market has yet to meet

About the Data#

This analysis draws on Moojing Market Intelligence data covering Q4 2023.

Moojing analyses brand and category performance across major Chinese e-commerce platforms. For full methodology and additional insights, see the complete Men's Personal Care whitepaper.