What are today's consumers biggest hair care concerns? In this exclusive podcast, Cosmetics & Toiletries advisor Trefor Evans, Ph.D., of TRI-Princeton, and lead organizer of the 8th International Conference on Applied Hair Science provides insights and describes what technical challenges they pose; along with ideas to resolve them.
Evans: Today’s concerns are the same as they always have been. Everybody wants shiny, beautiful hair. Strong, healthy hair that won’t break prematurely and give rise to split ends. Soft, moisturized-feeling hair—although that has no actual relationship to real water content in hair.
These attributes have been around a long, long time and are still important. Every now and then, though, a new attribute comes along. I’ve been in the industry long enough to know that 15 years ago, color fade protection became a hot thing.
Seven or eight years ago, very straight hair styles became popular. Heat protection also became very popular there for a while. More recently, people are calling us about scalp care. I'm not really sure what that means [to them]; perhaps anti-dandruff care. Also, it seems that anti-pollution has become hot, although it seems more relevant to skin.
Editor's note: Learn more about the technical challenges these trends pose, what researchers remain stumped over and where the industry is likely to evolve in our exclusive podcast. Listen now!
