Shampoo sales slide by £23m in one year because British women are washing their hair less

Sales of shampoo have fallen by £23 million in the past year because women in the UK are washing their hair less often.

Trade magazine The Grocer reported that changing lifestyles are having a massive effect on shampoo sales.

Figures compiled for the publication by consumer analysts Nielsen found that sales of some shampoo brands fell by up to 15 per cent.

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Nielsen said the drop was down to more women working from home and the decline of smoking.

The company’s Jessica Ragoschke told The Grocer: “People are working from home, detoxing and using no shampoo, and fewer people are smoking, so females are using less shampoo less frequently than before.

“Consumers are simplifying their hair care routines and opting for a more casual or natural style as well as increasingly using substitute products like dry shampoo.”

Brands such as Pantene and Head & Shoulders saw sales slide by up to 7.9 per cent over the past year, while Herbal Essences sales fell 14.6 per cent – a revenue loss of £3.2 million.

Ian Morley, group sales director of northern Europe for Procter & Gamble, which owns Herbal Essences, Pantene and Head & Shoulders, told The Grocer: “We are also seeing a trend for longer hair, with more women growing their hair which is having an impact on the number of times per week women are washing their hair.”

However, it wasn’t just women who ditched certain bathroom products in the past 12 months – sales of razors and blades fell by two per cent.

“Men’s shaving has largely dropped as the consumer trend for facial hair, from light stubble to full beards, remains popular,” Nielsen’s Luke-Rael Prior told The Grocer.

“Also, the trend is becoming more accepted in workplaces and older traditional stigmas about facial hair have been discarded.”

Men with beards are turning to more high-end razors to trim tougher facial hair.

Sales of deodorant also slumped, with a £3.1 million decrease across the market. Sales of Lynx men’s deodorant dropped by 3.3 per cent.

And sales of soap, that old favourite, fell by 6.6 per cent.

However, Britons still care about keeping their teeth clean – sales of toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash increased by £7 million.

Mr Morley said: “Oral care has always been treated as a health category but in recent years it has been moving more towards the beauty arena where a white smile is no longer only there for celebrities.”