Hair color continues to drive sales at salons—and is expected to stay a strong growth component for at least the next five years.

According to the new 2013 Professional Salon Haircolor Study from Professional Consultants & Resources, sales of professional salon hair color products at manufacturers’ shipment dollars grew 3.6% in 2013 to $783 million, with hair color continuing to be the primary driver of the salon business around which all other services revolve.

“Salon hair color services initially bring in clients for hair color services, who then subsequently return for retouches, cuts, styling, blowouts, keratin treatments, other services and to purchase hair care products,” Cyrus Bulsara, president of Professional Consultants & Resources, a strategic consulting company and a data supplier to the professional beauty industry.

The study also found that hair color was still the largest, most robustly growing and major salon product category, and is projected to continue growing strongly over the next five years. Growth is expected to come from increased salon visits by clients seeking gray coverage, and young adults and Millennials seeking fashion color. New hair color brands and trends toward color vibrancy drive growth for demi-permanents, permanents, vibrants/vivids, pastels, lighteners and color refreshers. Salon hair color service dollars grew by 3.7% to $16.1 billion, as salon client visits increased. New and old evolving services such as balayage, ombrés, highlights, tonal/low lights, pastels, vivids and vibrants created a fresh new demand.

Other study findings included:

• Haircolor grew robustly in a recovering U.S. economy with better disposable incomes.

• Top distribution realignments are complete, allowing most salon haircolor brands to focus on salon education and growth.

• Chair and suite rentals continued to gain haircolor market share from mid-tier salon chains, as clients migrated away from impersonal mall salons and followed their favorite stylists.

• Manufacturers’ sales of demi- and semi-permanent color grew at 1.5 times the rate of all haircolor products.

• Men’s haircolor services for gray coverage/blending sharply increased at upscale men’s barbershops and salons.

• Crèmes/gels continued to outsell liquid haircolor in a huge usage shift. Major liquids all now have crème or gel versions.

• L’Oréal continued to lead overall haircolor sales with its Matrix, Redken, L’Oréal Technique and L’Oréal Professionnel brands.

• P&G followed closely with its rapidly growing full-service new and revived brands like Koleston, Illumina and Innosense.

• KAO’s Goldwell, Sally Beauty’s Color and Schwarzkopf followed, with strong growth shown by Sally’s own-label brands.

• Rounding out the market leaders were John Paul Mitchell Systems, Farouk Systems, Aveda, Framesi, TIGI and Joico.

• European Union (EU) haircolor companies like Keune, Davines, Framesi, AlfaParf, plus U.S. companies Pravana and Aloxxi, showed continued growth.

The study includes major sections on men’s hair color services/products, hair color advertising and shipment market shares for all leading hair color corporations and by division. To access purchase information to the study, please click ProConsultants.us.