It isn’t just restaurant dishes — and the people eating them — that are seemingly diminishing in volume thanks to the rapid rise of GLP-1s, now taken by 11% of US adults — equivalent to around 29 million people. Hair volume and density appear to be going the same way.
According to social media-tracking analyst Spate, interest in GLP-1 hair thinning is rising, with 302,000 related mentions in Google search over the last 12 months — an almost 58% year-on-year rise. Google searches for, “Does Wegovy cause hair loss?”, referring to the GLP-1, are up 450% over the same period. And searches for “Mounjaro hair loss” are up more than 100% year-on-year, according to Google data courtesy of Boots.
That interest is translating into spending. Online retailer Cult Beauty has seen sales in its hair loss and thinning category rise 30% in the past year, while Boots has recorded a similar 30% uptick in scalpcare.
The numbers don’t lie. What used to be a niche corner of the haircare market is now a serious player in our beauty routines — and a significant growth opportunity for the brands that can deliver.
Hair loss has a new consumer
Of course, it’s not just GLP-1 related. Hair loss is moving from what McKinsey partner Sara Hudson describes as a “relatively narrow, male-centered and medically managed concern” into a mainstream beauty, health and wellness category, as a much broader range of consumers seek solutions for different types and triggers of thinning — from perimenopause and female pattern hair loss, to temporary GLP-1 or Covid-related shedding.
In the consultancy’s global research of 15,000 consumers across 13 countries, preventing or treating hair loss is now the third most common goal when shopping for haircare, behind only overall hair nourishment and hair control and styling. Around one in five consumers globally regularly uses a dedicated hair loss-prevention or reduction product.
Perhaps, most interestingly, women are now more likely to use a hair loss product than men — 22% versus 16%. It is a significant reversal for a category historically dominated by male-pattern baldness, and considerably expands the number of consumers brands can speak to.
“In the past five years, there’s been an influx of different people noticing hair thinning or loss in density,” says trichologist Hannah Gaboardi. She has also seen the demographic change as more young women suffer from thinning and shedding.
Stress and genetics sit alongside hormonal changes, nutritional deficiencies, rapid weight loss, pregnancy, and menopause as potential triggers. “This is being driven by a growing understanding of specific life stage triggers: menopause, postpartum, and GLP-1 use,” says Alice Crossley, principal foresight analyst at The Future Laboratory.
Social media is an important driver, taking female hair loss from discussions held behind closed doors to TikTok videos and Reddit threads. As well as making the subject less taboo, it has given consumers a new vocabulary around scalp health, shedding and treatment — and a seemingly endless stream of potential solutions.
The GLP-1 effect
GLP-1s have poured fuel on an already flaming fire. While hair shedding associated with rapid weight loss is typically temporary, the sheer scale of GLP-1 use means a new cohort of consumers is looking for ways to protect or restore density.
Retailers have been quick to respond. Earlier this summer, Boots introduced dedicated GLP-1 zones into more than 220 stores, curating products around some of the concerns that can accompany significant weight loss, from skin elasticity and nutrition to hair loss.
“In totality, weight loss treatment is creating an entirely new beauty need,” says Chelsey Saunders, director of haircare, skincare and fragrance at Boots. “As demand grows, we expect customers to seek products that support visible changes in skin, body, and hair.”
For haircare brands, however, GLP-1 users represent just one part of a much bigger opportunity.
The skinification of hair loss
If beauty’s past decade was about teaching consumers to understand skincare ingredients and think about prevention rather than cure, the same sentiment is now being applied to our scalps.
“Consumers increasingly approach the scalp as skin and hair thinning as a solvable health and wellness issue, rather than just a cosmetic concern,” says Hudson. That has been accompanied by a proliferation of products that would look at home in a skincare routine: targeted serums, exfoliating treatments, supplements and red-light devices, marketed with the language of actives, clinical studies and efficacy.
At Cult Beauty, sales of scalp treatments are up 147% year-on-year, while the recently launched K18 FutureIQ Biomimetic Hair Longevity Serum has already exceeded the retailer’s launch targets. Boots, meanwhile, points to Plantur, Vichy and Nizoral as brands currently driving its scalp category.
On the high street, L’Oréal, Dove and Pantene have all recently launched anti-hair loss and growth-boosting formulas, while one bottle of Chāmpo’s viral Pitta Growth Serum sells every 30 seconds.
At the other end of the spectrum, Currentbody’s LED Hair Growth Helmet is among its bestselling red light devices — e-commerce analytics platform Particl estimates that the innovative helmet generated around $539,000 from 627 units sold in the US in the last month alone. And just last week, Beyoncé’s scalp and haircare label Cécred announced it will launch in SpaceNK, following a period of impressive growth; its Ulta launch was the largest premium haircare rollout in the retailer’s history, and its Restoring Hair and Edge Drops — a density serum — is Ulta’s top seller in prestige haircare.
The timing is opportune. “Beauty as a whole has become saturated, skincare especially is crowded and hard to innovate in, so brands and consumers are turning to adjacent categories like haircare, bodycare and even oral care, where there’s more white space to do something interesting,” says Crossley.
Consumers are also prepared to pay for it. Hair loss prevention or reduction products are the number one haircare category consumers globally say they splurge on most, according to McKinsey, ahead of leave-in oils and serums. Hair loss supplements also rank highly.
The category has another commercial advantage: results take time and that can translate into months or even years of repeat purchasing. Hudson describes hair loss as an “ongoing outcome” space, where continuity matters and consumers are willing to spend more to find something they believe works. Once they do, trust creates “stickiness” and loyalty.
It also lends itself to e-commerce: consumers can privately research a sensitive concern, compare ingredients and evidence, and subscribe to or replenish products online. A successful product can therefore become a gateway to a much longer — and potentially more lucrative — haircare relationship.
The question of efficacy
With opportunity, of course, comes opportunism. Search for “hair growth” today and the results will span supplements, scalp serums, and red light helmets and devices, all promising varying degrees of thicker, stronger or healthier hair.
But hair loss isn’t a singular diagnosis. “It can be caused by multiple factors; it is important to understand the root cause to receive appropriate treatment,” says Gaboardi.
Genetics, hormonal changes, nutritional deficiencies, stress and rapid weight loss can all play a role — and what helps one consumer may do little for another. For beauty brands, that creates a challenge.
Improving scalp condition, reducing breakage, or making existing hair appear fuller is not the same as stimulating new growth — and consumers are becoming more discerning about the difference.
Saunders says Boots customers are increasingly shopping by ingredient and looking for actives, with demand shifting toward more “science-backed and evidence-based” products. As the category gets busier, the ability to demonstrate efficacy — rather than simply borrow scientific language — could separate its long-term winners from those capitalizing on the moment. Prevention is better than cure
Perhaps the biggest commercial opportunity, however, lies with those who aren’t losing their hair at all. “As we enter a new era of wellness, people have started to prioritize preventing hair loss and looking after their hair more,” says Gaboardi. In cases of genetic hair loss, she says, intervening earlier offers a greater opportunity to preserve existing hair before progressive miniaturization of the follicles makes significant regrowth harder.
It is a familiar beauty playbook. Skincare has spent years moving consumers away from treating visible signs of aging toward prevention and, most recently, skin longevity. Haircare is beginning to do the same. The Future Laboratory’s Crossley describes it as part of the broader “pre-aging, prevention-first mindset” consumers increasingly apply to their appearances.
The language is changing, too. “Hair growth” and “hair loss” increasingly sit alongside softer — and considerably more universal — concepts of scalp health, density, and “hair longevity”. K18’s new serum is one example of the latter moving directly into product nomenclature.
For businesses, the distinction matters. A product designed to treat hair loss speaks to those already experiencing it, while one that promises to maintain healthy and dense hair for longer can theoretically speak to almost anyone.
From hair loss to hair longevity
The next phase is also likely to become more targeted. McKinsey predicts a “much more segmented hair health ecosystem”, with solutions tailored to different types of loss — from temporary GLP-1-related shedding and perimenopausal thinning to male hair loss. Hudson also sees opportunity in designing products and delivery formats for a broader range of hair types and styles, including braids, locs, extensions, and curls and coils.
That could move the category away from the one-size-fits-all “hair growth” product toward something closer to personalized skincare: identify the concern, target its cause, and build a long-term regimen around it. With relatively few haircare brands currently offering hair-supportive supplements, there is also obvious scope to expand beyond the bathroom shelf, creating an internal-external approach to hair health much like the one we have adopted for skin.
For an industry constantly searching for its next growth category, the potential is significant. The hair loss consumer is no longer the person watching more strands than usual disappear down the shower drain. If beauty can convince shoppers to care for their future hair in the way they already care for their future skin, the opportunity becomes considerably bigger: almost everyone who wants to keep the hair they have.