Extensions have become a primary hair accessory to add to the appearance of a hairstyle. Their popularity is largely due to the various ways’ extensions can be used in different hairstyles and textures that make it a versatile product. There are many reasons why people decide to wear extensions, but the overall appearance is a primary factor to why many people choose to wear them. Statistics show that most people who choose to wear extensions suffer from severe hair loss or aiming for excessive hair growth, according to a poll conducted by Hairtrade.com nearly 38% of woman use hair extensions as part of their beauty routine, and an average of 68% reported they were unhappy with their hair. Women choosing to wear individual hair extensions has become more prominent in recent years. Although it first gained its mass popularity among the early 90s and 2000s trends, hair extensions solidified their impact in the beauty industry through the growth of social media—influencers were able to use their platforms to promote small businesses and companies, hair and beauty products capitalized off their names. Extensions have become a selling point for many influential people, allowing companies to collaborate to sell celebrity hair extensions. The hair industry uses collaborations and collections with celebrities and social media influencers to launch a line of celebrity hair extensions that see an increase in sales.
What’s The Hype Behind Extensions?
Extensions are considered the most important hair accessory; every major industry and company aims to sell extensions to capitalize on their profits. The sheer versatility of extensions is what makes them such a popular styling choice for all hair types, from Russian hair extensions to ombre extensions and even hand tied extensions to create all different types of hairstyles. Through the influence of social media there’s a broader platform to appeal to a mass audience to gain an influx of customers, even selling the same product social media allows businesses to appeal to consumers in multiple ways—Are you buying hair? Selling hair? Looking for a hair stylist? You don’t have to look too far to satisfy all your needs for hair. The hair industry focuses on the level of views a certain product gains when an influencer promotes using it and tailors the product accordingly, such as celebrity hair extensions. Millennials heavily rely on social media for insight into news and personal interests, which allows the beauty and hair industry to easily promote their products through ads based on their likes, views, and searches—market research is heavily relied upon to gather and organize information about a company’s intended target and consumers to appeal to their specific demographics.
How Social Media Influenced Hair Extensions
Social media has been at the forefront of many debates about its usefulness—is social media hindering us? Are we too reliant on social media? But realistically social media has significantly made technological strides in all industries and even helped strengthened our economy with the influx of income it provided through consumer demand. The hair and beauty industry saw a considerable amount of this growth because of the increase in social media presence. Studies show the hair extension market has been growing at a rate of 2.7% and it’s projected to grow an additional 3% over the next few years. The constant growth that the hair industry sees is primarily due to its vast network and connections with people that have gained popularity on social media; influencers typically collaborate to create products, such as celebrity hair extensions that design various extension pieces like ombre and keratin extensions. In a recent study conducted by HairRx, 1,000 women participated; 80% of participants ranging from 30-60 admitted their hair influenced their personal outlook. Styles and trends are always changing; the trends of today may not be favored the next day, which is why social media is so essential to building and preserving difficult patterns, including extensions and hairstyles. If you aren’t constantly updating your inventory and styling looks, you could potentially get lost in the many trends that are constantly recreating themselves for a better look tomorrow. The range of the hair industry created by social media allows us to keep up with the looks of tomorrow, today.
