the hairdressing market | Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

Being a hairdresser consists of performing various hygienic and aesthetic care operations on the hair in a hair salon, or directly in the client's home. Hairdressing services include haircuts, coloring, perms, and many others. Salons have developed several ancillary activities, including the sale of beauty products and accessories that are used by specialists to take care of clients' hair and to allow them to carry out enhanced professional treatments at home as well. The hairdressing market can be segmented by customer type (mainly defined by age group), brand (referring to the brand of products used or sold in a salon), type of service (in a salon or at home), and geographic region.

The global hairdressing market was valued at $77.15 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach a value of $112.97 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 5.6 % over the period 2021-2028.

In Italy, the development of the hairdressing market is due to the large number of players, especially small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, specializing in the sector. The density of hairdressing salons per inhabitant is very high in Italy, where it is one salon for every 650 inhabitants. Italians love the hairdressing profession as it is highly creative, fascinating and allows them to start their own business with little initial investment.

Optimism in the growth of the industry has led salon owners to invest in staff training, intending to provide better, quality services to male and female customers. In fact, in the current year, 46.3 % of hairdressers attended a course specializing in technical work, such as coloring. In particular, this sector offers the greatest opportunities for young people. About 190,000 of them are employed in the 90,000 salons distributed throughout the country, accounting for 2.2% of Italian small and medium-sized enterprises.