HAIR STYLES FOR MEN?

When consumers want to master the latest hairstyle, they ask. Even in the most routine moments, people try new things. With a touch, or just a word, our mobile devices can summon ideas that we may have never thought of. This is especially true when it comes to how we style our hair, a decision we make every single morning. While we used to stick with what we knew—perhaps a look from a magazine or a stylist's recommendation—now, the options are endless. Take Mabel, who was standing in front of her bathroom mirror, smartphone in hand, thinking about how to style her hair. She wanted something that was versatile, on-trend and suitable for dry hair. A mobile search later, she landed on the wet-hair look and learned how to get it. Many people now turn to smartphones in these I-want-that-look moments, as evidenced by search and video trends. Of all Google Search queries related to beauty, the majority are done on mobile. To see what consumers are looking for in these micro-moments, we analyzed the monthly volume of beauty-related Search queries from January 2013 to August 2015. The result is an in-depth look at three emerging trends—men's hair, braids, and bold hair colors. It's also a wake-up call, as we saw that many brands aren't reaching consumers in these moments of intent. Men's hair: an untapped market The market for men's hair care is rapidly expanding. In fact, 2015 is the first year that there has been more interest in men's hair than women's hair on Google (by around 6%).1 "It's like waking a sleeping giant," says Ellen Sideri, founder and CEO of the trend research agency ESP Trendlab. Not only is the industry bigger than it's ever been, but men are dream customers. "Men tend to have more brand loyalty than women, and are more likely to buy products that the barber recommends," says Rob McMillen, head barber at Blind Barber in New York. What are consumers looking for today? The "man bun" has emerged as one of the most popular hairstyle searches over the last year. While Jared Leto and Leonardo DiCaprio were among the first celebrities to put the man bun in the spotlight, search volume puts Harry Styles as the celebrity most associated with the trend since October 2014. Thanks in part to Hollywood's and social media's embrace (see #manbunmonday), the man bun is everywhere. Now, lots of men are trying to to get the look themselves, turning to search as their stylist in I-want-to-do moments. Of all queries about the style, questions like "how to grow a man bun" and "how to tie a man bun" are most common. Next up, the "comb-over." This style has been a steadily growing trend over the last few years, especially in California. Once associated with covering bald spots, today's version is more Don Draper than Donald Trump. "New high-end barber shops are re-popularizing traditional American looks from the '50s and '60s, but making them more high-end and personalized," says McMillen. For both comb-overs and man buns, men are turning to the web to educate themselves. "Overall, guys are coming in with more of a general idea of what they want. They are doing more research than ever before," says McMillen. Much of that research is happening on smartphones. Looking at top men's hairstyle terms, 82% of searches were done on mobile in August 2015.2 In moments when they're struggling to style their hair, men are also looking to YouTube for advice. Videos about these styles tend to feature a large number of hair products; the top five how-to YouTube videos about man buns featured six products in aggregate. "Increasingly, consumers are looking to these platforms for dynamic content—from tutorials to reviews to videos," says Marie Gulin-Merle, CMO of L'Oreal USA. Why should marketers care? When consumers reach out to learn—whether it's about "man buns," "comb-overs," or products for these styles—few brands capture the opportunity to be relevant in the moment. Only around 1% of searches for these terms has surfaced an ad.3 For marketers, there is a huge opportunity to be there for guys in their I-want-that-look moments. Gulin-Merle adds that the best strategy for being there is all about creating great content for these digital platforms. She says, "No matter what the beauty movement is, we want to create relevant content that allows our consumers to continuously engage with products and be given an easy, seamless way to merge online and offline experiences." Braids make a big comeback As more men stock up on products, some women are paring down. Natural hair has been trending in recent years, and braids are back in a big way. Braids are the most prominent among top trending hairstyles for women, with "box braids" and "goddess braids" representing the biggest trends based on search volume. These braid trends are seasonal, and are most popular in the South