‘Black women are not catered for enough,’ says Phillippa, a 31-year-old from London.
Many Black women agree, as shown by a report exclusively shared with Metro.co.uk.
TreasureTress has revealed a hidden ‘texture tax’, as well as other issues, in their new report, ‘The untapped opportunity in the UK afro hair market’.
Phillippa, has loosely coiled hair and uses TreasureTress, a hair product discovery platform for women with natural afro hair. She says she could easily spend £45 in one hair shop while looking for appropriate care products.
Particularly now, while the cost of living hangs heavy, this disparity between what Black and white women are spending on their hair is stark – and it’s predicted inflation could drive products shipped from abroad up by as much as 35%.
Phillippa believes there’s ‘not enough variety’ in mainstream shops, which means she has to fork out on higher priced products. Her friends feel the same too.
And their experience is backed up by the new report, which finds Black adult women in the UK account for 10% of hair care spending – although they make up only 2% of the UK adult population.
Multi-ethnic consumers spend £42 million a month on hair care, and yet it’s still difficult to find affordable and accessible products.
Over a third of Black women go to specialist shops to get what they need, and nearly half say the top hair care brands on the market don’t suit textured kinky or curly hair.
Mori, a 31-year-old Black woman, says: ‘I spend far more than I’d like to – easily £60.
‘I constantly feel neglected and ignored by the beauty industry, and it’s hard to access the right products due to where I live.’
Corinne, from north London, says she has to travel ‘far’ from home in order to access somewhere selling the right products for her kinky curly hair – which is telling: even as Londoner, the search is hard.
When products are found, there’s a hidden texture tax.
The study found products for naturally textured hair are more expensive and are used more frequently than products for those with straight hair – this results in an increased cost to the consumer.
Afro hair products can be up to 70% more expensive, which is a steep jump.
On top of this, Black women still feel tokenism is at large in advertising, with only a few Black models being used to fill a quota.
That is resulting in mistrust around which products to buy.
Speaking on her experience shopping, Jazmia, who has coily hair, says: ‘For my hair texture, it’s not clear what would be best for my type of Black hair.
‘Lots of advertisements don’t reflect coily hair, more curly/straighter hair.’
If she goes to a mainstream store to shop in-person, she says staff can ‘never help’ and don’t know what to recommend.
This lack of understanding of textured hair across the board is widening the ‘texture tax’, as women are then forced to seek out specialist shops or products with a higher price tag.
The study also found that over the pandemic, nearly two thirds of Black women changed their hair in some way – either shaving it off or growing out chemically treated hair.
This decision was often reached because lockdown made finding the right products even harder.
Jamelia Donaldson, CEO and founder of TreasureTress, says it’s important to validate the concerns of Black consumers, and this drove the report.
She says: ‘Black women spend the most but feel most isolated and left out by major brands in their product formulations, and marketing campaigns.
‘While there is a gold rush for brands trying their best to cater to natural hair – in reality, reputation, community and trust are key ingredients missing.
‘There is still a long way to go with colourism and texturism still plaguing our community, but we’ve progressed to allow Black women feel liberated to express and explore beauty in many forms.
‘It’s become clear over the last decade that we’re not a monolith, and we take beauty seriously. Now we just wait for the industry to take us more seriously.’
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