Spending More, While Settling for Less: The Black Hair Dilemma
How can an industry so vital to its consumers be failing them so persistently?
The beauty industry’s open secret is that Black women spend significantly more on their hair than any other demographic. For Black women, haircare is not just about aesthetics—it is a profound form of expression, a sacred ritual, and a pillar of community. This importance is reflected in the billions spent annually. Yet, despite this economic power and deep cultural significance, salon experiences and services are deteriorating, raising the question: how can an industry so vital to its consumers be failing them so persistently?
Despite their high spending, Black women frequently endure fragmented and unsatisfactory experiences. There is strong demand for luxury, standardized Black hair care—especially in urban markets—but the reality rarely matches the premium prices. The desire for reliable, high-quality service remains unmet, and the market is still underserved by mainstream beauty.
Yes, many styles in the Black hair care repertoire—such as braids, twists, sew-ins, and silk presses—are labor-intensive and inherently time-consuming. But the ratio of money spent to time invested remains disproportionately high compared to other demographics. This signals that the issue is not just about service complexity; it reflects structural inefficiencies that are specific to the Black hair value chain. These include gaps in training, professional infrastructure, operational consistency, and equitable pricing models—all of which compound to leave both consumers and stylists underserved.
A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry with Persistent Challenges
The Black hair care industry is a vibrant, multi-billion-dollar market, representing a substantial share of total hair care spending in the U.S. and globally. Black consumers, about 14% of the U.S. population, account for roughly 25% of total U.S. hair care revenue, spending nine times more on hair services than other groups. The U.S. Black hair care market—including products and services—is estimated at $3–4 billion and is growing at about 5% annually through 2030, outpacing the broader market.
African American women spend the most on hair care each month, with 21% allocating over a quarter of their monthly budget to hair care, compared to just 5% of Caucasian women. As a Black woman, it is not uncommon to drive over an hour to make it to the right hair stylist (or simply one that you trust). There are even times when women feel the pinch to fly to another state for a specific stylist because they can’t find one in their area that they are comfortable with. This reflects not only a willingness to pay but also the centrality of hair to identity and the extent to which an aspect of identity can influence spending behaviors. We found that 50% of Black consumers say hair is core to who they are.
The Salon: Formerly a Sanctuary, Now a Site of Frustration
For Black women, hair care experiences have always been more than a grooming service —they are spaces of community, care, and affirmation. The salon and relationships with hair stylists have long been a symbol of safety and belonging. Yet, cracks in the service model are widening. Many talented braiders and stylists now work outside formal licensing structures, as regulatory environments are often riddled with barriers and expensive. As cosmetology schools rarely teach comprehensive techniques for Black hair, the costly programs feel irrelevant for many aspiring hair care providers. For the past several years, a shadow market has been fueled by this decline in hair care provider licensing where the informal innovation of servicing based on YouTube learnings and other scattered adjustments across the industry landscape have become the norm.
With the acceptance of a shadow market comes service quality that is inconsistent. Consumers are citing long wait times (often 5-6 hours), double-booking, cash-only payments, and unprofessional practices with a significant number of stylists doing business out of their own homes. Unlike standardized models seen in other beauty segments like that of Drybar and Supercuts, Black hair service experiences often lack consistency, leaving clients frustrated despite their high spend. And even with the current pains of the shadow industry, many women have given into it and sacrificed those once-common elements of the professional hair care experience to receive hair styling services that may feel more up-to-date with trends and to maintain a look that is so core to their personal expression and sense of self.
Shifting Styles and New Market Forces
The service delivery model is not the only thing that has changed — styling preferences and the acceptance of natural hair is too. The natural hair movement and the rise of protective styles—such as weaves and braids, which can cost hundreds per session—have shifted spending patterns. Sales of chemical relaxers have declined sharply, while spending on natural hair products and protective styling services has increased.
An additional force has been the growing Black middle class which is driving demand for premium services and products, and digital platforms are expanding access by connecting clients and stylists online. However, these platforms are still fragmented, and their full impact on the market is yet to be seen. The global market for hair extensions and wigs, largely driven by Black consumer demand, is now a multi-billion dollar segment.
Major beauty conglomerates like L’Oréal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Revlon have recognized the economic upside of the Black beauty segment and started to dominate the product side, increasingly acquiring Black-founded brands to boost authenticity. Yet, Black-owned brands still account for only about 2.5% of beauty industry revenues, and just 3% within the ethnic hair category. Most leading products used in Black salons come from non-Black-owned corporations, though this is slowly changing as more Black entrepreneurs launch new products and gain distribution.
Amongst all of the shifting forces, one of the most visible has been the impact of social media. Social media has accelerated trend cycles and democratized hairstyling, allowing stylists to build clientele on platforms like Instagram and enabling clients to discover new styles instantly. However, it has also intensified beauty standards and created new pressures for Black women to maintain “perfect” hair at all times. The shift to tech-enabled platforms can distance the client-stylist relationship, making it less personal and sometimes more adversarial.
Who Profits—and Who Gets Left Behind?
The Black hair services value chain is complex, from sourcing raw materials (often from Asian countries) to delivering services. Stylists, despite their skill, face thin margins and are squeezed by rising costs. Most of the money spent by Black consumers seems to vanish from the community, as distribution channels and product manufacturing are dominated by non-Black networks.
In terms of who profits between the stylist and the client — the answer is still up for debate. There's a misalignment between stylist compensation and client pricing. Stylists feel they are barely making minimum wage if they don't charge high prices, while clients feel prices are exorbitant for the inconsistent quality received. There’s growing mistrust and disagreement in what is considered “fair pricing”. In addition, the shift from commission-based salon ownership to booth rent models has reduced owner investment in quality control. With booth rent, salon owners may be less invested in stylist performance or overall salon quality, focusing primarily on ensuring their chairs are filled for rent. This has sometimes lead to a "don't care" attitude from owners as long as they get their consistent booth rent.
One of the reasons why some of these structural issues haven’t been addressed is because a large portion of Black hair stylists often perceive their work as a hobby rather than a long-term profession, leading to less investment in standardized business practices. This also impacts their willingness to adopt new technology or tools. This leaves stylists, often self-taught, lacking access to professional development and clients wary of misleading marketing and inconsistent results. Much of this fragmentation leaves the industry with gaps in data and information flow around service times, pricing, and demand, inhibiting optimization at every level. Stylists often rely on intuition rather than data for pricing and scheduling which doesn’t enable them to have the proper structure needed to access capital for small business owners.
It is truly a fragmented experience for all. Clients face a maze of unclear booking, long waits, and inconsistent results—paying top dollar for an experience that too often disappoints. Stylists juggle artistry with administrative burdens, often without benefits or a safety net. Salon owners struggle with high overhead and constant turnover. Meanwhile, the real profits flow to major conglomerates, property owners, overseas suppliers, and now tech platforms promising to “fix” the system.
What’s Next: Opportunities for Change
The Black hair industry is resilient and dynamic, with consumers hungry for change. However, leveraging the shadow market innovation and bringing it into a more standardized form of innovation must come with respect for the industry’s cultural roots and address its systemic pain points.
Despite such deeply rooted flaws in the system, there is hope. Companies like Mayvenn, which bundles hair extensions with salon services, show that there is financial potential and venture funding for platforms that can formalize informal labor and offer tailored solutions. If someone cracks the model to aggregate these solo operators (perhaps a bit like how Airbnb allowed people to monetize their spare room without starting a B&B business), it could dramatically increase service availability and choice for consumers.
Having a critical understanding of these unique challenges and honoring the history of these beauty innovators is the path to building solutions that uplift both providers and clients, transforming frustrating experiences into affirming ones. We look forward to exploring the great potential there is in the long-standing cultural strength and economic power of the Black hair industry. Stay tuned!