Hair Product Laboratories Explained: How They Help Beauty Brands Scale
Partnering with hair product laboratories is how beauty brands grow from handmade beginnings to being stacked on shelves all around the world.
But when you’re new to scaling your business, and the monetary investment feels significant, how do you know if you’re ready to take this next step?
Innacos is here to help!
Our in-depth guide below lifts the curtain on how hair care labs really work, so you know exactly what to expect from your first discovery call to the contract signing process.
We discuss the current state of the industry, the four key functions of a professional lab, and some fascinating insights from The Benchmarking Company’s 2024 consumer survey so you can make the most informed manufacturing decisions.
Hair Product Industry Overview
According to Grand View Research, the global hair care market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 6.4% between 2025 and 2030.
2024 research by The Benchmarking Company (published in GCI) found shampoos (99%) and conditioners (96%) remain the most popular hair care products, with 47% of consumers washing their hair 2-3 times per week.
Consumers aren’t loyal to a single brand: 44% claim to have 3-5 bottles of shampoo and conditioner in their shower right now.
Hair care is an attractive market for new brands - repeat purchasing is high, products are used up quickly, and customer lifetime value can be strong if you build up trust.
Capturing that demand is only possible if you understand consumers' real problems and then create solutions (your products) to address their needs.
The same Benchmarking Company study also found that damage & frizz (56%), dry hair (54%), split ends (52%), lack of shine (48%), and limp hair (40%) were American women’s most common hair issues.
Now that you know some of the potential problems your products could solve, it’s time to think about how you’re going to create your haircare line.
How Hair Product Laboratories Can Help You
If you’re new to business, or if you’ve been making products from home, working with a professional hair care laboratory can be intimidating at first.
It’s a significant investment, and if you don’t understand how the process works, the entire experience can feel uncertain.
Let’s lift the curtain on what hair care laboratories actually do, so you can make a sourcing decision with confidence.
At Innacos, we specialize in helping new hair care brands and home-to-lab brands scale with professional manufacturing.
Got questions? We’re always on hand to answer, and we’ve also created an entire archive of advice and tips on our blog (designed for brands exactly like yours). Learn more by exploring our blog posts archive here.
1. Sourcing Products
The most important function of hair product laboratories is to professionally manufacture hair care products at scale, so that brand owners can focus on marketing and growth.
Once the formula is finalized, labs typically provide the filling and packing services, meaning your products arrive at your warehouse 100% shelf-ready.
Some hair care laboratories specialize in one manufacturing method, while others offer a range of different product sourcing methods:
Preformulated Formulas
Private labeling involves adding your own customized branding to a lab’s preexisting haircare. Bulk involves purchasing large quantities of preformulated product in large unbranded drums.
Although preformulated sourcing is the cheapest and quickest method, you won’t own the IP, and you can’t make any changes to the formula.
However, typically you can adjust the scent of your preformulated hair care products.
The Benchmarking Company found that 33% of US women say scent is a purchasing motivator for hair products, with the most popular scents being fresh (40%), coconut (38%), fruity (27%), citrus (24%), and light floral (22%).
Vet ingredient lists closely before ordering. The Benchmarking Company also revealed that 59% of hair care buyers prefer cleaner, more natural ingredients.
Look for natural ingredients in each formula, especially cleaner alternatives like Silgreen G - a replacement for silicones made from plant-based oils. Learn more about the best clean ingredients for hair care products in our blog post here.
At Innacos, we offer a range of clean, cruelty-free, and sustainable hair care products on a bulk or private label basis - including shampoo, conditioner, beard oil, grey hair serum, scalp exfoliator, and leave-in conditioner.
Order samples of our clean haircare products from our website here, and choose from over 60 different fragrance options.
Customized Hair Care
If you want your product to stand out from the rest on the shelf, try a customized manufacturing method:
Custom Product Creation
Custom product creation involves adding a limited number of ingredients to a lab’s existing formula. It’s the middle ground between preformulation and 100% customized formulas.
It is more expensive than private label, but if you choose the right ingredients, your products will stand out from competitors and give you an edge.
At Innacos, our custom product creation package involves a $2,500 per product flat fee to formulate, and you’ll get up to 150% of that back in the form of manufacturing credits. Learn more about custom product creation on our website here.
Custom Formulating
Custom formulating involves working with a team of highly trained chemists to create brand-new hair care from scratch. Although it’s expensive and a long process, it can pay off if you have a truly unique idea with genuine market demand.
The Benchmarking Company asked consumers to rank potential innovations in the future: 74% wanted a split-end serum for more time in between haircuts, 59% were interested in hair care that works with your microbiome, and 53-58% liked the idea of hair care, styling, and scalp care products containing SPF.
Use this as inspiration to conduct your own market research - find the gaps in the market and work with a professional lab to create innovative products that bridge that gap.
At Innacos, we specialize in new-to-market concepts and formats, novel chemical research, hybrid products, and making hair care clean.
We also offer up to 200% of formulation fees in the form of manufacturing credits. Learn more about our custom formulating services on our website here.
2. Research and Development
The second core function of hair product laboratories is related to the first.
To create innovative formulas, hair care laboratories invest heavily in research and development: hiring qualified chemists to experiment with ingredient combinations and installing industrial-grade equipment to test at scale.
Ask suppliers about their research and development process:
How do they create their preformulated products?
What types of customization can they offer?
Comparing ingredient lists and the innovativeness of product formats across different labs can reveal a lot about a lab’s technical capabilities and quality standards.
3. Testing
Testing is one of the most important functions of hair care labs.
Although smaller brands are legally permitted to formulate from home, all products (including products manufactured at home) must be tested to legal standards.
Hair laboratories will conduct (or outsource) all the mandatory tests, including:
Stability testing
Preservative Efficacy Testing (PET) for formulas containing water
Optional tests that are only required in some circumstances and/or for marketing claims
Additionally, hair care labs will batch test every production run to ensure consistency and microbiological safety, so that every batch is 100% safe for hair and identical to the last batch.
4. Branding
Some hair care manufacturers go above and beyond formulating and testing: offering branding support, including label design, consulting on compliance, and marketing strategy.
At Innacos, we offer consulting services to help you understand your legal obligations, create compliant product labels and marketing strategies, and help you build a cohesive brand that’s ready for the market. Learn more about our consulting services here. Additionally, we have a Build Your Own Brand course to walk you through the entire process from start to finish.
In sum, the four key functions of hair product laboratories are:
Manufacturing products through preformulated or customized manufacturing strategies
Conducting high-level R&D to develop innovative ingredients and formulas that the market hasn’t seen before
Testing products to ensure batch consistency and compliance with safety and marketing laws
Offering consulting services to help brands comply with the law and market their products in the most effective ways
Ready to hire a hair care laboratory to manufacture your products and provide support? Innacos would love to work with your brand. Learn more about our hair product formulating capabilities by calling: (812) 329-1105 or emailing: customerservice@innacos.com
