The bigger GLP-1s get, the more they reshape industries that have nothing to do with weight. Hair care is the latest one. About 13% of U.S. adults are now on a GLP-1. A common side effect is fueling real demand for hair treatments, scalp serums and supplements.
Drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound all list hair loss as a possible side effect. Doctors say it is tied to fast weight loss in general - less protein, fewer nutrients, more stress on the body - and not the GLP-1 itself.
The result is real spending. Circana estimates GLP-1 households spend about 30% more on beauty products than non-GLP-1 households.
Larissa Jensen, Circana's beauty industry advisor, called hair loss solutions a standout growth category in beauty. She said the trend has been pushed along by stress from the pandemic and by GLP-1 use.
Redken, L'Oreal's haircare brand, built an entire line around the trend. Its Acidic Grow Full System was tested on current GLP-1 users.
U.S. general manager Mounia Tahiri said users reported their hair looked fuller and felt thicker after using the line. Redken plans to keep building products for the GLP-1 group as it grows.
Nutrafol, the supplement and serum brand, is seeing the same pull. CEO Cindy Gustafson said overall demand is being driven by people looking for personalized, clinically supported solutions.
KeraFactor told CNBC its direct-to-consumer store has doubled year over year. The first big spike came during the pandemic when stress-related hair loss surged. The GLP-1 wave is the second.
Branneisha Cooper, 29, started taking Mounjaro in late 2022. About a year in, she noticed her hair falling out in clumps.
She had heard about the side effect online and tried to prepare. Her doctor told her the fast weight loss was the cause, not the drug itself.
Cooper added more protein and tried hair vitamins and scalp products. Her hair has slowly come back over the past year.
Hair treatment products take months to show results. That makes the GLP-1 customer especially valuable to brands. They tend to stick around long enough to retest and reorder.
Audrey Depraeter-Montacel, Accenture's global beauty industry lead, called the size of the GLP-1 market "unprecedented." She said money is flowing into pharma and personal care companies trying to build new solutions.
JPMorgan estimates 25 million Americans will be on a GLP-1 by 2030. That is up from about 5 million in 2023.
Ulta CEO Kecia Steelman recently told Yahoo Finance the chain is seeing more shoppers buy hair treatment products as part of the GLP-1 boom. Per Gallup, GLP-1 use has more than doubled since early 2024.
The trade is wider than just shampoo. Pharma firms are raising money to build new hair-loss treatments. Beauty brands are testing serums on GLP-1 patients. The supply chain is reorganizing around one customer.
Investors usually treat GLP-1s as a pharma trade. The hair care numbers are a reminder it is bigger than that.
