Apr. 10, 2025
Not Your Mother's Remains a Top Hair Care Brand for Teens
US teens are spending a record amount of money on beauty products, with e.l.f. Beauty leading the way as the most popular brand and Sephora the top retailer.
Gen Z consumers are spending US$374 per year on beauty, the Taking Stock With Teens survey from Piper Sandler shows, which is 10% more than last year.
Spending across all categories increased apart from hair care, which remained flat year-on year.
Fragrance was found to be the fastest growing category, up 22% compared to 2024.
The investment bank’s semi-annual survey “offers an inside look at how thousands of US teens are spending their money and its correlation to our economy” across a range of sectors, including beauty.
“This spring, teens self-reported annual spending [was] at $2,388, which is an increase from both our spring 2024 and fall 2024 surveys,” said senior research analyst Korinne Wolfmeyer.
e.l.f. Beauty maintained its position as the top beauty brand among young shoppers, but researchers noted its share dropped three points.
Around 35% of teens said they shopped for the drugstore beauty brand.
Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty was the second most popular brand (9%) followed by L’Oréal-owned Maybelline (6%).
Retail giant Sephora remained the most popular destination for teens to buy beauty products, followed by Ulta Beauty.
Bath & Body Works was named the third most popular retailer, marking its first appearance in the top ten since autumn 2018.
It was also found to be the top fragrance brand, ahead of Sol de Janeiro in second place and Victoria’s Secret in third position.
CeraVe, The Ordinary and La Roche-Posay were the top three names in skin care, cited the report.
In hair care, teen shoppers said they were spending their cash on Amika, Not Your Mother’s and Olaplex.
Teens were also asked about their outlook for the economy, with the majority saying they expect it to get worse.
Of the more than 6,000 teens surveyed, 57% had a negative outlook, while 19% thought it would improve and 23% said their outlook was unchanged.
Meanwhile, the survey found that Instagram remains the most used social media app, with 87% of teens using it monthly.
TikTok was flat at 79%, while Snapchat improved to 72%.
