L’Oreal, released its first 100 percent plant-based hair dye range today called Botanea as the French cosmetics company responds to consumer demand for natural beauty products.
Paris-based L’Oreal is hopeful that Botanea will help boost sales in its professional-products unit which sells hair-care items in salons and has been the company’s weakest-performing division for seven consecutive quarters.
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Botanea’s vegan products are sourced from three plants found in India.
Marion Brunet the head of the professional-products division said that while Botanea does not contain ammonia or other chemicals, it delivers a “professional result”:
We’ve managed to marry naturalness with a professional result without compromising on either point.
“There’s very strong demand from women to move toward healthier formulas,” she added.
Until now, the company has struggled to develop a range of natural hair products which offer a variety of palette options as well as color intensity.
The world’s biggest maker of skincare and beauty products spent 3.3 percent of its $30.6bn in sales last year on research.
Botanea will be available in European hair salons from May.
A focus on natural products
L’Oreal expanded its portfolio of natural hair styling products through the acquisition of California-based Pureology, known for its range of sulfate-free shampoos, in 2007.
A year earlier, L’Oreal bought Laboratoire Sanoflore, French manufacturer of organic essential oils, skin creams and toiletries.
The global natural and organic beauty market was worth around $11bn last year and is likely to double by 2024, according to the consultancy Ernst & Young (EY).
Nicolaus Jouan, an analyst at Euromonitor said:
Natural beauty is enjoying a strong growth, as major brands obviously try to seize the trend, but the lack of clear definition makes it difficult to quantify. L’Oreal is slow-moving but seems to have understood the trend and most notably its impact on sales.
In June, L‘Oreal agreed to sell Sussex-based The Body Shop to Brazil’s Natura Cosmeticos for £877m. The Body Shop operates in 66 countries and has more than 3,000 outlets, 133 of which are in Brazil.
