Innovation Insight: Drybar Gold Mine Shimmering Leave In Conditioner

Innovation Insight: Drybar Gold Mine Shimmering Leave In Conditioner

This week Gama turns its attention to the haircare market – and the growing influence of glamour trends in the health & beauty industry – with the launch of Drybar Gold Mine Shimmering Leave In Conditioner.

Recently unveiled for the summer season in the US, Drybar Gold Mine Shimmering Leave In Conditioner is a hair conditioner and cosmetic product highlighting the trend for products which add a touch of “glitz” to everyday haircare. Promising to restore elasticity, enhance shine, protect, smooth, soften and fight frizz, the product also claims to add a touch of “sparkle” to hair through a formula that is “made with two unique types of mica that reflect light for a multidimensional shimmering effect”.

While primarily a conditioner, it is the product’s cosmetic effect that it is most immediately apparent and most strongly conveyed. The “gold mine” branding  features heavily, with consumers advised in a product slogan that they have “struck gold”. Meanwhile gold and black colours combine on a bottle which, unusually, is also flagged “JB Distillery”, seemingly reinforcing the gold theme by drawing a link to the colour of spirits such as whiskey.

Although the theme is particularly evident, Drybar is not the first manufacturer to explore the possibilities of gold, “shimmer” and other cosmetic effects in the conditioners category. In recent times a number of brand lines have tested similar concepts, including L’Oreal’s Mythic Oil range featuring “golden shimmering sparkles to leave your hair looking incredibly shiny”, and Clynol’s Colour Care & Shimmer Conditioner, “deeply infused with precious liquid jewel extract for 24 carat dazzling shine”.

The impact of “glamour” effects in essentially practical haircare products such as conditioners is one indication of the extent to which multifunctional products are playing an ever greater role in a diverse range of health and beauty categories. Increasingly, products which ally practical solutions with cosmetic benefits could gain an important element of differentiation on crowded shelves.