THE AESTHETIC GAP: LOST IN TRANSLATION

At KIT we are interested in looking at social media trends, and pushing and driving macro trends in the beauty space. We previously touched on how TikTok style aesthetics and style cores could influence hair services.

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Styles such as the Clean Girl Aesthetic have managed to enter macro trends with claw clips, gold hoops, and slicked-back hair trending on a global scale. These aesthetics have also breathed new life into hairstyles such as the mullet, curtain bangs, and different renditions of layers from Air-cuts, and C-cuts to shags and wolf-cuts. 

However, rather than look at it from a consumer perspective, we would like to dig deeper and find out just how these trends are affecting hair services from an industry perspective. Our first research unveiled that perhaps these trends are still micro trends and haven’t yet merged into the mainstream — social media hype and buzz doesn’t always translate into macro trends and some trends are lived out through social media. 

As these aesthetic trends are driven by content creators and user-generated content there is little professional hair backing, so what to the ordinary eye could be described as a neutral vanilla-toned blonde, could be defined differently from a professional hair colourist. Perhaps there is a communication gap/ things are missing in translation and the Vanilla Girl Aesthetic isn’t even Vanilla Blonde at all but a cool-toned champagne blonde. 

Another avenue to investigate is in understanding the demographics following these trends. As of January 2023,  it was recorded by TikTok that 60% of their users are between the ages of 16-24, and 26% are between the ages of 25-44. 80% are between the ages of 16-34. That means TikToks audience is predominantly composed of Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and Millenials. Whilst Millennials are the largest demographic in the US and have a spending power worth $2.5 trillion, the demographic that could be following these trends the most are Gen Z and Gen Alpha who do not have a spending power as high as Millenials hence why this trend hasn’t become the macro trend it could be.

However, TikTok's views on these aesthetics and style trends could be an indicator for the future to come. If these trends are going viral reaching over a  billion views on TikTok — how will that translate 5 years later when Gen Alpha and Gen X are older and will have more spending power to participate in these trends?

Hair experts, we would love to know your thoughts on this trend gap.

February 2023

THE AESTHETIC GAP: LOST IN TRANSLATION

At KIT we are interested in looking at social media trends, and pushing and driving macro trends in the beauty space. We previously touched on how TikTok style aesthetics and style cores could influence hair services.

Styles such as the Clean Girl Aesthetic have managed to enter macro trends with claw clips, gold hoops, and slicked-back hair trending on a global scale. These aesthetics have also breathed new life into hairstyles such as the mullet, curtain bangs, and different renditions of layers from Air-cuts, and C-cuts to shags and wolf-cuts. 

However, rather than look at it from a consumer perspective, we would like to dig deeper and find out just how these trends are affecting hair services from an industry perspective. Our first research unveiled that perhaps these trends are still micro trends and haven’t yet merged into the mainstream — social media hype and buzz doesn’t always translate into macro trends and some trends are lived out through social media. 

As these aesthetic trends are driven by content creators and user-generated content there is little professional hair backing, so what to the ordinary eye could be described as a neutral vanilla-toned blonde, could be defined differently from a professional hair colourist. Perhaps there is a communication gap/ things are missing in translation and the Vanilla Girl Aesthetic isn’t even Vanilla Blonde at all but a cool-toned champagne blonde. 

Another avenue to investigate is in understanding the demographics following these trends. As of January 2023,  it was recorded by TikTok that 60% of their users are between the ages of 16-24, and 26% are between the ages of 25-44. 80% are between the ages of 16-34. That means TikToks audience is predominantly composed of Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and Millenials. Whilst Millennials are the largest demographic in the US and have a spending power worth $2.5 trillion, the demographic that could be following these trends the most are Gen Z and Gen Alpha who do not have a spending power as high as Millenials hence why this trend hasn’t become the macro trend it could be.

However, TikTok's views on these aesthetics and style trends could be an indicator for the future to come. If these trends are going viral reaching over a  billion views on TikTok — how will that translate 5 years later when Gen Alpha and Gen X are older and will have more spending power to participate in these trends?

Hair experts, we would love to know your thoughts on this trend gap.

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