Hair loss among the young is giving rise to an 80 billion new market, but the industry ecosystem is distorted with "heavy marketing and light research and development."

The issue of hair loss in China is rapidly becoming younger, giving rise to a market exceeding 80 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) that is growing at a high speed, and has sparked a surge in the number of research papers doubling over the past decade. However, beneath this prosperous blue ocean lies a distorted ecology of the industry characterized by "heavy marketing and light R&D": leading companies often spend half of their revenue on marketing, while R&D investment generally falls below 3%. Economists predict that in the next five years, the hair transplant and anti-hair loss industry will struggle to escape the "low R&D, high marketing" model, with only a few companies possessing pharmaceutical-level R&D capabilities being exceptions. The problem of hair loss in China is showing an astonishing trend of becoming younger, directly driving the rapid expansion of related research and industries. According to observations by Xiaowen, a doctoral student at Shantou University Medical College, the number of students focusing on hair loss research on campus has significantly increased. She cited data from the international medical literature database Pubmed, indicating that the number of papers on hair loss was only 1,472 in 2015, but is expected to soar to 3,149 by 2025, more than doubling in ten years. Behind this research boom is a huge and urgent market demand. According to data from the "2025 China Scalp Health Consumption White Paper," the national population suffering from hair loss has reached 340 million, with the young group aged 20 to 35 accounting for as much as 69%. Even more concerning is that 86% of individuals show obvious symptoms of "early hair loss" before the age of 30, and the related anxiety has created a massive market. According to estimates from mainland institutions, the market size for hair health management in China will exceed 80 billion yuan in 2024, with an expected average annual compound growth rate of over 11% in the next decade. Talent Competition in Research Offers Salaries Up to 700,000 Yuan In the face of a rapidly growing market, the competition for talent is becoming increasingly fierce. Xiaowen pointed out that medical institutions in non-first-tier cities in Guangdong Province, such as Shaoguan and Foshan, are offering annual salaries as high as 700,000 yuan to attract doctoral students in the field of hair loss research. She described that large platform hospitals in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, leveraging their resource advantages, do not need to compete as fiercely for talent, but many small and medium-sized institutions are engaged in intense competition for this purpose. Beneath this prosperous blue ocean lies a distorted industry ecology characterized by "heavy marketing and light R&D." Economist Song Qinghui pointed out that the current industry is still in a period of barbaric growth, where the survival of enterprises depends more on "land grabbing" to seize market share rather than on basic R&D. Experts: The Survival of the Current Industry Depends on Seizing Market Share This contradiction is vividly reflected in the financial data of leading companies. Taking hair transplant institutions as an example, Yonghe Hair Transplant's sales and marketing expenses for 2023 and 2024 reached 1.044 billion yuan and 902 million yuan, respectively, accounting for about half of the revenue during the same period. In stark contrast is its continuously shrinking R&D investment, with R&D expenses in 2024 being only 21.25 million yuan, a fraction of the marketing expenses. Similarly, DaMai Hair Transplant, which once aimed for an IPO, has also seen its sales expenses consistently exceed 45% of its revenue. The anti-hair loss industry is also experiencing "anemia" in R&D. Statistics show that among the 673 new anti-hair loss products added in 2025, domestic brands account for as much as 96.3%, but their average annual R&D investment accounts for most of them being less than 1%, far below the 3% to 5% level of international brands In the field of drug treatment, the situation is not much better. As the leader in Minoxidil (a common active ingredient for treating hair loss), Mandi International, which is preparing for its market launch, has seen its sales expenses account for over 50% of its revenue in the first half of 2025, while R&D investment accounts for only 2.62%. The R&D team consists of only 46 people, focusing mainly on application aspects such as product formulation optimization. The Survival Space of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises is Compressed Under the competitive barriers built by industry giants with marketing expenses in the hundreds of millions, the survival space for small and medium-sized enterprises lacking capital has been sharply compressed. Mr. Jin, an investor from Hangzhou, told the "Sing Tao" that his investment of 200,000 yuan in a hair growth shop closed down in less than two years. He reflected afterward that although there is a large population suffering from hair loss, very few actually walk into the store and are willing to pay for treatment. He explained that hair loss treatment emphasizes a course of treatment, which cannot yield immediate results like dining; the hardest part is building trust with customers during the slow process of seeing results. Many customers give up after trying the product for a few days without noticeable changes, and the small shop lacks strong brand endorsement and continuous advertising bombardment to retain customers. Song Qinghui analyzed that hair transplant is a typical "one-time transaction." To maintain cash flow, institutions must continuously buy traffic at high prices through various platforms. In the stage of intense competition, the customer acquisition cost for a single person can account for 40% to 60% of the customer unit price. He believes that with increasing regulatory scrutiny and rising costs, small and medium-sized institutions that cannot reduce customer acquisition costs through brand premiums will be eliminated. In the next five years, he believes that the hair transplant and anti-hair loss industry as a whole may remain in a long-term structural dilemma of "low R&D, high marketing," with only a very few companies possessing pharmaceutical-level R&D capabilities potentially being exceptions, but this will not be enough to change the overall ecology of the industry