Hair Longevity, Inclusive Beauty Tech and More Rule The Future of Beauty

Longevity hit the ground running in 2025, and the trend – loosely defined as the empowerment around graceful aging as consumers live longer, healthier lives – is going to propel forward in 2026 with a new companion: hair!

According to a “Future of Beauty” report compiled by New York City-based beauty trend tracker Spate and futures agency Future Snoops, inclusivity is another beauty trend that will take the industry by storm, along with K-Beauty’s second wave, the “biotech standard.”

Plus, Gen Alpha continues to dip its figurative fingers into the beauty space with a bevy of age-appropriate brands to help convert Sephora Kids into self-loving kids who embrace their age and eagerness to learn about beauty products, and so much more.

Check out these five trends that will be everywhere in 2026:

The Gen Alpha Frontier

Heading into 2026, Gen Alpha is beginning to overshadow Gen Z as the center of the beauty world. Gen Alpha, born between 2010 and 2024, accounts for 2 billion globally and is set to be the most ethnically diverse generation in history, analysts say. Alphas are digitally native, have disposable income and are beauty obsessed with beauty products topping back-to-school sales, Sephora serving as new hotspot for birthday parties and Alpha boys falling in love with luxury fragrance with a single whiff. Gen Alpha’s enthusiasm for the category presents a massive consumer opportunity, just as there have been missteps in reaching what analysts are calling a “vulnerable” generation. The Sephora Kids movement sparked controversy given children using anti-aging products that are damaging both physically to their virgin skin and to their fragile minds. In fact, their interest has sparked legislators in the US and Sweden to create safeguards against harmful ingredients and beauty ideals.

To foster a healthy mindset among Gen Alpha, analysts encourage beauty brands to embrace the generation’s beauty wants and needs without fueling toxic, FOMO-driven hyper-consumerism and creating products that allow Alpha to be kids.

Drivers of change include creating age-appropriate ranges, enabling beauty experimentation without hassle and utilizing high-end design to make personal care inclusive and appealing.

Brands include Pour Tous and Funny Skin are among the newly formed brands on a mission to help Gen Alpha embrace skincare exploration without damaging their delicate skin barriers or their self-esteem. Both brands feature youth-safe formulas and positive messaging.

Press-on nail brand Digi Beauty designs for joy to help young consumers easily apply and change nail art to match their moment and mood.

Non-Standard also exemplifies age-appropriate self-care routines with a range of gender inclusive, eye-catching deodorants made specifically for youth athletes to be gentle and effective with scent profiles worthy of upscale products.

While brands are encouraging kids to steer away from the Sephora Kids movement, it continues to be a phenomenon with an 11.4% year-over-year growth on search. Alphas are experimenting with color cosmetics at an earlier age than ever, with searches for “kids makeup” at 1.3 million average monthly popularity. However, modeling healthy beauty habits for Alphas is showing promise. Searches like “kids sunscreen,” for example, averaged 1.3 million monthly popularity, representing a 38.0% combined year-over-year growth.

Inclusive Beauty Tech

With technology speedy evolution, consumers demand personalized solutions more than ever, and brands want to ensure beauty tech serves all.

Recent data shows inclusive beauty brands grew 1.5 times faster than its less inclusive competitors in 2024. However, analysts say there continue to be glaring gaps within the market. As high as 95.1% of disabled consumers say there aren’t enough accessible beauty options; a mere 4% of beauty brands cater to neurodiverse individuals. Without intentional design, there are risks for innovation, including reinforcing the same systemic exclusions.

Inclusive beauty tech seeks to close that gap by underscoring tools and technologies built with diverse needs in mind. Such brands prove that accessibility and equity are far from optional; they’re a baseline for innovation.

Estée Lauder’s AI voice-enabled makeup assistant, T3’s Aire IQ Intelligent Hair Dryer and L’Oréal’s My Aura are all considered “drivers of change” analysts say in the inclusive beauty tech movement.

The AI-voice-enabled makeup assistant supports the blind and visually impaired as the app leverages the user’s phone camera, machine learning and voice instruction to provide audio feedback and guide users on their makeup application.

The Aire IQ Intelligent Hair Dryer is revolutionizing hair tools with its Heat ID Technology that automatically adjusts heat and speed settings to a user’s hair type and texture. Plus, it features smart attachment recognition to refine heat and airflow based on styling needs.

My Aura empowers consumers with upper limb or visual disabilities to enjoy their favorite scents with ease by simply hovering any preferred body part near the sensor to release a spritz of the perfume. The innovation is a gamechanger for beauty lovers with mobility issues; as high as 1 in 6 people live with a significant disability per the World Health Organization, with the mobility-accessibility of product design “grossly underserved” in the beauty market.

Per Spate, there has been a 1.1 million monthly popularity for “shade matching” in consumer search for inclusive shades; a 367.8% year-over-year growth in monthly popularity with “sensory friendly” solutions; and roughly 127,000 monthly views for personalized beauty.

The Convenience Marketplace

Beauty consumers’ on-the-go lifestyles and disposable income leave little room for patience; they need products that make their lives easier without sacrificing efficacy or their sanity. Analysts say jet-setting consumers seek carry-on compatible products that carry skincare benefits and can easily stash in their backpack or handbag. This news piggybacks on the fact that there are 300 million international tourists while the digital nomad community has hit 40 million worldwide, per analysts. Busy travel schedules aside, hectic daily routines spiked searches on TikTok for “my 5-9 after my 9-5 (and even my 5-9 before my 9-5).

Up to 67% of American women surveyed cite a desire for multifunctional products, an opportunity exists for products that maximize value, space and functionality fueling a global hybrid makeup market projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2024 to 2030, analysts say.

Ease-of-use, multifunctionality and on-the-go accessories are drivers of chance in this category. Judydoll’s mini “One Box” makeup palette combines multi-use, versatile shades for base and eyes, as well as a miniature lip gloss or mascara, as the set maximizes space with a sensible slide-out row that offers additional product shades without extra bulk.

Tonal Cosmetics is dubbed the “ultimate” hybrid beauty solution for busy consumers as their hero debut product, Sun Veil’s formula, is skin-caring, weightless and tone-correcting, offering value within display-worthy packaging.

Odele and accessories designer Susan Alexandra tap into the beauty-as-accessory movement with their Touch-Ups To Go Bag Charm Set collaboration, which features a mini dry shampoo in a beaded Y2K-inspired holder, air dryer styler and hair oil. The keychain-friendly approach sparks attention and conversation through its eye-catching design.

Indeed, the chachka trend continues to charm consumers. Searches for lip gloss keychain resulted in a 404.8% combined year-over-year growth, while “lipstick case” searches boasted 55.1% combined year-over-year growth, showing the interest in beauty accessories. Mini perfume racked up 6.4 million average monthly popularity, representing 119.8% combined year-over-year growth signaling a high popularity for space-saving small sizes, analysts say. Consumers searches for travel size amounted to 1.9 million average monthly popularity with a 27.2% combined year-over-year growth, while searches for “travel beauty” resulted in 43.3% Google year-over-year growth.

K-Beauty’s Second Wave

Korean Beauty, or K-Beauty is cementing itself as the beauty capital of the world as its “second wave” is flooding the global beauty market with cutting-edge innovations, analysts say. Korean innovation is unparalleled analysts say, with the US reaching $1.7 billion in imported South Korean cosmetics. South Korea is expanding its reach beyond facial level skincare, as its second wave washes ashore product categories like hair care, color cosmetics, nail art, body care, beauty tech, wellness solutions and more. The second wave has also addressed long-standing pain points by consumers, specifically, when it comes to inclusivity. Better skin tone diversity and inclusive K-beauty hair products have entered the market.

Launches like European-based brand Yepoda prove the possibility for Western brands to incorporate K-beauty innovation and aesthetics for their local markets. Drivers of change include K-beauty brands’ proving their innovation beyond facial skincare; preparation for Seoul-level retail; and taking cues from Korea’s aesthetic tourism surge.

Cosrx entered the hair care market with its three-step line that incorporates the brand’s patented and proprietary Peptide-132 ingredient. The innovative active was developed in-house and features peptide technology to help restore and repair damaged hair for the attainment of K-beauty “glass hair.”

Korean retail giant Olive Young announced plans for its LA flagship after its “Olive Young School” booth at KCon LA 2025 drew a record 36,000 visitors. In showcasing its popularity with Western consumers, it emphasized education, interaction, personalization and abundant freebies, samples and product rewards to thereby encourage customer loyalty.

Aesthetic tourism, a form of medical tourism attracting a global clientele with its innovative cosmetic procedures and affordability, is surging in Seoul, analysts say, which has glamorized beauty treatments. Companies like Seoul Beauty Global have popped up to help facilitate Western consumers on aesthetic vacations.

The numbers back it up. Data shows popularity for K-Beauty has become a global phenomenon, with an average score of 70.6 million monthly, representing a 40.0% combined year-over-year. Korean skincare amassed 80.6 million in average monthly popularity, with a 64.9% combined year-over-year growth that cemented Korean skincare as a major global focus. Other product categories are bolstering K-beauty’s reputation beyond skincare. Popularity for Korean makeup averaged 9.8 million monthly, demonstrating high popularity.

The Biotech Standard

Analysts say the future of sustainable beauty is being developed in a lab. The “biotech standard” redefines an industry where lab-grown ingredients, bioengineered packaging and nature-identical formulas are setting the new benchmark for performance, transparency and environmental impact.

Biotechnology is revolutionizing the beauty industry, offering effective formulas and sustainable alternatives to non-renewable resources and unsustainable packaging, analysts say. Biotech is capturing the attention of consumers as sustainability remains a high priority. Between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, content mentioning biotech terms for skincare and hair care increased 69% and 169%, respectively. This showcases growing consumer interest in the category.

Drivers of change include leveraging biotech ingredients to reduce non-renewable resource use; building a more resilient and ethical supply chain with biotech innovations; and investing in bio-based materials to eliminate the need of microplastics.

Biotech beauty utilizes biotech-derived ingredients to power their range of cosmetic products in an effort to reduce its use of non-renewable resources. They design ingredients from precision fermentation to offer high-performance results while ensuring their products are ethical and environmentally-friendly.

Debut created a new plant cell biotechnology platform that creates fragrance ingredients without the need of traditional cultivation. Its first ingredient, Orris, is a rare perfume component that can now be replicated in a lab, solving common challenges within the supply chain, analysts say.

Danish biotech brand Cellugy is a biofabricated cellulose platform designed to replace fossil-derived ingredients like carbomers and acrylates, and eliminate microplastics within the personal care industry.

Biotechnology is on the rise as education around the topic increases, and biotech experiences 10.0% year-over-year growth in popularity. Sustainability remains a key consideration for consumers when purchasing beauty products as the term “sustainable beauty” gains 2.0 million average weekly views and experiences 26.9% year-over-year growth in views. Bio-based skincare booms with consumer interest for the category growing as analysts see a year-over-year growth of 872.0%.