43365 Minority Hair Tax: Pricing Bias in Haircare Products

The hair styling term “natural” typically describes curly to tightly coiled textured hair that has not been chemically straightened with a relaxer. Coily/curly hair may be more fragile and prone to breakage; thus, requiring products that moisturize, detangle, and assist with ease of styling. Black women spend nine times more money on ethnic hair products than non-black consumers of both genders. Although natural haircare products are anecdotally more expensive, there is no research on texture-based hair price discrimination. We aim to investigate differences in pricing for curly/coily and straight haircare products. Data was collected in August 2022 from Amazon.com. A product was considered to target natural hair if it included the adjectives “natural,” “curly,” “coily,” or “kinky.” Only brands that offered shampoos and conditioners for curly/coily and straight hair textures were included. Products tailored to all hair types, contained minoxidil or DHT blockers, or sold by resellers were excluded. Products were stratified by manufacturer, targeted hair texture, average price/oz; then compared using paired, 2-tailed t-tests. Two- sided P values <0.05 were considered significant. A total of 48 products were included. There was a significant difference in average price/oz between all coily/curly and straight hair products (t12 = 2.4203, p < .034) with coily/curly hair being more expensive. Pricing policies should ensure that all individuals have access to effective and affordable haircare products. Dermatologists should be cognizant of pricing differences to direct patients with natural hair to fairly priced products.