According to Fresha data, everyone wants to be a Barbie girl

Barbie is set to be one of the biggest films of the year, and apart from dominating social media feeds and contributing to a global shortage of pink paint, it’s also taking over the world of beauty and wellness. From fuchsia nail art to platinum-blonde hair, the Barbie boom is real in salons around the world.

Fresha booking data shows a massive uptake in the Barbie trend. Based on the numbers between June and July 2023, we saw a 508% year-on-year increase in the number of Barbie-inspired services offered by our partner salons, relative to that same timeframe in 2022.

If you’ve taken bookings for more services like pink highlights and Barbie-themed manicures, you’re not alone. We recorded an 83% increase, year-on-year, in bookings for Barbie-inspired treatments including pink-coloured hair and nails, and platinum blonde transformations. 

Barbie is also turning social media and the internet pink, with 23% of the three million TikTok posts with the #barbie hashtag created in the past 30 days. Other Barbie-related hashtags, like #barbienails, #barbiemakeup and #barbiehair, collectively gathered 171 million views over the past month. And from July 2022 to July 2023, Google Trends recorded a 323% surge in searches for “Barbie.”

If you’re looking to add some playful (and popular) services to your treatment menu and need a little inspiration from one of Fresha’s partners, check out what Proper Salon pulled off the weekend the film premiered in the UK. Launched by Propercorn, it was a limited-time pop-up in London offering Barbie-themed services like pink tooth gems and nail art. That goes to show you don’t have to turn your salon into a Barbie Dreamhouse – smaller offerings are perfect.

The emergence of the Barbie trend and its impact on the beauty and wellness industry highlights the way pop culture can influence treatments. It also shows how businesses, including thousands of Fresha partners, are already using these trends to provide something extra special for their clients.

We don’t see this nostalgia-fueled trend going anywhere anytime soon, either. Barbie will likely rule the rest of the summer, and then trend upward again come Halloween – Barbie group costume, anyone? So, think pink (or blonde) and consider adding a few new services, or reframing your current ones to make the most of the Barbie boom.