
As the first month of 2025 comes to a close, we're looking at the rest of the year ahead by reflecting on the state of the hair and beauty industry. To do so, Beauty Launchpad Managing Editor Gabby Bach and Hairdustry's Corey Gray spoke to Gordon Miller (@gordnm) as part of their collaborative podcast. In the episode, Miller shares his thoughts on where the industry is at and where it's heading when it comes to trends, social media and AI and what the next generation of hair pros can do to succeed in the current landscape.
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As the first month of 2025 comes to a close, we're looking at the rest of the year ahead by reflecting on the state of the hair and beauty industry. To do so, Beauty Launchpad Managing Editor Gabby Bach and Hairdustry's Corey Gray spoke to Gordon Miller (@gordnm) as part of their collaborative podcast. In the episode, Miller shares his thoughts on where the industry is at and where it's heading when it comes to trends, social media and AI and what the next generation of hair pros can do to succeed in the current landscape.
The State of the Industry
To kick of the podcast, Miller reflected on the current state of the industry, saying the hair and beauty industry had an "okay year" in 2024 across all kinds of categories like top line revenue, color revenue, retail revenue, average tickets, etc.
"I think that 2023 was an up year for so many, and the sense in the data is that we overcorrected on inflation in 2023," he explains. "We paid the price in 2024 across the industry, and so we're off a little bit."
With a transition of government happening in 2025 that filled with a bunch of unknowns, it's unclear how this year will unfold for the industry. However, Miller made several predictions not only for the year ahead but the future of the industry:
- Salon franchises and suites will continue to grow.
- The luxury market will start to tighten up.
- Retail will continue to disappear in the industry.
- Independence and part-time hours will continue to grow in the industry.
- Corporate budgets will tighten up, impacting access to education, networking opportunities and additional resources.
- The influencer space will start to slow down, with many developing a lack of trust among individuals in that community.
- Digital education will transform the way beauty professionals learn skills.
- The event space in the industry will shift, as current models seem to not be successful at reaching a wide audience.
"My own personal opinion about our industry is it's going to get worse before it gets better," Miller says.
Hair Trends
Hair and beauty trends are skyrocketing like never before — color trends named after food, cut and style trends inspired by celebrities, etc. So far in 2025, vintage and Old Hollywood hairstyles seem to be the dominating trend. While, such elegant looks and styles would seem to be in contrast to the current economy and industry performance, Miller shares that this actually isn't the case.
"If you study history, you'll see that at the worst times is when we have the most luxurious trends," he says. "If you put stuff in front of people that will potentially make them feel good, I think — even when times are difficult or there's a lot of unknown in what's coming up — they will grab on to that because it does make us feel good, and we want to feel good."
Social Media
Social media has become a pivotal tool in the industry for education, connection and branding. It's also become the number one source for news for Americans, having played a major role in deciding the results of the recent presidential election.
"We don't trust the media, which is why we look to social media, yet logically trusting social media is one of the more illogical conclusions I think society has ever come to," Miller says.
In spite of this, social media is in a turbulent period itself, with TikTok receiving a short 12-hour ban in-between presidential administrations, with a potential permanent ban on the horizon. While Instagram may be the most popular platform used by hair professionals, TikTok also plays a prominent role in the industry, especially among influencers. Only time will tell if the platform will be around by the end of the year and what the platform will look like if it remains accessible in the U.S.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Technology is taking over the industry like never before, but there's one advancement more than others that has caused controversy: artificial intelligence (AI). While some may be weary of AI and it's role in the industry, Miller shares "AI will absolutely fundamentally change the industry."
Down the line, Miller sees AI taking on the traditional role of a salon receptionist, as an agent that can analyze a salon's inventory, finances and booking and even making its way into robot form to assist hair pros in performing services.
When seeing the forms AI will take, many beauty pros become concerned about their job security; regardless of these fears, Miller shares that the progress of AI will not be halted, so he offers this piece of advice instead: "Figure out how to use it to your advantage." Miller himself has started to use AI daily to help him craft newsletters and presentations and says it's helped him create many efficiencies in his day-to-day life.
Accessibility is also a fear with the introduction of AI into the hair and beauty industry. Many recent technological advancements have come at a steep price point, making them easily accessible to a small few and a signature of someone's wealth. However, Miller believes that the industry will step up to the table to make AI advancements accessible to everyone at the price-point they can afford, with several major salon software programs already researching AI and working on incorporating the technology into their offerings.
"I believe access is not going to be a problem if the industry itself steps up," he says. "If the industry doesn't step up, then we're back to that kind of hobbyist idea that a lot of us have already grabbed on to, which is like 'Okay, how do I use it in my space, in my industry?'"
Succeeding as an Upcoming Beauty Pro
With all this change on the horizon, upcoming beauty pros may be wondering how they can best succeed in the industry. Miller shares three recommendations:
"First and foremost is learn how to do hair," he says. "We don't have enough of that going on. I think we're probably at our lowest level of general proficiency ever in terms of baseline skills."
He suggests gaining as much knowledge and experience as possible in every kind of hair type early on in your career and putting that knowledge into practice on models, doll heads, etc.
"Doubling down on customer service is second in line," Miller adds. "I think that everybody should be hopeful that AI will fill in all the gaps that are necessary to have a long, sustainable career."
He suggests using AI to help with booking, keeping records and managing color use. Even if you are skeptical about AI in the beauty industry, Miller advises being open-minded and trying to use new tools in a way that works best for you, even if that means letting go of your pre-conceived notions on the tool.
"And don't get so caught up in 'I have to be my own boss,' which is one of the worst things that the professional beauty industry has ever done to itself."
Miller explains that there's no industry or community where a majority of its participants were built to be their own bosses, in spite of what the beauty industry has pitched to the public and prospective cosmetology students about joining the industry.
For More
You can listen to the full episode with Gordon Miller on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!