Teen Beauty Spend Is Up, as Is Rhode’s Stock, Piper Sandler Survey Shows

Teen beauty spending is rebounding after experiencing a decline last fall.

Piper Sandler’s annual teen survey — polling 9,000 teens across 47 states — shows overall beauty spend swelled 7 percent this year, with growth across all key categories, including cosmetics, skin care, hair and fragrance.

While fragrance may have been the fastest-growing category in the spring of 2025, hair is now outpacing it, as well as the growth of the beauty industry overall. The category rose 10 percent this year, while cosmetics and skin care swelled 5 percent. Wallet share for teen girls, specifically, reached an all-time high in hair, totaling 23 percent, up 2 percent year-over-year. The momentum comes as consumer demand for both at-home salon solutions and clinical hair care mounts.

Not Your Mother’s was the top-ranked brand by teen girls this year, followed by Amika with 9 percent share and L’Oréal with 8 percent share. Meanwhile, Dove took Ouai’s spot at number four in the mindshare rank, beating out Olaplex, Pantene and Redken, too. Movement further down included Kérastase, the L’Oréal-owned prestige hair care brand, cracking the top 20 for the first time.

It’s no coincidence that the majority of these brands are in Ulta; the retailer has shown high single-digit category growth for three quarters straight.

Teen girls’ favorite hair care brands, fall 2026

Ulta also remained in the number-two retailer position among teen girls, trailing only Sephora, which took the top slot in 2023. Target on the other hand gained one share point this year after taking a hit in 2024, back when its five-year partnership with Ulta was still on. The retailer could sustain growth over the next year, though, as it continues to build out its new Beauty Studio.

Despite the ongoing success of digital retailers such as Amazon and TikTok (now ranked number nine after Shein), teens are still shopping beauty in-person, with 85 percent of female participants saying they actually prefer the in-store experience. That said, preference for brick-and-mortar shopping did decrease 1 percent year-over-year.

Teen girls’ favorite beauty destination, fall 2026

In skin care, Rhode’s stock is soaring. While CeraVe, The Ordinary and La Roche-Posay all held their same high ranks, the beauty brand, led by Hailey Bieber and backed by E.l.f. Beauty, broke through for the first time, landing number four on the leaderboard. It also made a significant jump in cosmetics, climbing from the number-16 spot to number three this year after launching only its second complexion product, the Pocket Bronzer, this June.

As much as teen girls are loving Rhode’s innovations, they’re also big on K-beauty, with 75 percent having reported spending between $20 and $50 on fewer than two products. Medicube, a pioneer in the market on TikTok, gained share this year, ascending to the number-six spot, just behind Bubble. This is the first time a K-beauty brand has entered the survey. The momentum arrives roughly seven months after Medicube expanded its retail footprint in the U.S. with a nationwide launch in Sephora.

Teen girls’ favorite skin care brands, fall 2026, per Piper Sandler

Medicube — or K-beauty, for that matter — didn’t seem to have the same mindshare among teen boys, though, but TikTok-viral brand Based Bodyworks did. Founded by influencer-barber Lance Baker, Based catapulted through the ranks, surpassing several household names, including Dove, Cetaphil, La Roche-Posay, Neutrogena, Panoxyl and Old Spice. Its popularity comes as self-optimization trends, such as “looksmaxxing,” continue to power the men’s beauty boom.

Teen boys’ favorite skin care brands, fall 2026

Social media is proving to be a driving force in makeup spend, too. Eighty-seven percent of teen girls surveyed cited social media influencers and friends as factors in their purchasing decision, while only 37 percent mentioned the influence of beauty retailers.

When it comes to trading fragrance recommendations, the consumer is better off getting a whiff in person. And now, with the percentage of daily fragrance wear on the rise, that shouldn’t be too hard. Seventy-seven percent of the teen girls and 51 percent of the teen boys reported wearing fragrance every day. The percentage of boys is down from last year, but up overall from fall of 2024.

“There is continued momentum in the fragrance category, especially with the male consumer,” Anna Andreeva — managing director of footwear, beauty and brands at Piper Sandler — said. “The age of the male customer coming into this category starts younger. This has been the theme over the last couple years and is very much echoed by this as well.”

Teen boys’ favorite fragrance brands, fall 2026

On the brand side, two celebrity-led lines proved their staying power among teen girls, while other hero brands dropped in mindshare. Bath and Body Works was among those that experienced a steep decline, dropping 13 points over the last three years, yet it still remained its top rank. Sol de Janeiro also kept its number-two position, despite losing six points over two years. At the same time, Huda proved to be the brand to watch, rising from the bottom of the top 20 to the number-six rank.

Teen girls’ favorite fragrance brands, fall 2026

Across the 9,000 teens surveyed, 43 percent were female and 56 percent were male. A majority of participants were from the South, 31 percent were from the Midwest, 20 percent were from the West Coast, and 7 percent were from the Northeast. The average age was 15.7 years old.