Hair Colouring Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Hair Colouring and Bleaching Patents: Who Holds the Claims
50.7% concentration. The five leading assignees combined account for 2,647 of the 5,224 records in scope — half the field sits with a handful of filers. Filings peaked at 261 records in 2017. The most recent complete comparison — 2021 at 130 down to 2024 at 68 — shows a 48% contraction over three years. Years after 2024 are still filling in under publication lag and should not be read as a continued fall.
- 1PROCTER & GAMBLE CO1,170
- 2KAO GERMANY GMBH578
- 3LOREAL SA344
- 4KAO CORP296
- 5WELLA OPERATIONS US LLC259
See the full hair colouring and bleaching analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on hair colouring and bleaching patents
Who holds the most patents in hair colouring and bleaching?
The assignee ranking is led by a single company with 1,170 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed company at 259. The top five assignees together account for 2,647 of the 5,224 records in scope, or 50.7% of the field, and the top ten extend that to 65.4%. This concentration means most freedom-to-operate work in this space should start with the leading handful of portfolios rather than a broad survey of all ranked filers.
Is hair dye patent filing activity growing or declining?
Filing peaked in 2017 at 261 records and has trended down since. The most reliable comparison, using complete years, shows 130 filings in 2021 falling to 68 in 2024, a 48% decline over that span. Years from 2025 onward are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so it is too early to call the recent trend a continued fall rather than a reporting gap.
What technical areas dominate hair colouring patent claims?
The classification data shows this is overwhelmingly a formulation-chemistry field: A61K (medicinal preparations) covers 83.9% of the 5,224 records and A61Q (cosmetics use) covers 79.6%. Narrower classes such as C09B for organic dyes and pigments (9.0%) and D06P for textile dyeing (6.0%) capture more specific chemistry niches. Hairdressing equipment under A45D is a comparatively small share at 7.4%, indicating that claims center on chemical composition rather than application tools.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hair Colouring and Bleaching covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.