Which hair care brands do AI assistants recommend in China? Q4 2026
In China, AI assistants most often recommend L'Oréal, Pantene and Schwarzkopf for hair care. L'Oréal is named by 5 of 5 assistants.
What the data says
L'Oréal (L’Oréal) is the hair care brand AI assistants recommend most in China, taking 19% of all recommendation points across 5 assistants. Pantene follows with 10.7% and Schwarzkopf is third with 10.3%.
L'Oréal's lead over Pantene is 8.3 points, a clear advantage in how AI shortlists the category.
Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini and Grok put L'Oréal first, while ChatGPT favours Pantene.
The top five brands hold 51% of recommendations out of 45 brands named in total, leaving room for challengers to break into AI shortlists.
| # | Brand | Owner | AI share | ChatGPT | Claude | DeepSeek | Gemini | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Oréal | L’Oréal | 19% | 95 | 125 | 114 | 100 | 135 |
| 2 | Pantene | Procter & Gamble | 10.7% | 110 | 25 | 55 | 60 | 70 |
| 3 | Schwarzkopf | Henkel | 10.3% | 33 | 90 | 58 | 49 | 78 |
| 4 | Dove | Unilever | 5.4% | 48 | 8 | 25 | 50 | 32 |
| 5 | Johnson's | Johnson & Johnson | 5.3% | 20 | 35 | 70 | – | 35 |
| 6 | Head & Shoulders | Procter & Gamble | 5.1% | 47 | 35 | 35 | 35 | – |
| 7 | Gatsby | Mandom Corporation | 5% | – | 60 | 20 | 35 | 35 |
| 8 | Pigeon | Pigeon | 3.6% | 8 | 25 | 50 | – | 25 |
| 9 | Rejoice | Procter & Gamble | 3.6% | 59 | – | 8 | 28 | 12 |
| 10 | 施华蔻 (Schwarzkopf) | Henkel | 2.4% | 20 | – | 8 | 20 | 25 |
| 11 | Garnier | L’Oréal | 2.3% | 12 | – | 37 | – | 20 |
| 12 | Kerastase | L'Oréal | 2% | 8 | 12 | – | 20 | 20 |
| 13 | Giving | Generic | 1.8% | 35 | 20 | – | – | – |
| 14 | TRESemmé | Unilever | 1.8% | 8 | – | – | 12 | 33 |
| 15 | Clear | Unilever | 1.5% | 20 | – | 25 | – | – |
| 16 | Mustela | Laboratoires Expanscience | 1.5% | – | – | 32 | – | 12 |
| 17 | Bigen | Hoyu | 1.3% | 20 | 12 | 8 | – | – |
| 18 | Shiseido | Shiseido | 1.2% | 8 | 8 | – | 20 | – |
| 19 | P&G (Pantene/Rejoice) | Procter & Gamble | 1.2% | – | – | – | 35 | – |
| 20 | Maestro | Independent | 1.2% | – | – | 35 | – | – |
Questions about AI hair care recommendations
- Which hair care brand does ChatGPT recommend most in China?
- ChatGPT recommends Pantene most often for hair care in China. Across all assistants, L'Oréal leads with 19% of recommendations.
- Which hair care brand is improving fastest in China?
- Johnson's has the strongest momentum among challengers: AI names it first in 4 of 5 answers where it appears, while holding 5.3% share. This is the first Q4 2026 reading; change over time will be shown from the next update.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- We ask each AI assistant the questions shoppers ask in each category and market, record the top five brands it names, and give 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points for positions one to five. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded.
Hair Care: AI rankings by country
Covers: Baby Hair Care, Conditioners, Hair Color, Hair Treatments, Shampoo & Cleansers, Styling Products.
Method: each AI assistant is asked the shopper questions for every segment in the category and market; the top five brands named score 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded. Rankings reflect AI answers, not sales.
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