Looks good

“CAFUNÉ (N): A STROKE or ruffle of a loved one’s hair”. That Brazilians have coined such a specific word testifies to their physical warmth, sense of touch—and obsession with hair. Brazil, although only the world’s seventh-largest economy, is its second-largest market for hair-care products. The amount Brazilian women spend on primping has been growing strongly for years and now matches British women’s spending per person, though their disposable incomes are far lower. Soon Brazil will overtake Japan to become the second-biggest market for beauty products overall, after the United States.

“The whole world has woken up to the potential of the Brazilian beauty market,” says Hana Ben-Shabat of A.T. Kearney, a firm of analysts. Sales of big global companies such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble are growing fast in Brazil, and luxury brands such as l’Occitane are piling in. But the country has also come up with a home-grown beauty company that dominates its bathroom shelves. Natura has a 13.4% share of the Brazilian cosmetics, perfume and hygiene market, with customers in 60% of all households. It is already the world’s 20th most valuable cosmetics brand, according to Brand Finance, a consultancy, even though nearly 90% of its sales are domestic and hardly any are outside Latin America. Now it is planning to go global.