Ahead of its Q4 2024 results, Olaplex is announcing a significant pivot toward total hair health.Olaplex
Ahead of its Q4 2024 results, Olaplex is announcing a significant pivot toward total hair health. The flagship product of this new direction? The No.0.5 Scalp Longevity Treatment, a scalp serum that, combined with the brand’s No.3 Hair Perfector, can provide “lasting hair health from root to tip.”
The Rise of Scalp Care: Innovations, Trends, and Market Growth
Key serum’s ingredients include the brand’s bond-building technology, which relinks disulfide bonds within keratin as a means of strengthening the stratum corneum and thus the scalp barrier. The technology is complexed with fatty acids and ceramides to replenish lipids for scalp hydration.
Other ingredients include lavender and tazman pepper extracts to combat stressors such as harsh water, sun exposure, chemical treatments, sleep deficits and more.
Finally, the scalp serum features a Biome Pro-Balancing Blend.
The launch and brand repositioning come at a time of strong growth in the scalp sector. During CEW’s recent state of the industry event, Circana reported the scalp care category grew twice as fast as the overall hair sector.
This scalp revolution is evident in the popularity of brands like Nizoral, an anti-dandruff brand flagged by Spate and Google data at the CEW event. The two firms also unearthed rising interest in treatments like red light scalp therapy and head and scalp spas, as well as curiosity about trichologists, or scalp experts.
Olaplex Faces Financial Challenges Amid Brand Transformation
As mentioned, the pivot comes at a time of financial turnaround for Olaplex. For Q3, 2024, Olaplex reported a 3.6% decline in net sales, totaling $119.1 million. Professional sales dropped 12.6% to $42.2 million, direct-to-consumer sales grew 6.8% to $34.3 million, and specialty retail sales decreased 1.3% to $42.6 million.
Of the brand transformation, Amanda Baldwin, CEO of Olaplex, said, “From day one, Olaplex has built bonds and broken barriers. This new chapter is about living up to the extraordinary innovation that has always defined us. Our products will repair and transform in the most extraordinary of circumstances but it’s their daily power to build foundational hair health and deliver lasting results that makes them truly breakthrough and empowers stylists and customers with the confidence that comes from truly healthy hair.”
She added, “Today’s professionals and consumers are more knowledgeable than ever about the science of haircare. Foundational hair health is, and always has been, in service of letting the work of the pro community truly shine and to deliver more great hair days, today, tomorrow and for years to come.”