Twenty-eight brand guides to haircare — salon houses, hero-product brands and clean and textured-hair specialists.
Haircare is dominated by a few groups, with independents growing around single hero products. These guides set out who owns each brand.
The groups
Kérastase has been a professional brand of L’Oréal since 1964, and Redken is L’Oréal’s too; Aveda and Bumble and bumble belong to Estée Lauder; Oribe and Goldwell to Kao; K18 to Unilever; Briogeo to Wella, itself part of the KKR-controlled Wella Company; and Christophe Robin to THG. Davines, made in Parma, is independent, family-owned and B Corp certified, and Paul Mitchell is independent too.
One hero
Several brands are built on one product: Olaplex’s No. 3, Color Wow’s Dream Coat, Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer, Amika’s Perk Up and Verb’s Ghost Oil.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Clean and ritual haircare
Davines, K18, Act+Acre, Gisou, Crown Affair, Ceremonia and Bread Beauty Supply.
- Davines — The independent, family-owned Italian salon haircare brand, made in Parma and B Corp certified.
- K18 — The biotech haircare brand built on a patented “molecular repair” peptide, now owned by Unilever.
- Act+Acre — The cold-processed, scalp-health haircare brand of trichologist Helen Reavey.
- Gisou — The honey-infused haircare brand of Negin Mirsalehi, rooted in a family bee garden.
- Crown Affair — The elevated, slow-beauty haircare brand built around ritual and design-object tools.
- Ceremonia — The Latina-founded, Latin-heritage haircare brand of Babba Rivera.
- Bread Beauty Supply — The textured-hair haircare brand of Maeva Heim, built on everyday basics.
Founder-led haircare
Briogeo, Sienna Naturals, Ouai, Oribe, Prose, Christophe Robin and Rahua.
- Briogeo — The clean, Black-founded haircare brand Nancy Twine built, now part of Wella.
- Sienna Naturals — The clean, textured-hair haircare brand of Hannah Diop, with Issa Rae as co-founder and muse.
- Ouai — The playful, fragrance-forward haircare brand of celebrity stylist Jen Atkin.
- Oribe — The luxury salon haircare house of the late stylist Oribe Canales, now part of Kao.
- Prose — The made-to-order custom haircare brand, formulated per consultation and made in NYC.
- Christophe Robin — The Parisian colorist haircare brand, now owned by THG.
- Rahua — The natural-luxury haircare brand built on Amazonian Rahua oil and a Symbiotic sourcing model.
One-hero brands
Olaplex, Living Proof, Moroccanoil, Color Wow, Philip Kingsley, Amika and Verb.
- Olaplex — The bond-building haircare brand built on a numbered system and one viral hero, the No. 3.
- Living Proof — The biotech-founded haircare brand born at MIT, known for Perfect hair Day.
- Moroccanoil — The argan-oil haircare brand built on one hero treatment, an ingredient-named house.
- Color Wow — The independent styling-haircare brand built on one viral hero, Dream Coat.
- Philip Kingsley — The London trichology haircare house built on one hero, the Elasticizer.
- Amika — The colorful Brooklyn haircare brand built on one hero, the Perk Up dry shampoo.
- Verb — The accessible Austin haircare brand built on one hero, the Ghost Oil.
Salon houses
Kérastase, Redken, Aveda, Bumble and bumble, Paul Mitchell, Wella Professionals and Goldwell.
- Kérastase — The luxury salon haircare house, a professional brand of L’Oréal since 1964.
- Redken — The professional salon haircare brand of L’Oréal, with a protein-and-pH science heritage.
- Aveda — The plant-based salon haircare brand, made in Minnesota, owned by Estée Lauder.
- Bumble and bumble — The New York editorial salon haircare brand, owned by Estée Lauder.
- Paul Mitchell — The independent salon haircare brand of John Paul Mitchell Systems, a cruelty-free pioneer.
- Wella Professionals — The salon colour house founded in 1880, now part of the KKR-controlled Wella Company.
- Goldwell — The salon-only German professional colour house, owned by Kao.
Salon and indie haircare
KEVIN.MURPHY, Sachajuan, Maria Nila, IGK, Virtue, Fekkai and Pureology.
- KEVIN.MURPHY — The Australian salon haircare brand that session stylist Kevin Murphy launched in 2004 with Peter McDonald and seven products, known for dotted product names such as HAIR.RESORT, and for a 2018 ocean-plastic packaging pledge it withdrew in December 2020.
- Sachajuan — The Stockholm haircare brand named after hairdressers Sacha Mitic and Juan Rosenlind, who opened their salon in 1997 and introduced their first products in 2004, built around algae-based “Ocean Silk Technology” and pared-back Scandinavian packaging.
- Maria Nila — The vegan professional haircare brand founded in 1999 by Ann and Ulf Wikström in the south of Sweden, made at its own Helsingborg factory, run from Stockholm by their son Marcus, with L Catterton as a minority investor since 2023.
- IGK — The US haircare and colour brand created by stylists Franck and Leo Izquierdo, Aaron Grenia and Chase Kusero, named for their surnames, grown from a Miami Beach salon, and owned by Luxury Brand Partners.
- Virtue Labs — The North Carolina haircare brand Melisse Shaban launched in 2017 around Alpha Keratin 60ku, a protein that came out of regenerative-medicine work at KeraNetics in Winston-Salem, and in which Combe Inc. has held a majority stake since December 2020.
- Fekkai — The haircare brand Frédéric Fekkai, an Aix-en-Provence-born stylist who opened his first New York salon atop Bergdorf Goodman in 1989, launched in the mid-1990s, sold to Catterton and then P&G, and bought back with Cornell Capital in 2018 before a 2020 relaunch.
- Pureology — The salon hair-care brand for colour-treated hair founded in Irvine, California, in 2001 by Jim and Cheryl Markham, owned by L’Oréal since 2007, known for a paired bottle made from one mould and a 2020 relaunch as “professional color care.”
Salon and indie haircare II
Joico, UNITE, KERASILK, ELEVEN Australia, Philip B., Hairstory and Innersense.
- Joico — The salon haircare brand founded in Los Angeles in 1975 by Steve Stefano, known for keratin-based K-PAK care, bought by Shiseido through Zotos in 2001 and owned by Henkel since the Zotos deal closed in December 2017.
- UNITE Hair — The salon haircare brand founded in 2003 by Andrew Dale, a British hairdresser who trained with Vidal Sassoon, started in his garage, known for the 7SECONDS Detangler, and expanded from salons into Ulta Beauty and, in 2026, Sephora.
- KERASILK — The silk-led salon haircare line launched under Goldwell in 1984, owned by Kao since its 1989 purchase of Goldwell, and now a standalone brand in Kao’s salon division with vegan formulas built on what it calls biomimetic silk.
- ELEVEN Australia — The haircare brand started in 2011 by hairdresser Joey Scandizzo and photographer Andrew O’Toole after a Sydney magazine shoot, known for its Miracle Hair Treatment and product names like SMOOTH ME NOW, and sold in 27 countries, the brand says.
- Philip B. — The botanical hair and scalp care line of Los Angeles hairstylist Philip Berkovitz, which the company dates to its Four Step treatment of 1991, first sold its Rejuvenating Oil at Fred Segal in 1992 and says its products are made in the USA.
- Hairstory — The New York haircare company associated with Bumble and bumble founder Michael Gordon, which launched its detergent-free cleanser New Wash in 2015, sells through a stylist commission model and took a minority investment from Summit Partners in 2021.
- Innersense — The hair-care brand of Concord, California, started by salon stylists Greg and Joanne Starkman (online by 2005, launched in 2006 by Greg Starkman’s account), which left amber bottles for white ones in 2017 and says it has been a Certified B Corp since 2021.
French, Japanese and salon-collective haircare
Shu Uemura, Leonor Greyl, René Furterer, Klorane, HASK, R+Co and John Masters Organics.
- Shu Uemura Art of Hair — The salon hair-care line that L’Oréal says it created in 2007 under the name of the Tokyo make-up artist Shu Uemura, whose cosmetics company, begun in 1967, came under L’Oréal’s management control in 2004.
- Leonor Greyl — The Paris hair-care house that Leonor Greyl and the plant-minded engineer Jean-Marie Greyl began with their Institut in 1968, now led by their daughter Caroline Greyl, which says each product is designed and manufactured in France.
- René Furterer — The French hair-care brand that dates itself to 1957, when its hairdresser founder opened a hair spa in Paris and coined “étheirologie”, known for Complexe 5 and a prepare-wash-treat ritual, and owned by the Pierre Fabre group since 1978.
- Klorane — The botanical hair- and skin-care brand that the pharmacist Pierre Fabre bought as a Paris laboratory in 1965, known for its 1966 chamomile shampoo, its dry shampoo and its “one plant” principle, backed by the Klorane Botanical Foundation.
- HASK — The drugstore haircare brand that says it dates to 1946, whose name stands for “Hair and Skin Kindness,” which is owned by Inspired Beauty Brands of New York, and which refreshed its logo and amber bottles in 2024.
- R+Co — The professional haircare line launched in May 2014 by the Miami incubator Luxury Brand Partners with the hairstylists Garren, Howard McLaren and Thom Priano, whose “R” stands for rogue, and whose R+Co BLEU couture line followed in 2020.
- John Masters Organics — The lower-case haircare brand that a New York stylist, John Masters, began with kitchen blends in 1991 and launched with a SoHo salon in 1994, built up in Japan by its distributor Styla from 2007, and owned by Matsukiyo Cocokara & Company since September 2026.
Mass-market haircare
TRESemmé, Pantene, Herbal Essences, Garnier Fructis, Aussie, Not Your Mother’s and John Frieda.
- TRESemmé — The American haircare brand launched for beauty salons by the Godefroy Manufacturing Company in 1947 (the brand gives 1948), named after Edna L. Emme, later bought by Alberto-Culver and owned by Unilever since 2011.
- Pantene — The haircare brand launched in Europe in 1945 by the Swiss company Hoffmann-La Roche and named after panthenol, sold off by Roche in the 1980s and owned by Procter & Gamble since 1985, home of Pro-V and the 1986 “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” advert.
- Herbal Essences — The shampoo Clairol introduced in 1971, owned by Procter & Gamble since 2001, redesigned with the Cincinnati agency LPK in 2006, and given tactile shampoo and conditioner markings for blind and partially sighted users from 2019.
- Garnier Fructis — The fruit-themed shampoo line that Garnier, the house founded in Blois in 1904 and owned by L’Oréal, dates to 1996, launched across Germany in 1998 and extended into styling with Fructis Style.
- Aussie — The American brand Tom Redmond started at Redmond Products at the turn of the 1980s around Australian ingredients and 3 Minute Miracle, sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1997 and owned by Procter & Gamble since its 2001 purchase of Clairol.
- Not Your Mother’s — The Tampa, Florida haircare brand launched in 2010 by Rocky and Bethany Pagliarulo through their company DeMert Brands, known for Clean Freak dry shampoo, backed by Main Post Partners from 2019 and acquired by Henkel in 2026.
- John Frieda — The brand of the London hairstylist John Frieda, built with Gail Federici from 1989 around Frizz Ease, owned since 2002 by Kao of Tokyo, restaged under one master brand in 2016 and relaunched in 2026.
At a glance: founding, owner and signature
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership and production change; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Founded | Owner | Signature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Act+Acre | circa 2019 (United States) | Founder-led | Scalp + haircare |
| Amika | 2007 (Brooklyn, NY) | Bansk Group | Haircare & tools |
| Aussie | See guide | Procter & Gamble, since 2001 | 3 Minute Miracle |
| Aveda | 1978 (Minneapolis) | Estée Lauder | Plant-based salon haircare |
| Bread Beauty Supply | circa 2020 (Australia) | Founder-led | Haircare |
| Briogeo | 2013 (New York) | Wella | Clean haircare |
| Bumble and bumble | 1977 (New York) | Estée Lauder | Editorial salon haircare |
| Ceremonia | 2020–21 (United States) | Founder-led | Haircare |
| Christophe Robin | late 1990s (Paris) | THG | Haircare |
| Color Wow | reported ~2013 (United States) | Independent | Styling haircare |
| Crown Affair | 2020 (United States) | Founder-led | Haircare + tools |
| Davines | 1983 (Parma, Italy) | Bollati family | Salon haircare |
| ELEVEN Australia | Australia (2011) | See guide | Miracle Hair Treatment, plain-English product names |
| Fekkai | New York, US (1995–1996 (salon 1989)) | See guide | Technician Color, Brilliant Gloss, Shea Butter |
| Garnier Fructis | Fructis haircare line (1996) | L’Oréal | See guide |
| Gisou | circa 2015 (Amsterdam) | Founder-led | Haircare |
| Goldwell | 1948 (Germany) | Kao | Salon colour & care |
| Hairstory | New York, United States (2015) | See guide | New Wash, Hair Balm, refill pouches |
| HASK | See guide | Inspired Beauty Brands, New York, since 2010 (company) | See guide |
| Herbal Essences | See guide | Procter & Gamble | See guide |
| IGK | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Innersense | California, United States (2005 (launched 2006, by Greg Starkman’s account)) | See guide | Hairbath shampoos, Sweet Spirit Leave-In, I Create styling |
| John Frieda | See guide | Kao Corporation, Tokyo | Frizz Ease, Sheer Blonde |
| John Masters Organics | SoHo, New York (1994 (brand); blends from 1991) | Matsukiyo Cocokara & Company | See guide |
| Joico | Los Angeles, California (1975) | Henkel, since December 2017 | K-PAK, Vero K-PAK colour, Defy Damage |
| K18 | 2020 (Los Angeles) | Unilever | Haircare |
| KERASILK | Under Goldwell (1984 (company timeline)) | Kao Corporation | Silk-based salon care, keratin smoothing service |
| KEVIN.MURPHY | Australia (2004 (company timeline)) | See guide | HAIR.RESORT, ANTI.GRAVITY, YOUNG.AGAIN |
| Klorane | See guide | Pierre Fabre, Castres | Chamomile shampoo, dry shampoo, cornflower water |
| Kérastase | 1964 (Paris) | L’Oréal | Luxury salon haircare |
| Leonor Greyl | Paris, France (1968) | See guide | A Paris hair institute and plant-based treatments |
| Living Proof | 2005 (Cambridge, MA) | Unilever | Haircare |
| Maria Nila | In a garage in the south of Sweden (1999) | See guide | See guide |
| Moroccanoil | circa 2008 (New York) | Independent | Haircare |
| Not Your Mother’s | Tampa, Florida, by Rocky and Bethany Pagliarulo (2010) | Henkel, since 2026 | Clean Freak dry shampoo |
| Olaplex | 2014 (California) | Public / PE | Bond haircare |
| Oribe | circa 2008 (United States) | Kao | Luxury haircare |
| Ouai | 2016 (Los Angeles) | Berkshire Partners | Haircare |
| Pantene | Europe, by Hoffmann-La Roche of Basel (1945) | Procter & Gamble (via Richardson-Vicks) | Pantene Pro-V |
| Paul Mitchell | 1980 (United States) | Independent | Salon haircare |
| Philip B. | Los Angeles, United States (1991 (company date)) | See guide | Rejuvenating Oil, Peppermint Avocado Shampoo |
| Philip Kingsley | 1957 / 1983 (London) | Independent | Trichology haircare |
| Prose | 2017 (Brooklyn, NY) | Founder-led | Custom haircare |
| Pureology | Irvine, California, by Jim and Cheryl Markham (2001) | L’Oréal, via L’Oréal USA | See guide |
| R+Co | United States (May 2014) | Luxury Brand Partners, Miami | See guide |
| Rahua | 2008 (United States) | Founder-led | Natural haircare |
| Redken | 1960 (United States) | L’Oréal | Pro haircare |
| René Furterer | Paris, France (company date) (1957) | Pierre Fabre, since 1978 | Complexe 5, Triphasic, Forticea, Sublime Karité |
| Sachajuan | Stockholm, Sweden (1997 (salon); first products 2004) | See guide | Ocean Silk Technology; salon-developed haircare |
| Shu Uemura Art of Hair | Tokyo, Japan (1967 (cosmetics); 2007 (Art of Hair)) | See guide | A make-up artist’s name applied to salon hair care |
| Sienna Naturals | See note (United States) | Founder-led | Textured haircare |
| TRESemmé | For beauty salons, United States (1947 (the brand gives 1948)) | See guide | See guide |
| UNITE Hair | 2003 | See guide | 7SECONDS Detangler, Boosta, U Oil |
| Verb | 2011 (Austin, TX) | Moroccanoil | Haircare |
| Virtue Labs | Raleigh, North Carolina, US (2017) | See guide | Alpha Keratin 60ku, Recovery, ColorKick |
| Wella Professionals | 1880 (Germany) | Wella Co / KKR | Salon colour & care |
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Kérastase?
L’Oréal, since 1964, according to our guide.
Is Davines independent?
Yes; our guide describes Davines as independent, family-owned, made in Parma and B Corp certified.
See also our personal care brand guidelines, which cover hair tools.
Part of our Beauty & Grooming brand guidelines. See also all collections.