Matrix is diving deeper into its recently launched Biolage R.A.W. line with the addition of styling products.
“When the brand was started in 1990, it became synonymous with natural,” said Paul Schiraldi, vice president and general manager of Matrix U.S. “R.A.W. really allowed us to evolve.” The brand launched three shampoo-conditioner lines — Nourish, Recover and Uplift — in fall 2016.
This August those systems will be following by five styling products: Smoothing Styling Milk, Curl Defining Styling Butter, Frizz Control Styling Spray, Texturing Styling Spray and Bodifying Styling Jelly. The products will retail for $19.50. The Smoothing Styling Milk contains oat extract and honey; the Curl Defining Styling Butter uses cocoa; the Frizz Control Styling Spray contains lavender; the Texturizing Styling Spray includes matcha green tea, and the Bodifying Styling Jelly contains lemon.
Related Galleries
“We felt like there was really an opportunity to modernize what natural hair care meant…there isn’t a regulation for organic ingredients in hair care, and we felt like that was misleading for consumers…just because a shampoo has an organic ingredient in it…doesn’t mean the formula is organic,” Schiraldi said.
So the brand took the opportunity to define what natural meant — settling on a “natural origin” definition, which means ingredients that are either unchanged from their natural state or retain at least 50 percent of their molecular structure. The styling range is between 98 percent and 99 percent natural origin.
With the exception of products that contain lemon and lavender, Schiraldi noted the line is fragrance-free — as is the shampoo-conditioner range. “People were into the lack of fragrance,” he said. “It lent legitimacy.”
The shampoo-conditioner range is on track to do about $20 million in U.S. sales in its first year, according to industry sources, who projected the styling line could bring in $10 million in the first 12 months in the U.S. The R.A.W. range is in about 25,000 U.S. salon doors, and 10,000 international doors. (The styling range will launch globally in September).
“This is really the future of what the Biolage brand will be — there will be a lot more to come behind R.A.W. and Biolage itself — we’ll be launching two other shampoo and conditioner ranges next year, and we’ll probably also continue to expand styling. We’re exploring color formulas as well,” Schiraldi said. “Increasingly, consumers and stylists will want products that are more natural.”