Under the guiding vision of its new CEO Amanda Baldwin, Olaplex is looking to bring its business into a new era of growth with a visual branding update and new category launch.
From a (now settled) class-action lawsuit in 2023, all claims of which were later dismissed by the court, to subsiding sales figures, it has been a challenging time for the company. For Q3 2024, it reported a net decrease of 3.6% in sales ($119.1 million), 12.6% decrease in its professional channel ($42.2 million), and a 1.3% decrease in specialty retail (to $42.6 million). Direct-to-consumer (DTC) meanwhile increased by 6.8% to $34.3 million. On a consumer research side, Olaplex was still in the top 10 most-searched-for brands according to the Cosmetify Annual Index 2024, with 14.88 million annual searches, but this was still an 18% decrease.
Baldwin joined in December 2023, after seven years as CEO of Supergoop! and a tenure as Senior Vice President at global investment fund L Catterton. "Amanda is a leader in growing prestige beauty brands, and we are delighted to welcome her as CEO of Olaplex," said John Bilbrey, Executive Chair of the Board, at the time of the announcement. “She is an effective and creative brand builder who deeply understands consumer insights and analytics. Her valuable mix of strengths across marketing, product development, and execution make her the ideal person to position Olaplex for long-term success. I look forward to working with her and the talented Olaplex team to continue building the business while ensuring a seamless leadership transition."
After immersing herself deeply into the brand’s history and the global reach of the hair category, Baldwin is unveiling her first bold move with a new logo, campaign imagery, and a scalp care launch. “It's a very exciting moment for us as a brand. It’s a big turning of the page, a new chapter for Olaplex. We've been working on this as a team for the last 13 months, but the reality is that this was born when Olaplex was born,” Baldwin tells BeautyMatter. “When you look back to that origin of Olaplex, it was grounded in two things. One was powerful science. Olaplex is one of the rare brands that can really say it changed the way the industry worked because of the breakthrough nature of the science and having a patented molecule. [Secondly], you have this power of the pro and the salon. That’s our muse.”
Baldwin is passionate about giving the story of both of those foundations a new spotlight. Scalp care is the next frontier for applying the brand’s patented technology, while strengthening its professional roots. After all, the professional channel is what helped the brand thrive from the onset, starting with a professional-only product before launching its first consumer products in 2018. “It becomes real behind the chair. That was a part of Olaplex that needed to be pushed to the surface in many ways,” she explains. “It wasn't necessarily front and center and how the brand was communicating. The pro is our purpose, they are our reason for being. We say, ‘born in the lab, brought to the chair.’”
The brand’s entry into scalp care is courtesy of the launch of the No.0.5 Scalp Longevity Treatment, even though the brand’s original patent included a scalp application. It’s certainly an opportunity ripe for the taking. Scalp care is growing at twice the rate of the overall hair category, according to Circana. Grand View Research reports that the global hair and scalp care market size was valued at $103.94 billion in 2024 and is expected to have a CAGR of 6.4% from 2025 to 2030.
The new SKU applies its bond-building technology to scalp health, infusing it with a multi ceramide and hyaluronic acid blend plus rice bran oil to build up its barrier. A biome-balancing blend of black pepper seed, magnolia bark, patchouli extracts, and manuka branch leaf oil maintains a healthy scalp environment while a blend of ferulic acid and lavender extracts protects against free radicals and external aggressors.
As for why now is the opportune time for this expansion, Baldwin notes a convergence of health, wellness, and beauty industries, drawing a parallel to Olaplex’s emphasis on foundational hair health. “That's an evolution for how the brand will manifest itself. But it's certainly always very true to the original science. No one can relink the disulfide bonds the way that we can,” she explains. “Harnessing and layering that story on top of this heritage of these breakthrough moments that pros had, that's really the magic that we think we can bring going forward.”
Olaplex will be strengthening its presence in the professional channel through increased distribution and event activations. "That connection that happens in the salon between the pro and the client is one of the more powerful human bonds. The pros are entrepreneurs, the most wildly creative people. They care about people in such a unique way and I think the world needs more of that. Celebrating them is another really important piece of what we want to do going forward,” Baldwin adds.
This summer, Olaplex will be launching a Scalp Pro service. The pro version, dispersed as a mono dose, has an increased percentage of actives and also soothing benefits to combat any scalp inflammation resulting from in-salon services. In partnership with FaceGym and ISAMAYA, the brand will be offering a menu of scalp services incorporating the product, like Scalp Lift Workout Booster Add-On using the ISAMAYA tool for scalp stimulation, boosting circulation, and improving facial muscle tone.
Bringing that story to life also means changing the visual language with how that narrative is relayed across ecommerce, social media, and retail channels. A bolder logo font and the introduction of a carmine red to its traditionally black-and-white brand messaging will be part of it. The red shade makes a reference to Olaplex’s red carpet roots and California origins (co-founders Dean and Darcy Christal built the brand from their garage in Santa Barbara). Aside from showing a wide range of hair textures, there is also a softness and relatability to the hair shown in its campaign imagery. “We wanted it to feel approachably aspirational, finding that realness in the hair. It's interesting when you study the way that hair is often represented; it's very finished and perfect. None of our lives are like that,” Baldwin comments.
At the same time, it’s crucial to build on Olaplex’s existing structures rather than completely erasing its signature codes. “I hate the word rebrand. This is about birthing the thing that I really believe always could have been there. It’s about finding the way to show what we are scientifically and a technology-forward way to show the beauty of everyday hair,” Baldwin explains. “To elevate the look and feel of the brand and add emotion to the potion because we had a pretty strict way of representing ourselves. What is so amazing about the category of hair is the power of it is universal. We really wanted to showcase the power of our product but in the context of that unapologetic confidence that it gifts.”
There have also been further executive changes at the company to bring in a new perspective and roadmap. Katie Gohman, the former CMO at Marc Jacobs, was brought on in July 2024 to head Olaplex’s marketing efforts. Nicole Handy, former Executive Director of Global Marketing at Shiseido Makeup, was hired as Vice President of Innovation in February 2025. “It’s been a team effort; it couldn’t have been possible without them,” Baldwin states of her peers.
As for the challenging road ahead, she quotes tennis star Billie Jean King: “Pressure is a privilege, and champions adjust.” That pressure is certainly on for Olaplex given the current landscape, however with a strengthening of the codes and pillars that helped fuel its initial success, as well as expansion into a fast-growing product category, the potential is there for a rebirth.
