COSMOFACTORY

Deanna: [00:00:00] This episode is about hair care and hair repair technology. It's about the risks and rewards of novel ideas about recognizing and claiming space in a well-developed industry. It's about brand leadership strategy, and it's about what happens after a hero. Innovation becomes mainstream. For today's episode of the Cosmo Factory Podcast, I am speaking with Amanda Baldwin, CEO of Olaplex. [00:01:00] Amanda, welcome to Cosmo Factory.
Amanda: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Deanna: No, you're welcome. I'm so happy to be speaking with you. It's, it's been
too long
Amanda: time in the making.
Deanna: Exactly. And you know, in fact today it's, it's quite common to see bond repair claims from hair brands in every market tier. And I'm, I'm not sure that was true when you and I first met the brand you lead today, Olaplex established bond repair as a subcategory in hair.
So I wanna start with the basics. Will you just tell us what is bond repair?
Amanda: Thank you so much for asking that because I feel like it is really important whenever talking about Olaplex to start with the science. Uh. That despite, uh, what we call the bond blur out there, we are still the only ones that do what we do. Uh, and what, what on earth does that mean? So you have three types of bonds in your hair, uh, and we are the only one that can relink the dis sulfide bond.
Think of the dys sulfide bond as the sort of [00:02:00] third most strongest structural element of your hair. I can break and repair bonds by wetting my hair and drying it. Those are very different kinds of bonds than what you actually have in the structure of your hair. So when people talk about bond building, uh, and we love our beauty industry, uh, they are talking about something other than actually the true structural repair of the hair from the inside out.
That is something that Plex has done from the beginning. That's our patented technology. Were the only ones who have the bis amino molecule, and quite frankly, the, the. Reason that I joined this brand two years ago is because I realized how special that kind of science really is. Uh, and I think especially on this podcast, I think, I'm sure your listeners really appreciate the formula and the magic of a formula.
And what we needed to get to work on was making sure that that came through for all of its uniqueness and for the magic and what it [00:03:00] actually enables. Both the pro as well as the consumer to achieve in their hair. And that's really been the journey that we've been on for the last couple of years, is bringing that science to life in a way that is easier to understand and connects with.
Again, for us, we have two consumers. We have our pro and we have our end consumers sitting in the chair in the shower, and how do you connect that science with real life? That's, that's really what we needed to go do.
Deanna: Mm-hmm. And it's interesting to think about too, because certainly there's a lot of conversation around bond building in the industry and, and brands like I, I think I said in every market tier now are making these sorts of claims, but. There are different types as, as you've made very clear, um, a bond repair and Olaplex has a very unique technology.
Is there anything else you wanna say about the ingredient, the mechanism of action, or even the fact that you've, um, the company opted to patent this technology? I know some innovations, uh, they choose not to patent in hopes of keeping things more private. Um, so if you wanna weigh [00:04:00] in on that, I'd love to hear
Amanda: Yeah, the patenting happened before my time, but I think it's a real testament to the belief in what we're doing being truly unique, uh, and a philosophy of the power. Of what happens in a lab and power of what happens in science. I, you know, I think when you think about our brand and really getting to know our brand, it's that technology and then it's how it comes to life that I think is really special and unique.
And we, we talk about being at that intersection of science and style because the other half of the equation. Is a stylist, right? That it's just a molecule until you put it into a formula. And we use this molecule in all sorts of different ways, and we could certainly go into some of the nuances of how you formulate a treatment or a back bar service that are very different than a shampoo and conditioner are very different than a hair oil.
But they're always rooted in this belief that bis Amino can improve the structural health of your hair, the foundational health of your hair. And that's where we're gonna come at always is not just. [00:05:00] You. I think as a person in the industry, I've always been very inspired by the idea of how do I not just bandaid a problem or shellac over it or make it look good for 10 minutes, what am I doing that's actually going to improve something over time?
And if you trace back everything that I've ever been lucky enough to work on, it's always rooted in, in that way. Uh, I think that's what, to me, is the most exciting part of our industry.
Deanna: Mm-hmm. No, that's wonderful. And you've suggested or reminded us that, um, Olaplex serves both the salon sector, the professional beauty sector, as well as the consumer sector. Can you give us a, a picture of some of the types of products that are in your portfolio, the, the sort of retail markets you reach, or any other details that might help us understand the size and scale of the business at this stage?
Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. I think that our, the pro is the beginning of the flywheel of our business. So the origin of Olaplex are two products, one and two [00:06:00] aptly named, and they were the products that truly changed the craft of hair coloring. And they're real stories about. Colorists, uh, many of whom are still with us, who had used this product more and will truly tell you that they can do things on the hair that they could never do before.
And that is what made Plex so successful was literally pros around the world calling up and saying, I wanna have this product. I can't do what I do without it. And I think, again, if you think about how do you. Capture that spirit and how does that drive us forward is really to enable stylists to be the best artists that they are.
And they really are artists and business people and entrepreneurs and therapists and all these things all in one. Right. Um, it's such an incredible, incredible part of our industry that I never lose an opportunity to talk about because I think it's sort of an unsung hero of the industry that we all participate in.
You also need to take things home. [00:07:00] And so hence was born three and, and we are just on the cusp with some exciting news, uh, with, with that product. And those were really the origin story of Olaplex was how do I take, uh, hair health and, and not just delivered in the salon, but also delivered at home? And, and that balance between what happens in the chair and how do you preserve those results at home or is certainly something that still drives how we think about innovation today.
Deanna: Mm-hmm. You know, in the cosmetics industry, there are these moments when there is no clear competition, and a brand is truly in uncharted territory as, as Olaplex was at at one time. Um. And when that happens, we hear a lot of cautionary guidance, right? There's a, a level of risk that comes with this type of newness.
Um, and so as you've said, the technology itself is remarkably distinctive. So long as the patent stands, no other brand is doing exactly what Olaplex can do in terms of efficacy. Um, but beyond the technology, I'm curious to know how you [00:08:00] overcame that risk, um, of doing something too new and too different.
And maybe this is part of your role now, but. How do you not only drive consumer loyalty, but then influence the hair industry?
Amanda: I mean, I would say it's risky not to do something new and different. Uh, so I, I don't perceive it that way. And again, I'm, I'm not the. I'm very humbly not the founder of Olaplex, but to me, if you're only, I will tell a story. Uh, so when I first joined, um, the beauty industry, I worked at Clinique, uh, and the then president of Clinique, Lynn Green, handed me a book called Blue Ocean Strategy.
She and this book changed my life. Uh, and, and the book is about the idea of finding the blue ocean that the red ocean is. I guess, I suppose bloody is why they call it the red ocean and it's full of everybody fighting for the same scraps. And she was a big believer in the power of going to the blue ocean and that sat with me, I think I [00:09:00] was 24 years old when she handed me that book, maybe 25.
And it changed my life because it really showed me that that's not a risk to go to the place where no one's, you have to be. I think have an ability to do it. You have to have an ability to drive innovation. You have to have an ability to explain what it is. But I think when we look at the greatest companies that have been built and the greatest brands, every single one has gone to a place where nobody was going before.
And when people ask me, what are my favorite brands? I always say Nike, Starbucks, Lululemon, the things that Apple right for, because they made us, they changed our behaviors. That was the story of super goof. And so it's always been my feeling that, now let me tell you, you also can't take that for granted, especially in the beauty industry.
You ca the barriers to entry in our category. And look, old p as you said, has patented science. But people can formulate, people can market, [00:10:00] you can mute, right? And you have the minute that you think that that's enough, that's when I think you're in trouble, right? I think you have to always be out innovating yourself.
You have to believe that you can always take what you have and make it better, that your brand has to still earn it's placed in someone's shower every single day or on the back bar of a, of a stu. So it, it doesn't come with a, a right to exist, but I think to me, it's the only way to exist.
Deanna: Yeah. Yeah. No, that's lovely. And as you mentioned before, Olaplex, you served as CEO of Supergoop, certainly another pioneering brand. Um, it's widely credited with, as you already mentioned, really shifting consumer culture and behavior regarding daily SPF protection, especially in the US market. And. Um, you know, I, I don't think we can disregard brands like, you know, Laroche Poe, Neutrogena Anesa, even a newer brand like Black Girl Sunscreen.
All of these have broadened the reach of the UV protection movement, but Supergroup did wonders for [00:11:00] everyday SPF adoption. Once a brand like Supergoop or Olaplex has truly influenced the market, as you said, you can't, you can't just rest there. Um, once your brand defining innovation starts to feel ordinary, can I say that?
How do you identify the right strategy to keep the business going and growing? How do you do that?
Amanda: Yeah. Uh, look, I think there is a. A point in the life of, of all of these brands, when you go from creating a category to leading it. And I think a lot of times in the, you know, again, technology is different right there. Those are kind of, I'll call the winner takes all type of markets. That's not how the consumer industry works.
And we're all better off for it, right? We're better off for the fact that somebody can always be creating and inventing something new. As a consumer, we're really lucky. That means as a brand though, again, the minute that you think you're finished, I always say you're finished. Uh, that you and, and how does that play out?
That plays out in how you think about innovation, whether it's in a skew that you already make [00:12:00] At Supergoop, I think we got to eight iterations of everyday sunscreen, which was the original formula, right? We didn't just say, okay, we're done. We're gonna put it on the shelf. This is good enough. Science evolves, technology evolves, consumer demands ev evolve.
Um, and, and that's the thing that really kind of continues to push us forward is, is how you think about innovation. Same thing at Olaplex. And then I think it's a, there's brand in this too. I think that that was one of the very fun and exciting journeys that we've gone on in Olaplex the last couple of years is that we always had an amazing product.
What we didn't yet have was a brand that had forged emotional connections. And I would, I would say this carefully because I think that we have an extremely loyal consumer base who relied on Olaplex, and a day does not go by where somebody doesn't tell me about how it changed their hair. Right. That's loyalty and that's love.
But when you looked and you said, how is this visually represented? How is it communicated? Can I describe it? Can I build it? And again, my background, um, was at [00:13:00] Lauder and then at LVMH, and these are brand building organizations. We hadn't done that work yet. Um, and again, testament to the power of the product.
So I think you need to do that work too. Supergroup, we did that work right out of the gate, uh, because it was a very brand, you know, brand helped us change behavior. Uh, and I appreciate the acknowledgement. I think Supergoop was at the leading edge of really changing that behavior, and that was a story I got to witness firsthand, uh, because I really, you know, was, was in that team for such a long period of time and saw the industry change around me.
Different at Olaplex to kind of say the, the engine has been started already. Uh, but I'm still inspired by the same philosophy of like, okay. That has been great, but what, what else are we gonna do that's going to again, push what innovation can be and prestige hair. Similar to prestige sun, very, very early categories, right?
So there, this is, there's so much more, but I'll call pie growing to do. Before you know that [00:14:00] ocean is still very blue. Uh, and, and for anybody participating because there's so many more potential consumers of what we do, uh, in, in both of the, in both of those brands.
Deanna: Yeah. No, that's very exciting. It may have seemed very simple there at the beginning of your answer, but that distinction between creating a
category and then choosing to lead it, I think as a brand, um, it's not unusual where someone will pioneer something in our industry and be passed by very quickly
by brands who are.
Amanda: think you have to make a deliberate switch in your head, and it's almost like you can't feel bad that there's all right, you have to rejoice it. Uh, and you have to say, wow, look at what the impact we have. I didn't, you know, especially when we were, you know, when we were at supergroup, we're like, okay, we have to get sunscreen on everyone every single day.
It's gonna take more than one brand to do that, right? Uh, and so. Having that mission and that source of what's the greater purpose? And at Plex that [00:15:00] purpose for us is the pro, right? Is it is enabling that. It's enabling them and what they do, but enabling their connection back to the person sitting in their chair and we live in this.
Magically digital world, right? We can do a lot of things at the touch of a button. I think we all learned during COVID that cutting our hair is probably not one of them, and coloring our hair and, and that relationship and what that feels like in a salon cannot be replaced by any of the amazing innovation though is happening in, in the technology around us.
And so I think that's where I've really found the purpose in this brand is cherishing those human to human moments. Uh, and how important that is. And if we can play a role in that. And again, it's gonna take a lot of brands. Uh, you know, the, the stylist doesn't just use one thing. They need a lot to keep their worlds going.
So I think that that also to me, becomes a source of how you balance what is your own business needs with the greater purpose so that you can continue to lead a category and that you're inspired by the [00:16:00] bigger idea of what you're trying to create.
Deanna: I like that, you know, product, we, we talk so much about efficacy being the, the paramount piece of the equation in cosmetics, but I think of product, being able to cultivate that human to human connection. I expect that will be more and more important is. The world continues to accelerate and, and become more digital.
I, I like that. You know, I wanna, I don't wanna say look backwards, but I kind of wanna imagine the next brand, right? How, how might you suggest the industry identify and nurture emerging market leaders, like the brands
you've gotten to work with?
Amanda: It's the same things that I always say. There's no bigger investment than you can make in your own career. So at the moment of truth, when I was deciding to take the role at Supergoop or to take the role at Olaplex. I was looking for two things. One, and that's the same things that I I, my background again, before I even got into the beauty industry.
I was an investor in, in consumer businesses, [00:17:00] so it was always to me about a combination of truly unique product. I am a product, first person, I, it all goes back to the same place. Tell me that you're doing something differently and better than has already been done. Meets brand, right? And I think one without the other, it's very hard.
And again, both stories of both supergroup and Olaplex were the ability to really stand the test of time and scale requires brand story to match the power of that innovation. And that's one where I think you kind of know it when you see it. Uh, and it's a, that is a very visceral gut reaction that I have to things that, you know, again, I don't, I don't know if it's, uh, right or wrong, but I definitely have a feeling when something has an it factor, uh, or, and sometimes it's more obvious on the surface, people nail brands out of the gate.
Uh, and there's just something about their voice, their aesthetic, how they're communicating. That feels very unique. And very un uh, I would say very unique, but also, [00:18:00] I'm trying to think of the right word. More universal and a, and an ability to stay on the test of time. Because I think the, again, if we go back to the great brands that have been built to me, the real test is are you still gonna be relevant in 50 years from now?
Right. That, how do you measure that May, maybe we go for a hundred, right? The world changes a lot, but the great brands know how to evolve within the cultural context that shifts around them. And that's something that I think is born. Is not, it is not made or manufactured. In, in, and again, when I showed up at Supergoop, it was already in there.
It was in Holly's founding story of the school, the sunscreen and the schools and her purpose. And she started it as a nonprofit. Like all of these things and the magic of the story of how she created that first formula and the yellow and the blue and all these, they were all there. And then it was. I was kind of mixing and, and marketing them in, in, in ways and olaplex it did, it wasn't as on the surface as it was [00:19:00] at Supergoop, but I had a very, very fun first few months in the role a couple years ago, digging around doing what I call sort of origin story excavation.
Trying to figure out, okay, well what is it about this that is so unique and special? And that is how. I really unearthed that idea of this born in the lab, brought to the chair concept and that kind of uniqueness of it. And that's really fun to bring to life too. Like two totally different stories, but it was in here, it just had to, I had to go a little bit deeper to find it, uh, in, in that story, but so people like me don't make it up.
It's all there at birth.
Deanna: Yeah. Yeah. No, I completely agree. That's wonderful to hear. I'm curious because so many of our listeners work along the cosmetics and personal care industry, supply chain. If from your perspective as a CEO of, of what I would describe as pioneering brands, has there been a particular sort of industry support that has been [00:20:00] notably valuable to these brands over the years?
Amanda: I think one of the things that I really love about the beauty industry is its community. And that stretches across like, not only have I had so many wonderful career stories, but I've made so many friends, uh, and I, and I really say friends and, and colleagues and, and it goes from everything from. People who are writing about the industry, who are supplying about the industry, packaging partners, ingredient partners, factories, marketing, the whole thing, right?
And, and every time I've taken on a new job, I'm filing. You know, I'm going through my Rolodex saying, okay, well who do I know is gonna. Help me with this. Uh, you don't do these things alone, right there. And I, I will forever remember the first few phone calls that I made after I took this role and I was like, okay, I think I know the things that need to happen.
I think you're gonna be really great at this and you can help me with [00:21:00] that. And this is, and you assemble, like we said before, we hopped on a village around you. Uh, that really knows a lot and those, that's the external things, uh, that, that kind of lean into a business. And then of course, there's the team that, that actually kind of gets, uh, truly into on the train with you and, and they're the ones that are, that are living and breathing it every single day.
Uh, but I think that, I don't know, I've never been in it. I've, I was in Wall Street Finance totally, but I've never been in any other world within consumer. But my gut is that what beauty has is pretty special, uh, that there's. You know, I'm going to Cosmo prof in a couple, I guess it's a month from now, and I'm giddy with excitement about what that energy is that is on those floors, plural, because there's just this great, I think, passion for creation that happens in this industry and everybody is playing a part in it in their own unique way.
Deanna: Yeah. No, that's nice and, and certainly, you know, we hear that from a lot [00:22:00] of, a lot of guests and a lot of people I, I speak with, there really is something to the friendships and relationships and it's nice that. I don't wanna go beyond just the human element. They really support this business and you can feel it.
I think that's so wonderful of you to share that. Amanda, listeners come to Cosmo factory every week, uh, for good information and for inspiration. You have given us that and so much more. I, I thank you for being my guest today and I look forward to seeing you in Italy.
Amanda: I know. True treat.
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