The beauty industry loves a comeback story. That’s what Amanda Baldwin is banking on anyway, at Olaplex, the once-hot haircare brand that endured a bout of scandal and is now, in her view, coming back stronger.
The poster child for bond-building haircare after its launch in 2014, Olaplex has spent recent years navigating slowing sales, as well as legal and consumer scrutiny — including a 2023 lawsuit (which has since been dismissed and disputed) alleging a link between its products and hair loss, scalp irritation, and brittle strands. It’s also had to deal with mounting competition in a category it helped create.
Today, most prestige and high street brands — from Living Proof to L’Oréal Paris — incorporate some form of bond-building or repair technology into their products, while newer brands such as K18 offer alternative approaches, via biotech peptides said to repair the hair’s protein structure. The market for bond-multiplying haircare is projected to grow from nearly $230 million, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4%, to reach $467.2 million by 2036.
Under the leadership of Baldwin, who joined in early 2024 after an eight-year stint at Supergoop, Olaplex is stepping into what could be a defining year. After a period of slowing growth and an increasingly competitive market, 2026 marks a decisive reset. Annual sales were around $423 million in 2025, down from $704 million at its peak during pandemic-era growth. The company, which was acquired by Advent in 2019, went public in 2021, and shares have fallen nearly 95% to date after plummeting in 2023. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that German company Henkel was eyeing a takeover; Olaplex declined to comment.
A stronger innovation pipeline, a tighter product strategy, and a clear return to the science-led positioning that first set it apart are now central to its next phase. It’s also entering this moment with a renewed focus on its hero franchise, including the relaunch of its Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector as No.3Plus.
“I think this brand has always had extraordinary science,” Baldwin says. “What we needed to do was bring that origin story back to life for the world we exist in today.”
The question facing Olaplex is not simply whether it can rebound, but what it takes for a science-led beauty brand to rebuild its authority once the rest of the market has learned to speak its language.
Strengthening foundations
When Baldwin arrived in early 2024, she saw the opportunity not to reinvent Olaplex, but to strengthen the foundations around it — something that was missing as the business scaled. “We had to build a team and an operating structure that can support a business of our size,” she says. “As a business grows, you need a different kind of infrastructure to support it.”
Over the past two years, the company has rebuilt across multiple fronts: investing in its innovation pipeline, refining its marketing approach, putting professional stylists front and center, and strengthening the internal systems needed to support a global business.
Employing nearly 300 people, Olaplex has since evolved into a far larger operation than the 82 employees it had six years ago. “It’s a big company now, and the science needed all the other elements of a business to really help it shine,” Baldwin says. “Great innovation without storytelling is just a product on a shelf. You have to explain what makes your science different. No one knows what’s in that jar or tube if you don’t tell them.”
That work forms part of what Olaplex describes as a broader transformation — from rethinking international market strategy and partnerships, to taking a more coordinated approach to marketing. The company is now entering its next phase: shifting from foundational investment to more disciplined execution, with a focus on efficiency, productivity, and long-term growth.
“We did a lot of research and people really respected the power of Olaplex,” she says. “But it didn’t necessarily make them feel anything. Hair is emotional — a great hair day is emotional. So we had to add a bit of emotion to the potion.”
Reclaiming the conversation
One of the central challenges for Olaplex now is navigating a category it helped to create but no longer dominates.
Today, “bond-building” appears across dozens of haircare launches, often used as shorthand for strengthening or repairing hair. Olaplex’s technology — which is patented — specifically relinks disulfide bonds inside the hair structure, while many competing products use the terminology more loosely.
But Baldwin is clear that simply being first is not enough. “It’s not good enough to say we’re the original,” she says. “Our job is to lead the category.”
Part of that effort involves leaning back into the professional community — with stylists such as Halley Brisker, Jacob Schwartz, and Tracey Cunningham acting as key ambassadors to rebuild credibility in salons, drive stylist-led endorsement, and reassert the brand’s professional roots. With research showing that consumers are more likely to purchase from those they deem trustworthy, knowledgeable, or familiar, this seems a wise move.
“Most people have a relationship with their hairstylist,” Baldwin says. “There’s a human connection that’s really special — and we want to protect that relationship. We say, ‘Protect the bonds that matter, both in the hair and in the chair.’”
This thinking is reflected in the brand’s latest campaign featuring comedian Chloe Fineman — an Olaplex user whose colorist, Schwartz, is also an ambassador — which cleverly uses humor to make its science more accessible.
The return of a hero
The relaunch of Olaplex’s No.3 treatment — now reformulated and rebranded as No.3Plus — reflects that broader strategy.
The product has long been one of the brand’s most recognizable formulas, often credited with introducing consumers to the idea of at-home bond repair. It was also at the center of the lawsuit, though the ingredient in question had already been removed prior to the reformulation. Revisiting it, Baldwin says, was both a symbolic and practical decision.
“If you’re an innovation-led company, your hero product is never finished,” she says — a philosophy she carried over from Supergoop, where formulas were continually updated and improved. The new version builds on the original bond-repair technology while helping to protect against future damage — and now works in just three minutes, rather than the 10 minutes previously required.
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“We looked at thousands of reviews and conversations with pros, and asked: what are we getting right and what could we do better?” Baldwin says. “We’re holding on to the bond-building prowess we’ve always had, but we’re also recognizing what we can improve.”
At the same time, the brand is working to educate consumers about the role treatments can play in hair health — a category that remains relatively underdeveloped compared to skincare routines.
“Most people shampoo and condition,” Baldwin says. “But the idea of treating your hair regularly is still quite new. If we can help people lay the foundations for healthy hair, we can change how someone’s hair looks every day — and ultimately how they feel.”
From a comeback to long-lasting results
Whether Olaplex’s renewed focus translates into a full revival remains to be seen, however clear progress has been made. For Baldwin, the real test is not a single launch or campaign, but longevity.
“I judge success on where a brand is 10 or 30 years from now,” she says. “That’s what it means to build something that lasts.”
If Olaplex’s early years were defined by rapid ascent, its next chapter may be more gradual — a process of rebuilding trust, sharpening its scientific story, and finding its place in a market that is far more crowded than before.
That sense of trust is increasingly central. According to Globaldata, 62% of consumers are influenced by how trustworthy or risk-free a product feels, while more than half pay close attention to the ingredients.
“Olaplex’s decline demonstrates how even the most category-defining brands can lose momentum without sustained innovation and consistent trust reinforcement,” says Dr. Ahmad Khan, senior analyst at Globaldata’s consumer division. He adds that the brand’s renewed focus on professional endorsement and expert-led advocacy is a strong strategic move, given the continued influence of stylist recommendations on purchasing decisions.
Combined with a return to innovation, it suggests a brand that is not simply recovering, but recalibrating for a more trust-driven beauty landscape.
The planned acquisition by Henkel, the German consumer goods company behind Schwarzkopf, adds a new dimension to that recalibration. With greater access to advanced research and development capabilities, enhanced innovation resources, and a broader international distribution network, Olaplex is poised not just for recovery but for accelerated global expansion under new ownership.
For now, Olaplex is entering a new phase: less a comeback than a considered return to form — and, with Henkel’s backing, a clear step toward reclaiming its place at the forefront of the category it helped create.
