Briogeo Looks to Skin Care to Innovate, Launches ‘Sheet Mask’ for Hair
Nancy Twine, founder of hair-care line Briogeo, sought inspiration from skin care for a series of new hair products being introduced this year.
“When I looked at the diagram of a hair follicle, I said, ‘That looks similar to a pore on your face,'” she said of her realization, which led to the development of the Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Hair Cap System, Twine’s version of a “sheet mask for your hair.”
Each treatment contains a disposable, pink plastic shower cap that’s infused with a repair essence that gets activated when placed over hair and massaged in for about 15 seconds. The two-step treatment includes a deep conditioning mask that’s to be applied to wet hair before the cap, which “locks in moisture and steam to open the hair cuticle and maximize the benefits for the deep conditioning mask. The treatment hits sephora.com and Briogeo.com today and Sephora doors Oct. 20, and a box of four sachets retails for $36.
“By the start of this year we had all our regimen products in place — shampoo, conditioner and finishing [products] — and for the first time we could focus on innovation. For me, I get inspiration from everything that’s around me. Most recently it’s been skin care…[and] I like the face mask concept because I can do things while it’s on my face,” said Twine of the importance of a contained, no-drip factor that enables customers to “do things” while leaving their hair caps on for as long as one hour.
So she got to work on creating a sheet mask for hair, which was more daunting than it sounds. The first iterations were too literal of an interpretation of the concept, including a product-packed flimsy piece of paper that just wound up sliding off hair. Nothing seemed to be well-constructed enough, said Twine, who became frustrated when, after months, she was unable to find a manufacturer in the U.S. with the capabilities she needed.
“I put together a prototype of what I wanted. It was a two-layer shower cap with an inner layer of fabric that would house a very special repair essence and an outer layer that would be plastic,” Twine explained. “[This was] because I wanted the natural heat from the scalp to be contained to create almost like a steam bubble that would simulate being in a sauna, and that would lift the hair cuticle to let the ingredients seep in.”
Within five days she researched manufacturers in South Korea and did her “due diligence” of assessing their facilities and quality controls, booked a flight and flew there for two days to meet with two manufacturers. Only one could create what she wanted, but that was enough. Six months later, the finished product was ready to go.
In April, Twine released a Scalp Revival exfoliating shampoo infused with charcoal, the result of being inundated with “all these charcoal face masks and peels.” But upon further investigation, she realized that charcoal’s ability to draw out impurities from pores could also extend to detoxifying one’s scalp.
“The same happens when you shampoo your hair. You’re not getting out all the gunk inside the hair follicle,” Twine said.
She maintained that plant derived micro exfoliants in the shampoo work similarly to how an exfoliator would with skin and charcoal, lifting impurities from the scalp and hair follicle so they rinse away easily. The product, which should be used one to two times a month, has soothing and cooling ingredients like tea tree oil, biotin, hyaluronic acid and peppermint oil.
The two-step mask is the 20th product in Briogeo’s range, which is comprised of five categories — repair, volume, curl, treatment and scalp. Twine described the company as “highly naturally derived,” since it is not formulated with sulphates, silicones, parabens, phthalates, diethanolamines and synthetic dyes.
The brand, which is sold in 175 Sephora doors, QVC, Dermstore, Revolve.com, cultbeauty.co.uk in the U.K. and Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong, is said to be on track to break into double-digit millions next year. Twine declined to comment on financials.
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