The Essential Haircare story
From its origins in 2004 to the latest exciting evolution, the iconic Essential Haircare line has been on a journey towards ever greater sustainability - and it isn’t finished yet
More than 20 years ago, Essential Haircare was born from the philosophical idea that the true greatness of human beings lies in the harmony between ethics and aesthetics. As Plato said, “What is beautiful is so only if it is also good, and what is good can only be beautiful”.
Today, as the manifesto range steps into a new era, its evolution demonstrates our tireless pursuit of beauty that is good and fair for the world, and our commitment to never stop exploring new ways to do what is right for our customers and our planet.
To truly understand the evolution Essential Haircare has been through, we need to travel back through time…
Discover Essential HaircareEvolution and heritage
From redesigning our packaging along eco design principles to creating innovations such asrefill pouches to choosing ever more sustainable ingredients and formulations, we have constantly pushed ourselves to deliver better, more considered results for your hair and for the planet.
This heritage informs everything we do today and everything we are aiming for in the future. Our promise to you is this: we’ll never feel like we’ve made it. We will keep striving for better. And we will find a deep sense of meaning every time we find a way to align our nature with Nature.
Essential Haircare Evolution
2004
Essential Haircare is born
2014
Essential Haircare gets a makeover
Lightweight, reusable and recyclable packaging. With active ingredients from Slow Food Presidia to protect biodiversity
2017
Bio-based plastic bottles
from renewable plant sources
2020
Essential Haircare solid shampoos
100% paper packaging, recyclable
2024
New Essential Haircare Shampoo Refill
-74% plastic¹, recyclable packaging², reduced CO2 emissions³
2026
Essential Haircare Evolution
New even more essential formulations
¹Essential Haircare Refill 500ml compared to 2 bottles of Essential Haircare Shampoo 250ml.
²Single material packaging. Check the recycling regulations in your country.
³Thanks to -74% plastic in 1 Essential Haircare Refill 500ml compared to 2 bottle of Essential Haircare Shampoo 250ml.
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New formulas for a new era
Essential Haircare’s formulas have always been just that - focused only on the essential, with nothing unnecessary. Today, thanks to our tireless scientific pursuits, the evolved Essential Haircare formulas are even more essential, delivering both greater sustainability and even better performance for your hair.
We’ve introduced new naturally derived ingredients and high-performance biopolymers so that the products now feature:
- An average of 93%¹ ingredients of natural origin
- An average of 92%² biodegradability
- Refined fragrances with an enhanced biodegradability of up to 92%²
- Regenerative Organic Certified™ active ingredients³, sourced from farms that practice regenerative organic agriculture.
¹ISO: 16128
²Calculated as the sum of readily biodegradable ingredients according to the OECD 301 method
³Sourced from Regenerative Organic Certified™ farms
Moving from Slow Food to Regenerative Organic Agriculture
In 2014, we made a commitment to preserving natural ecosystems by partnering with Slow Food to source active ingredients for the Essential Haircare range from Slow Food Presidium. Today, as we continue to support biodiversity through this collaboration, we are moving beyond it with the even bolder goal of promoting not only the protection but regeneration.
The new Essential Haircare formulations are now enriched with Regenerative Organic Certified™ active ingredients⁴ sourced from farms around the world. Regenerative organic agriculture presents a pathway to reverse the damage done by conventional farming by using techniques that help restore the soil ecosystem and mitigate climate change.
⁴Sourced from Regenerative Organic Certified™ farms
More progress for our packaging
One of the biggest packaging innovations for Essential Haircare came in 2017, when we developed bio-based plastic bottles from renewable plant sources. Since then we have added shampoo bars with recyclable paper packaging and shampoo refills featuring 74% less plastic⁵.
As part of the latest evolution and our ongoing commitment to minimising our packaging impact, we have:
- Redesigned the packaging once more using eco design principles and following the approach towards circularity defined in our sustainability strategy.
- Introduced ISCC certified Bio-Circular Mass-Balance plastic, made from industrial biological waste, such as used cooking oil.
- Redesigned our packaging to reduce our use of plastic and aluminium, creating a new 1l bottle for professionals that uses 14% less plastic than the previous version, a 2l professional refill pouch that uses 76% less plastic compared to 2 new 1l bottles, and new paper-based packaging for our sachets, which use 70% less plastic and 63% less aluminum compared to the previous version.
⁵1x500ml Essential Haircare refill pouch compared to 2x250ml Essential Haircare shampoo bottles
New formats, same great results
Through a process of relentless scientific research, we’ve come up with innovative products that have a more positive impact on the planet while still delivering professional results for your hair.
Shampoo bars
With recyclable paper packaging, our compact shampoo bars for the VOLU/, MOMO/, LOVE SMOOTHING/ and DEDE/families, which launched in 2020, were a big step forward on our sustainability journey.
Shampoo Refills
Introduced in 2024, the 500ml shampoo refill pouches - available for the MINU/, NOUNOU/, MOMO/, LOVE SMOOTHING/ and LOVE CURL/ families - use 74% less plastic compared to two 250ml bottles, reducing your plastic waste⁵.
Reusable packaging
Essential Haircare’s lightweight packaging is designed following ecodesign principles and the smallest possible amount of material, and can be repurposed to promote a mindset of creative reuse, even before recycling.
⁵1x500ml Essential Haircare refill pouch compared to 2x250ml Essential Haircare shampoo bottles
Meet Essential Haircare
Experience Essential Haircare in salon
Essential Haircare was born from a vision of beauty in harmony with ethics. In our salons, this philosophy comes to life through tailored rituals and expert care.
From regenerative organic ingredients to eco-designed packaging, discover Essential Haircare evolution in your nearest Davines salon.