“Nothing inside the hair is physical,” Suveen Sahib, CEO of K18, said when The Tease asked about the brand’s purpose. Instead, according to Sahib, “a lot of molecular chains that are built out of amino acids interacting with each other, all interconnected, and interacting with the environment in real time, to humidity, to alkalinity, to oxidative environments, everything.” This simple statement is the pillar of Sahib’s core approach to haircare, treating and styling the strand simultaneously through a biological approach.
He added, “as we kind of start chemically processing our hair, it essentially creates what you call keratin hydrolysis, and these chains start breaking. “So, to restore elasticity, you must “reconnect back sequences inside the hair strand to restore elasticity and strength to the hair.” This is a biological approach to haircare, not solely cosmetic chemistry.
Developing a product that brings hair back to its natural strength, especially for people who love a chemical process, whether color, perming, or straightening, took the company 10 years. It was one of the brand’s “computer-designed most optimal sequences” that was able to bring the hair back to its original form.
“We kind of created a primary formulation, which is simply a delivery mechanism for the peptide to go into the hair, and we didn’t even know how it was going to work,” Sahib shared. “But, we kind of started testing it out with stylists whose work involved extreme color work and it demonstrated incredible results.”
The brand, which launched in 2021, it’s a favorite amongst many stylists and consumers alike and is now available in about 100 countries. K18’s fresh out of the oven, new patent technology, like all its other products, follows the brand’s core purpose. The new HeatBounce Conditioning Heat Protectant protects from heat, as its name suggests, but it also detangles, softens, and makes the hair more resilient to heat.
“Every styling kind of starts either with a blow-dryer or a styling iron, and when you have chemically very fragile hair, it’s quickly and highly impacted by heat, because it breaks these bonds I mentioned before,” Sahib explained. “Now, when you kind of think about heat protection in the industry, most of the heat protectants are made out of copolymers. If you want to protect yourself against the rain, use a rubber raincoat. All that that did was coating the hair and reducing the transfer of the heat from a styling iron onto the hair.”
HeatBounce’s new technology, ResiliCore™, penetrates the hair shaft for protection beyond the surface. The product was formulated to work across all textures, is lightweight, and was developed and tested by pros, including SZA’s stylist Devante Turnbull, who leads the launch campaign.
“It goes into the hair, and as heat stress is applied to the hair, it starts dynamically responding to it. It gets activated, and it starts creating protection, resilience inside the strand, and it prevents the breakdown of the thermal bonds,” shared Sahib.
In the last five years, K18 has built three new technologies. When we asked about future plans, Sahib was clear about his team’s quality over quantity philosophy.
“My philosophy, and as you know, the brand or the team’s philosophy, revolves around creating intentional products,” he said. “If you’re kind of launching products every season, you’re not driving innovation. Innovation takes time.”
To learn more about K18’s new product, check out their Instagram @k18hair. And to join the waitlist for the new HeatBounce Conditioning Heat Protectant, visit their website.
