Clean Haircare Brand Allyoos Reignites Growth Plans With New Executives And Funding

Sometimes a brand’s trajectory isn’t linear. Such is the case with Allyoos.

Launched in 2018 before Ceremonia and Crown Affair hit the market, the New York-based clean haircare brand named after the Italian American term for “all of you” swiftly picked up momentum out of the gate as consumers and stores clamored for clean haircare options. It entered retailers The Detox Market, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, and spread the word via events like braid bars at chic boutique hotel The Montauk Beach House.

“There wasn’t a lot of new action in clean haircare when we launched, and it was really exciting,” says Allyoos founder Samantha Denis. “I love thinking about campaign ideas and marketing activations. We went to coffee bars. We did Summer Fridays with a code on our site. We did a Valentine’s Day activation where we sent a fun kit to influencers. Any kind of a guerrilla special moment to me is a huge part of Allyoos. It’s a New York brand that has access to people and is in a great spot for those moments.”

The pandemic and Denis’s personal life stemmed Allyoos’s momentum. The pandemic stopped the events that had been crucial catalysts for the brand’s sales and awareness, and it caused a global supply chain crunch that affected countless brands, including Allyoos. The brand sold out of its two products—$24 scalp and root rinse A Quick Clean and $30 hair mask Juice Drench—and couldn’t restock them for six months due to packaging bottlenecks.

Transformational on a personal level, Denis became a mother during the pandemic. She had her first child in 2020 and second in 2022. Speaking about her second pregnancy, Denis says, “I was sick my whole pregnancy and threw up every single day. I just had to not fight the tide, go inward and decide, this is an opportunity for me to work on the future of Allyoos. It just didn’t feel to me that it was right now, it felt like it was in the future.”

Today, that future is coming into focus. The brand has enlarged its team, secured $300,000 in funding, returned to events and refined its messaging. It’s also ramping up its direct-to-consumer distribution, digital marketing and assortment. Jennifer Parker, former SVP of global direct sales at Peloton, has become president of Allyoos. Rachel Bucolo, Denis’s sister, has become its head of e-commerce and marketing. She was previously e-commerce and marketing director at Onia and WeWoreWhat.

Allyoos has only had two products since its launch. A Quick Clean accounts for 51% of its sales, and Juice Drench accounts for the remainder. The brand’s repeat customer rate is over 45%. Denis, a hairstylist who began doing hair at 14 years old and former product development manager at Bumble and bumble, is dedicated to Allyoos steering clear of me-too products. She describes Juice Drench’s formula as “meant to bring out the best in your hair, and it’s meant to be the most convenient hair mask.” Of A Quick Clean, she says, “It’s not a co-wash or apple cider vinegar, it’s a wet rinse-y version of dry shampoo.”

Allyoos expects to introduce a styling product later this year. “Our concepts are going to be what the world falls in love with. Our concepts are going to excite people about taking care of their hair. People need to pay attention more to their hair like they do to their skin,” says Denis. “The allure of Allyoos is that, yes, we are clean and, yes, we are better, safer, nontoxic and woman-founded, we check those boxes, but our concepts are different and playful. We are not just going to launch another shampoo, another hair oil or another wave spray. I know too much about hair to do that.”

“Our concepts are different and playful. We are not just going to launch another shampoo, another hair oil or another wave spray.”

Parker increased Peloton’s retail footprint 500%—and that background will definitely be beneficial once Allyoos makes a major retail push. The brand recently landed at Bandier, but it’s currently largely concentrating on DTC and has initiated Facebook and Instagram advertising. Denis says, “The thing with Allyoos is that it’s not the kind of product that can sit on a website and sit on a shelf. Because of the concept, how special it is and how different it is, I need people talking about it, and I need people selling it to consumers.”

Allyoos participated in the accelerator program Target Takeoff in 2019. Denis envisions the brand ultimately sold at the big-box chain and Ulta Beauty. “We are a family brand,” she says. “When you walk into the store, whether you are shopping with your mother, your daughter or grandma, I want everyone to use Allyoos.”

Allyoos has updated its packaging and formulas to improve performance and fine-tuned its language to clarify its products. For example, Denis had characterized Juice Drench as a strand soak, but she says a Target Takeoff advisor told her, “‘I don’t know what strand soak is. How can I explain to someone in seconds on the shelf what a strand soak is?’ I let it go and called it a hair treatment.”

Denis is busy explaining Allyoos’s products to consumers at events. The brand’s traveling pop-up The Juice Drench Bun Bar is traveling quite a bit this summer. It has stops scheduled for Bandier in Southampton, N.Y., The Wonder in New York City and Westport, Conn., 1212 in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Oh My Goodness in Port Washington, N.Y., Little Spoon in New York City and Peloton locations.

Allyoos has amassed $400,000 in total funding. It got off the ground with a $100,000 loan from Denis’s family friend. She started Allyoos with partners Amy Koenigsberger, a fashion industry veteran with experience at Bloomingdale’s, Theory and Helmut Lang, and co-founder of organic clothing company 1212, and Stacey Effman, co-founder at 1212 and a graphic designer by trade, and they remain involved. Koenigsberger connected Denis with Parker.

“Allyoos isn’t just about launching haircare, this is a ride that we are going to be on together for a long time, and everybody is in this to win this,” says Denis. “I know what the landscape of Allyoos looks like. I needed someone that could help me with growth and really bring this business to the next level, and Jen is the perfect complement and perfect partner to help me with that.”

Allyoos plans to fundraise again soon. Denis says, “We are in growth mode and want to bring on the right people and investors that will join us as we bring really fun innovation to market, launch our full suite of products and eventually launch in our first big beauty retailer.”