Superzero Enters Sephora With A New Look, Kicks Off TikTok Campaign To Support The Launch

Plastic-free haircare bar brand Superzero has landed on Sephora’s website and hopes to be placed on its store shelves in the near future.

“On our side, we really love Sephora’s credibility for beauty that performs and also their ability to reach a very passionate beauty consumer at scale, which is what we of course need to achieve our mission of accelerating the transition to sustainable beauty with products that are better than liquid,” says co-founder Conny Wittke. “From Sephora’s perspective, they were really attracted to our level of innovation in the solid space by our formulations and clinically proven ingredients and by our keen focus on product performance and the science behind the product.”

Prior to launching Superzero in 2000, Wittke was CEO of Tweezerman International and founder of Nügg, a face mask line acquired by New World Natural Brands in 2019. Her deep connections and expertise in the beauty industry gave her a hearing at Sephora, but the beauty specialty retailer wasn’t fully sold on Superzero to start. In particular, its branding didn’t impress Sephora. As a result, it overhauled its look.

Superzero’s rebrand has given it elevated packaging and content. The shape of its haircare bars have changed from primarily standard circles and squares to triangle shampoos and bespoke square conditioners. Wittke explains the change puts “the solid form factor front and center to make it not look like soap because the shampoo and conditioner of ours have nothing to do with soaps and their formulation. They’re completely and utterly different.”

Superzero’s upgraded formulas contain proprietary complex it calls 360 triflex that Wittke explains “communicates a comprehensive approach that we have to scalp health, bond repair and tailored boost actives that are customized to different hair types.” The different hair types span curly, fine and thin, oily and dry, and damaged.

Superzero is the second plastic-free haircare bar brand at Sephora. Viori is the first. Susteau, JVN, Ceremonia and Reverie are other brands in the retailer’s Clean + Planet Positive program. Wittke says Superzero’s wide assortment featuring eight shampoos and three conditioners sets the brand apart. Viori currently has one conditioner and one shampoo bar available on Sephora’s site. Sephora is carrying all 11 Superzero’s haircare products priced at $28 each. Along specifying that its conditioners are for hair types, Superzero delineates the conditioners by the intensity levels light, medium and high.

“We are introducing an entirely new way to look at conditioners based on a deep understanding of what a conditioner actually does,” says Wittke, continuing, “This is actually quite an important factor in determining the right choice of conditioner because you might have the same hair type, but have very different preferences in how much weight you like.”

Sephora is Superzero’s first major retail partnership. Wittke is seeking smaller, independently owned wholesalers to complement the retailer without conflicting with it. She says, “I’m a big believer you have to be hyper strategic about your distribution.”

To support Superzero’s Sephora partnership and promote its new look, the brand has tapped Jenny Cho, a celebrity hairstylist with 112,000 followers on Instagram counting Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Ana de Armas and Michelle Yeoh among her clients, to spread the word. Wittke says, “Having that endorsement will help overcome credibility issues when people say, ‘Oh, does this really work?’ It will be really powerful for us.”

In addition, the brand is kicking off a TikTok campaign called “No More Hair Apologies.” Its theme focuses on apologizing for hair neglect and the transformation hair undergoes with Superzero products. The campaign will include original song “Hair Love” by Superzero and up-and-coming pop artist and TikTok influencer Mariel Darling. Along with the campaign, the brand will be seeding products to nano- and micro-influencers who’ve become members of Superzero’s community in the past two years.

“A lot of people consider this category as an afterthought which is a big mistake,” says Wittke. “So many people take their shampoo and conditioner for granted and underestimate the importance of them for your long-term hair health. We look at hair like skin, you would not skimp on your facial cleanser and moisturizer and just invest in treatments. People should apply the same philosophy to hair: Get the basics right and then build on that as needed.”

Wittke plans on expanding upon Superzero’s value proposition of “super performance and zero harm” over time and extending it to different product categories. On its site, Superzero has branched into body care and hand products. Wittke says, “Right now, solids are not on the map for the premium customer really, so that’s what we want to do to achieve our mission.”