Record levels of consumer scrutiny call for unprecedented promises about what the products can deliver. Importantly, Education Manager Collette McGee states, they’re both third-party verified and feel authentic.

The brand that gave us bond building now presents its next-gen bond repair. The brand-new pre-shampoo treatment, No.3PLUS Complete Repair Treatment, is a renovation of the No.3 Hair Perfector, referred to as “the original.”

– The consumers these days are discerning, they want more, they want it quicker, says McGee, who is the Education Manager for the UK, Ireland, and Nordics. Luxury no longer means it’s taking forever; it means it being quick, fast, effective, but feeling luxurious. Our original sells so frequently and is a big product for us, but we have great labs in New York which have been able to make it better and more effective. It’s like the car industry—every year, they bring out a model and make it better. We should do the same. 

And these strong claims focus on the number ‘3’: 3 minutes, 3 bonds, 3xstronger, 3x softer…

– Yes. We have a new CEO and wanted to come and not just tell but also really show (what we’re launching). We obviously can’t just say this ourselves, so we had to get third parties to review all of our testing to be able to have such strong claims. That’s really important for us, from an authenticity point of view, so that people know what they’re buying into, that it’s going to work. 

– We know that the original made the hair stronger, but it didn’t necessarily make it feel softer. This one makes it stronger and softer. It gives you cortex to cuticle repair in three minutes. All three bonds, true repair of the hair, so that your hair is healthier and more resilient.

It’s funny that you mention authenticity because for the modern consumer of today, that has to be a key aspect in purchasing decisions.

– 100%. Never has there been a time where there’s been more products on the market. The market is completely saturated, whether it’s beauty, makeup, or skincare, and in a world where there’s lots of noise and lots of products, things will come and go. Brands will come and go. We’re proud that our client base and customer base spans across generations, and, again, what we think is really important is to be authentic. 

And launching a renovated version of your icon perhaps also tells something about the development we’ve seen among products since its initial launch, as well as how the end consumer is demanding more and more.

– Absolutely. When we launched over ten years ago, back in 2014, not only did we start revolutionising the hair salons, but for the first time, people were taking a hair product home and wanting to do that at-home hair. That wasn’t really something that was happening back then. Then, of course, we saw the dreaded COVID when people were doing a lot of hair at home, a lot of treatments at home, and we saw a big rise in the hair category. So, it makes sense that the industry, the chemists, and the labs really look at how we can optimise that experience for our consumer at home. It shouldn’t just be something they can experience in the salon; they should be able to have really healthy hair all the time.

What else are your consumers looking for now?

– There’s really an appetite for premium hair care now, also more in general. When I was a little girl, my dad used to just buy shampoo and conditioner when he did his supermarket shopping. And that was fine, but it wasn’t necessarily an experience. It pulled out really quickly, the hair was greasy, McGee remembers. She continues:

– Now, there is a real demand from consumers. My friends and colleagues have been getting very good at skincare over the years. There’s been a lot of advances, and it’s both tangible and easy. The same with makeup; you see a physical result straight away, and you can see it working. 

– With hair, there’s this air of mystery, ‘Oh, I don’t know, I’m not a hairdresser.’ I think now, this is the moment where we’re seeing a real shift in the category. You hear people say, ‘When I walk out, and I’m taking a photo of myself, the hair is a fourth of that image with my skin, my makeup, and my clothes, so I really need that to be great as well.’

– The shift I’m seeing is that people are willing to spend money and maintenance on their hair now to create a routine in the way that they would for their skin. For me, our hair shouldn’t just be put through products on the hair strands. We always forget the poor scalp, but it ages six times faster than the skin on our face, and we never anti-age it; we never do anything to it. Putting a serum on it is a great way of restoring the scalp and feeding the hair. So, everything is a 360 thing, and people are hungry for knowledge on hair now.

And they want fast and tangible results.

– Yes. Fast, quick, easy results, which they can see! McGee agrees.