When it comes to hair care, Henkel has been on an acquisitions path over the past few years. Now it is bringing a number of these brands together as the global company opens a new “technology-rich” Beauty Care Hair Professional Headquarters at 5800 Bristol Parkway in Culver City, CA. Henkel’s North American professional hair care brands, intended for both professional hairdresser/salon use as well as consumer use, include Alterna Haircare, Kenra Professional, #mydentity, Pravana, Schwarzkopf Professional, and Sexy Hair.
 
“We are excited to bring together under one roof the best professional hair care brands in the industry,” said Stefan Mund, regional head of Henkel Beauty Care Hair Professional North America. “By bringing together operations, we will further strengthen our footprint in the U.S. as well as our overall Henkel culture, which is the catalyst for cross-company knowledge sharing and collaboration.”
 
The Schwarzkopf family of brands has been part of Henkel’s Beauty Care Hair Professional portfolio since 1995. Henkel purchased Sexy Hair, Kenra and Alterna in 2014 and acquired Pravana from Mexico City-based Nattura Laboratories in 2017. The businesses operated in their respective locations in Culver City, CA, Chatsworth, CA, Indianapolis, IN and New York, NY, prior to the integration of all the brands under one roof in Culver City. The Pravana team will join their colleagues in Culver City in Q1 2018. By Q2 2018, about 200 employees from across the brands will be working in this location. Warehouse operations will remain in Chatsworth and Indianapolis.
 
This January, the company also successfully closed the acquisition of Zotos International Inc., the North American Hair Professional business of Shiseido Company, Limited. The acquisition comprises leading hair professional brands such as Joico and Zotos Professional.
 
The new facility in Culver City features a loft style, open-space working environment and includes a world-class Academy of Hair multi-branded learning center, opening Q2 2018.
 
“This is one of several opportunities that allow for increased innovation across our beauty care hair professional brands by maximize employee knowledge and best practices while maintaining what makes each unique,” said Mund. “Even though these brands maintain distinct DNA, cultures, and rich histories, our employees are vigorous in their commitment to our professional hair care and salon customers. They share our Henkel values and visions and our focus on innovation to continue market leadership in the beauty industry.” The Academy of Hair will be a state of the art demonstration and learning facility where Henkel employees representing the company’s professional hair brands can educate and demonstrate product usage. The facility will feature a full-service test salon and color bar, as well as a digital trend lab designed to set the stage for photo/video shoots or live broadcasts of demonstrations or trainings.

Check out Henkel’s “digital ecosystem for quantifying and customizing the hair care experience” which won a 2018 CES innovation award .
 
 PHOTO: Henkel’s new hair headquarters in Culver City, California