PARIS — La Bonne Brosse is out to reinvent the luxury hair care category — one brush at a time.
The French brand, launched two-and-a-half years ago, opened last week its first boutique, on Paris’ Rue de Richelieu.
“We wanted a space of our own,” said Flore des Robert, a brand cofounder, of the 380-square-foot location.
She began La Bonne Brosse with Pauline Laurent, a friend from business school who is another seasoned beauty executive.
“We felt that we could change — or shake a little bit — the rules of the market,” said Laurent.
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This would entail operating in a slow, sustainable manner to develop products lasting a lifetime, while running a profitable company. They believe a good hairbrush is the alpha and omega of healthy hair.
In the boutique, their lushly colored creations are laid out on a trompe l’oeil tablecloth made with artful stitching to look like a set table.
Taking a cue from Dyson, the duo wants to turn a commodity into a modern, functional luxury. La Bonne Brosse brushes are made in France of cellulose acetate, generally used in luxury eyewear, giving an organic feel and biodegradability.
“We thought: Let’s put some beauty back in your daily life,” said Laurent.
Their four main brush models (with two sizes each, and one of which is vegan — with only nylon and no upcycled boar bristles) are meant to cater to all hair types. The collection also has two styles of combs, a round brush and one for babies. Its prices range from 38 euros to 138 euros.
Sitting on the table in the new boutique, too, are their Cair clean hair care products, launched starting less than six months ago. That began with a serum, shampoo and conditioner, as a leave-in spray, contained in refillable glass bottles.
Laurent described the products as highly efficient, with no inert ingredients. Instead, there is rice water, hyaluronic acid and prebiotics used, for example.
“We wanted to have the most active formulas you’ve ever seen in hair care,” she said. “Because we feel the hair care market in cosmetics is still very mass-market and very basic. The idea is to care for the whole hair ecosystem.”
A hair mask, for deep repair, was introduced one month ago. The prices run from 38 euros to 74 euros.
To develop Cair, Laurent and des Robert needed some more capital, so they fund-raised. Thirty women invested, with a minimum ticket of 20,000 euros, equaling altogether 1 million euros.
Both La Bonne Brosse and Cair are profitable, according to des Robert.
Prior to the Paris store opening, 70 percent of La Bonne Brosse’s sales were generated online, with the rest from key department stores. It is the number-one hair care brand in Le Bon Marché today.
While brand executives would not discuss sales, industry sources estimate La Bonne Brosse made approximately 4.5 million euros at retail last year, and that it should generate 8 million euros to 10 million euros in 2024.
Each month, 25 percent of the brand’s clients online are repeat purchasers. La Bonne Brosse’s best consumers have bought on average more than four brushes over the last 12 months.
“We’ve got hundreds of those,” said des Robert, with a laugh.
The brand has stretched its borders, too. Since January, over one-third of its business has been made internationally.
Some of its allure, believes Laurent, is that people have a wide variety of colors (around a dozen), models and sizes from which to choose, as well as accessories.
“The object itself is very important,” she said.