After spending a decade in the lab scanning and testing all amino acid sequences across the entire keratin genome that makes up human hair searching for a breakthrough, the brand, K18, discovered one unique sequence (a bioactive peptide) that brings damaged hair back to its original, youthful state in just 4 minutes! This is the K18Peptide™. GlobalSpa gets in conversation with Suveen Sahib, co-founder of K18, to know further more about the brand and its launch in India.
How did the story of K18 begin?
K18 was born out of an ‘aha!’ moment. I was fascinated by the way Britta, my now wife and founder of AQUIS, had shaken up hair drying by looking at the biology of hair first and then designing around the understanding of that to deliver superior results. Through watching and learning from here, I realized the haircare industry, which hasn’t been shaken up in the last decade, needed to shift its focus from cosmetic chemistry to a new way of doing things. I became obsessed with immersing myself in the understanding of hair on a biological level. I started learning more about the bio-physics of hair and the crossover between hair, skin and pharma. I began to collaborate with skin care delivery scientists to explore protein engineering as a potential path.
That ultimately lead me to connect with top European bio-engineering scientist Professor Artur Cavaco Paulo and his research team at the University of Minho Biological Engineering Center in Portugal. They had been doing ground-breaking research in protein engineering focused on lipids and lung regeneration in premature babies. The same lipid and protein structures also happen to have applications for our hair on a molecular level. After a decade of scanning and testing all amino acid sequences covering the entire genome that makes up human keratin, they discovered one unique sequence that we were able to apply to damaged hair.
This breakthrough is our patented K18Peptide™ that renews hair for a like-new look and feel. This groundbreaking science set the foundation for our business, and we began to build the brand from there.
What has it been like developing products that work for a unique range of haircare?
The industry for years has been championing misinformation and profiting off the segmentation of different hair types. It’s all about people taming their hair or putting hair types into boxes. The way we shop hasn’t been guided by science or what hair actually needs.
The most liberating thing I discovered that most shoppers don’t know is hair is actually identical on the molecular level. That means that products working on that level are truly optimized for all hair types. And because our products work at the molecular level, they deliver damage renewal for all hair types, all generations, and all types of expression. It’s amazing to watch users, no matter their hair type, unleash radical simplicity and hair like new in their routines.
What made you finally launch in India? What impact do you hope the brand creates here?
We believe hair is everything. Our biotech treatment allows for a new freedom of expression that comes with having healthy hair—and we believe all hair types and all people should be able to access that true renewal. As we grow, we want everyone joining our global movement to rewrite the rules on haircare. If you love hair, you’re our person, end of story.
What makes K18 different than other haircare products available in the market?
We like to say we’re a biotech company first with applications in haircare. By harnessing the power of biomimetics or the practice of learning from nature, we’ve used biology as our greatest designer and teacher to deliver lasting results that understands your damage instead of covering it up.
The complex science of our patented peptide, discovered and shaped by painstaking bioscience research and 10 years spent in a lab mapping the entire keratin genome that makes up human hair, makes the result oh so simple. The radical simplicity of reversing hair damage in 4 minutes comes from a complex understanding of what damaged hair needs at the inner-most layers to restore strength and elasticity.
By going to the inner-most layers of hair, biomimetic hair-science can renew hair’s core strength + elasticity to bring hair back to its near original, youthful state. Hair both looks and feels like new and you are empowered to not have to choose between damage and your freedom of expression. Now it’s not the hair you want or healthy hair, you can have both.
Because of the pandemic, people are being more attentive towards natural and organically made products. How do you plan to compete with this?
We are big believers in challenging what the hair and beauty industry has defined as “standard”. There are a lot of buzzwords floating out there that have taught consumers misinformation or caused fear to sell product. For one thing, organic does not always mean safe. We believe in safe chemistry and using intentional + tested ingredients to fuel results as opposed to throwing in additional natural or organic ingredients to be able to make that claim.
Our philosophy follows a less is more approach, so we will never add an ingredient, organic or not, for the sake of a callout.
Formulated with intention, we only include the safest form of each ingredient. Often “natural” or “organic” ingredients can be classified as unsafe or unregulated. We believe in harnessing the power of science to deliver ethical, sustainable, and superior results.
What’s next for K18?
We have so much work to do reframing the world’s understanding of haircare and ushering in the next era of hair expression through biotechnology. We are so proud of the global crusade we’ve been able to build so far alongside our community of incredible pro stylists and educators. We are excited to keep studying what hair needs and delivering radically simple products that champion our hair, our expression, our planet, and our health. Simply put, less really can be more and we plan to continue to propel that vision through our development and ongoing education.
