Togethair®'s DNA, vision and mission
Keeping your hair healthy, especially in summer, can be a challenge. Exposure to sun, wind, salt and chlorine can damage hair, making it look dry, brittle and dull.To respond to this need, Togethair® launches the new line Sun&Care My Hair, a complete solution to protect and nourish the hair, ensuring hydration, shine and color vibrancy.
Interview with
Silvia Conconi
1. Togethair®, a leading brand in the world of professional hair care, color and styling, made its debut at Cosmoprof 2024 with a strong message that perfectly expresses its DNA, vision and mission.
Silvia Conconi, Togethair® Marketing & Communication Manager, tells us about it.
Togethair®'s vision and mission are linked to two fundamental elements: the concept of an ethical brand, where being ethical stems both from the brand's philosophy and corporate values, as well as from people who collaborate and believe in a common direction, following a hierarchy of values within the company.Hence, philosophy and relationships, which are at the core of the daily work with the different teams, who share their experiences.
The values are made up of several smaller pieces: our eight claims, with "Green" as the core value, the common thread with various facets . Green in terms of formulation, certification, materials; Green for choices such as sustainability and the 3R philosophy. There are many shades of Green, linked to the idea of Green Soul, and paired with the principle of effectiveness .
Historically, Green has been viewed by companies and consumers as a low-performing product.
If you remove highly opposed raw materials and do not offer an adequate alternative with natural but effective ingredients, there is a risk that the product will not work well and deliver poor results.
Our conception of Green is always informed by performance: if it's necessary to add acrylates, we do so, provided they serve the result.We are not a botanical garden. We must be able to operate in an environmentally friendly way without compromising on promise and product effectiveness, otherwise we cannot call ourselves ethical.
Green is linked to the philosophy of the product, but above all it is linked to two important aspects: the salon experience and the concept of total look/image consultation. Professionally, if these values are not implemented, products don’t turn into a service.It's not enough just to have good products, but it is necessary to develop stylists' professionalism through education and training, and put it in the service of the client.
In this way, we can create wellness and image consultation experiences in the salon. Here, the product is the last step in the process, and is a consequence of this approach.
Our three product worlds - Color & Technics, Care System, and Styling System - should be approached starting from what the salon can offer as a service.
Before bringing out a color chart with 197 shades, we should be talking about how color can transform a person, studying the features of the face - eyes, hair, complexion - to identify the shades that best suit them according to their color analysis, that flatter their skin tone.
We might have an excellent product, but if we apply the wrong color, the person will not feel good about themselves.
Trends are beautiful when they look good on you! Ideally, we wouldn't have the client coming with a photograph of a model and saying ‘I want this’, because it may not suit them; whereas a Professional can offer advice and apply the color according to Color Analysis, through the Draping technique.
Styling and cutting must be approached according to face shape, which we can condense into 4 most common types (round, rectangular, triangular, or square face).
Length, side bangs, fringe, layers, and cut can all flatter and enhance one's face shape, and so can styling - together of course with the hairdresser's skills - to achieve the perfect oval, the most harmonious shape. In this case we talk of shape types and, here too, the products come after, in the final stages of service and consultation.
Then we have the world of Care, understood in terms of treatment and ritual in the salon- from scalp cleansing to scalp care, which is an extension of the skin of the face.
It is like when you go to a beauty therapist: first they cleanse the skin and then they apply specific treatments.
On the scalp we do the same: first we prepare the treatment with a cleansing step, then at the same time we treat the lengths, and finish with cleansing and application of the treatment on the scalp.
This leaves the pores clean and open, and enables whatever is applied afterwards to penetrate better and act more effectively, without causing a rebound effect - i.e. the product being expelled from the pores because they cannot absorb it.
So, we have created a number of rituals and treatments designed for the wellbeing of the person and of the hair.
In short, we have Color analysis and the Color world, face shape analysis and Styling System with a specific hair cutting glossary, and finally Wellness and Care System products.
A working system is the foundation of a Professional and of what the Brand wants to convey with its new approach, providing a team of Trainers who shadow the Professional and teach them how to perform the treatments in each area, and only then explain how the product works.
So first comes the consultation, and then the product.
2. How is this hierarchy of values translated in practice and how does Togethair® pursue it every day?
The Green Soul concept has several aspects.First of all, we are talking about vegan cosmetics, with very high percentages of green raw materials, from a minimum of 97/ 98% up to 100%.
The small amounts remaining consist of fragrances of synthetic origin and preservatives, which obviously cannot be green.
The concept of Green is also found in some BIOS-certified product categories containing ingredients of organic and biodynamic origin, which are also environmentally friendly in terms of packaging and labelling, and which follow processes that limit CO2 emissions and add an environmentally friendly quality to the product.
We also work on the concept of recycling and biodegradable materials , but without being obsessive or losing sight of effectiveness.
The Green Soul concept goes hand in hand with another fundamental value, which is Performance Power.One is inseparable from the other.
Performance Power
Performance is always paired with the concept of naturalness, but the product does what it promises! If we say that a product nourishes or detangles, that's what it has to do.
The formula includes what is required to ensure performance.
For example, an instant biphasic product must be able to detangle and, alas, at the moment the only raw ingredient that can do this is silicone. We have eliminated it from all products where it wasn’t needed, but not from this type of product, because the ingredient has not yet found a replacement on the market.
Coupled with performance is the notion of product safety, which is essential for us.
All our products are subjected to instrumental testing - in vivo by means of patch tests, occlusive patches applied for 24/48 hours on volunteers to observe the reactions of the skin, and conducted at specialised laboratories.
All tests are carried out on sensitive skin and each production batch is tested for Nickel (even though we select ingredients that are free of it) to ensure that there have been no leaks during processing and offer a guarantee of safety for even the most reactive skin.
Sensory Pleasure
Then we have the sensory dimension.
If we don't like the scent of a product, we will never want to use it, so it is essential to work on scent marketing to cater for the primary target consumers of that product.
For example, a program such as Color Save, which is meant to protect color, cannot have a woody fragrance, which is closer to the masculine world, and neither can hair color.
A sweet, gourmand fragrance is preferable, one that covers the smell of other ingredients such as ammonia, so that color application can turn into an hour of pampering.
For each product, we need to choose an olfactory area that is pleasant and can create the right mood -not least to encourage repurchase of the product or service.
Therefore, we are also working on this asset, as well as on textures, with the consultation of Fragrance experts who recommend olfactory notes for each program, then we test it with specific fragrance tests on panels of 20 people.
Education System
We believe that classroom training is the first fundamental step to becoming a Consultant, which is why we have opened several Academies throughout Italy, at our distributors’ premises, and next to our institutional headquarters - Area 12 in Brescia.
Here we offer formats and work systems dedicated to color and color analysis, fashion research, cuts matched to face shape, and styling techniques. We proceed to the world of Care, learning how to do check-ups, diagnose with microcameras, and treat the various types of scalp and hair accurately and effectively.
We also offer management- and marketing-oriented training, to achieve effective communication and make the best use of digital tools.
All this follows the ‘gym and coaching’ method: hands-on training where we practice while teaching, to bring the method into the salon.
Salon concept experience
Another aspect that is closely related to the growth of the Salon is the Salon concept experience.
In addition to knowing how to consult and how to communicate, we have to be able to create an experience, a welcoming space.
We must be aware of what we want to communicate in the waiting area, in the technical area, in front of the mirror, and in every other salon area.
To do this we can avail ourselves of visual merchandising techniques that teach how to display and communicate, making the most of the experience inside the salon.
For this reason we have prepared a Course, course notes, and materials to help stylists display according to visual merchandising rules, run promotions according to season, and make the most of social media, WhatsApp business, and broadcast lists.
Inclusive Beauty
Ultimo claim, non per importanza è l’Inclusive Beauty, legato al concetto di colore della pelle e tipologia di capelli diversi.
Dobbiamo essere in grado di trattarli tutti attraverso i tre mondi di prodotti: colori per tutti i tipi di pelle, trattamenti per le diverse anomalie della cute e styling per lavorare su tutte le forme del viso.
With Togethair® products, we can serve everyone, without distinction between outward appearance and inner beauty, because beauty is what a person feels inside.
This is our concept: every nuance, every shape constantly informs the relationship between hairdresser and customer in a professional manner.
3. Why should a professional or a consumer choose Togethair products?
When purchasing a Togethair® product, you purchase a whole world of services, a world of advice where the product is the last step of the process.
We do not sell a product, but a professional and ethical image approach: compared to other channels such as a pharmacy or a beauty store, a stylist can implement this approach through consultation and diagnosis, explaining to the person what they may need.
No other sales channel can afford this type of approach.
The stylist must obviously have the skills to do this.
If we enable stylists to work with this approach, we can radically change the characteristics of the channel and stylists' professional credibility. We consider them a bit like ‘image doctors’, experts of feeling good about one’s appearance.
Let me give you an example. A condition that may appear to be dandruff often turns out to be seborrhoeic dermatitis, which can have a rebound effect if treated incorrectly. A trained professional is able to recognise it and recommend the most suitable cosmetic product to treat it.
In order to make an accurate image diagnosis, then choose the most suitable treatment, we're using a device equipped with a microcamera to magnify the scalp and the hair shaft, which enables us to check for dandruff scales, sebum build-up, more sensitive areas, keratin deficiencies, etc.
At the same time, clients know that they can rely on an expert Professional who, thanks to Togethair®’s training system, can offer an all-round service and can make them feel good about themselves and others; this all starts with a check-up and image consultation.
Clients experience the professionalism of the salon first, when approached in a different way; only later do they become loyal to the product.
4. What new Togethair® products can we expect?
There are new developments in several areas: one of the main ones is communication, with an increasingly digital approach that will soon see the creation of a Community for sharing strategies, materials and communication tools that will be made available to all our customers.
We are working on new skinification products for skin and scalp care, which we will launch in 2025. Another important asset will be the review of almost all treatment programs in terms of olfactory marketing.
