How JuE Wong Grew Olaplex To The No. 1 Independent Haircare Brand

Net sales of Olaplex bond-building haircare products increased from $148.2 million in 2019 to $282.3 million in 2020, representing a growth rate of 90%. During this time period, Olaplex rose from the number three independent haircare brand to number one. All this growth was achieved with Singapore-born CEO JuE Wong at the helm.

Olaplex single-handedly created the “bond building haircare” category. The company’s shampoos, conditioners, and deep treatments are designed to strengthen and repair hair from the inside out. Recently, they’ve launched a No. 4P Blonde Enhancer toning shampoo to neutralize unwanted yellow tones for brighter, more manageable blonde, lightened, and grey hair.

Under Wong’s leadership, the haircare brand has experienced a meteoric rise on social media, especially TikTok. With its verified account and the #olaplex hashtag, the brand has seen 380 million views, up from 24 million in April 2020. According to a recent Cosmetify 2021 Hair Report, Olaplex was ranked the hottest hair brand on social with 11.3 million hashtag mentions.

Olaplex products are backed by a breakthrough scientifically-proven technology that holds over 100 patents worldwide. It actually repairs broken bonds in the hair, allowing people to recover from five types of damage including chemical services, heat styling, mechanical damage, environmental damage, and lifestyle or physiological changes. Since its founding, the company also has been non-toxic, cruelty-free, and vegan, free of over 50 questionable ingredients including sulfates, parabens, phthalates, and phosphates. Products ship without needless cardboard boxes, eliminating waste from secondary packaging and helping to make the company carbon neutral.

After growing up in Singapore and completing a degree in Political Science with Honors in Australia, Wong went into trading. She managed large portfolio funds at Cargill, the world’s largest private company. Then she relocated to Arizona and continued working for PepsiCo. “Pivoting to consumer goods at The Dial Corp. (today Henkel), I had no relevant experience or skill set, and I took a huge pay cut to become a brand manager. But I learned so much,” she says. Later, she moved into cosmetics with Dr. Murad and Elizabeth Arden.

“I love that today, beauty is no longer about fluff, snake oils and potions,” says Wong. “There is a lot of science and technology behind it.” She also started to understand at this time that her true drive was to have impact – it didn’t matter which industry she was working in, as long as she could do her best possible work. “I tell my kids, ‘Apply yourself and be the best in whatever you do.’ My life purpose is to be the best I can be.”

Wong’s next career move was doing turnarounds for private equity brands working for Perricone, StriVectin, and Astral Health and Beauty. “Time spent on turnarounds can be relatively short,” she says. “You want to grow the business without mortgaging the future. I really enjoyed that.”

In January 2020, Wong started as CEO of Olaplex following her CEO position at Moroccanoil. And then, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic hit just a couple of months later. “Olaplex was entirely work from home before Covid, so we were already in our element. But normally your kids are at school, your partner is offsite at the office. Now everyone is home. If you live in a typical New York City apartment, how do you do a Zoom call?”

Wong responded to the Covid crisis by making sure that all Olaplex team members had childcare, were given access to relief funds, and were well taken care of. “Taking care of your employees is selfish because it allows them to do their best work. We also helped hairdressers who are part of our Affiliate program, paying great dividends and earning amazing loyalty.”

To aspiring leaders and entrepreneurs, Wong offers this advice. “People say, ‘Do what you love.’ I say do what scares you. If you do that, you’ll do it better, learn more, and in the end, you’ll pay it forward.”