How DCS Launched a Brand New Haircare Range

DCS is proud to share the success story of our new Enliven Fruits Haircare range! This is the first time we have designed and developed a unique fruity range of hair products targeting specific hair types. A set of 3 mouth-watering variants in a complete regime that meets your particular hair needs, trialled, and tested on 150 consumers!

There is a currently unmet need and a gap in the market for a range of hair products to suit a variety of hairstyles and shapes, at an attractive mass-market price point. Many retailers offer masstige or prestige options, however, this presents an opportunity for a new range of hair care products to suit a family budget yet cater to the diversity of hair concerns. The project timescales were tight and due to various supply chain complexities, we faced a number of challenges during the pre-launch phase.

Several factors had to be taken into consideration for launching our Fruits range. COVID-19 has (and still is) impacting a lot of supply chains around the world, from countries going into national lockdown affecting raw material supply and componentry lead times, a limited number of shipping containers available to canal cargo blockages and limited production runs of ingredients, the pandemic still isn’t over, but the DCS team powered through and against a number of odds, successfully launched our 9 new SKUs hitting B&M stores in March this year.

In less than 7 months, the Enliven team set to work to develop a formulation suited for each hair type, designed a new bottle and jar for the formula to go into, and created beautiful labels for the pack artwork. Each aspect was rigorously tested to ensure safety, accuracy, and performance.

The shampoos were crafted from a harmonious blend of surfactants to leave hair feeling clean not stripped. The hair cleansing ingredients we chose to use were:

• Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate (SLES) – is an efficacious and cost-effective surfactant for removing the build-up of hair products, dirt, and oils.
• Coco-glucoside / Glyceryl Oleate blend - is an all-natural mild surfactant system, derived from coconut oil commonly found in natural products which provide lather but no scalp irritation.
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine – which is a naturally derived secondary surfactant used for boosting foam and giving a mild cleanse, a great pairing to SLES and coco-glucoside.

The conditioners were designed with beneficial ingredients to deliver care to the hair. For this reason, we chose to use:

• Cetearyl Alcohol – an effective emollient to moisturise, hydrate and smoothens hair, it also provides a slip for detangling.
• Cetrimonium Chloride, an antistatic ingredient for hair conditioning and shine, also has secondary anti-microbial properties.
• Ceteareth-20 - is an emollient and emulsifier helping to bind ingredients together, while contributing to softness and shine.
• Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride - is a positively charged antistatic agent, that works on negatively charged hair strands for wet and dry detangling and reduces static, also conditions the hair

The multitasking Hair masks benefit from an array of multifunctional ingredients, including:

• Cetearyl Alcohol – which is an effective emollient to moisturise, hydrate and smoothen, it also provides a slip for detangling. Cetearyl alcohol is a perfect base ingredient for conditioning hair products and skin moisturisers.
• Stearic acid – coats the hair shaft, providing conditioning and protection without making it dull or heavy.
• Ceteareth-20 – is an emollient and emulsifier helping to bind ingredients together, while contributing to softness and shine.
• Coco-glucoside – is also added for smoothness, spreadability and increased manageability.
• Polyquaternium-37 – is used for comb-ability and elasticity, and provides a positive charge to the negatively charged hair fibres

Our sustainability superpowers:

• 90%+ Naturally derived ingredients
• Fully recyclable product packaging
• Fully recyclable packaging throughout Supply Chain
• Manufactured in the UK

It was all hands on deck for this exciting launch, and many people were involved in the project from start to finish. Lots of activities were running in parallel to meet the deadlines set by our customers, meaning calculated risks were taken to ensure an OTIF delivery.

A lot of the technical testing to ensure product integrity and durability ran parallel. Usually, the most extended test required during product development of cosmetics is the Stability and Compatibility testing (which takes 3 months from start to finish). During this 3-month period, preservative testing, Consumer testing and Clinical testing took place, so as to not delay the launch timings. There were also times prior to launch when we could not source the ingredients that we wanted to use in the initial formulation, due to global supply shortages or reduced production capacity at the suppliers. This meant a slight change to source alternatives and getting these on test quickly. Of course, running multiple tests in parallel and making changes to the formulation brings risk, but ultimately it all worked out in our favour.

Despite the challenges, everyone at DCS made a starling team effort and the hard work has paid off, seeing it in stores on the shelves of B&M for the first time in March.

8 reasons why our products are a MUST-BUY!

• Not just a shampoo, but a set of 3 hair products to complete the regime that meets your specific hair needs!
• 3 brand-new delicious fragrances to entice the senses
• Formulas made of over 90%+ naturally derived ingredients
• Organic coconut oil, Shea butter, Sweet almond oil, Glycerin and Panthenol are just some of the moisturising ingredients used across the range
• Fully recyclable packaging used across the range
• Our new Haircare range has been tested with 150 consumers
• Rich creamy conditioners and indulgent buttery hair masks give premium textures to the range
• Our new hair masks can be used as a 3in1 product – a multitasking winner!