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Remember when a hair product had a $19 billion market cap?

I’m not making this up.

Olaplex—barely seven years old at IPO—was once valued higher than Roku, Lyft, and Shake Shack combined.

This wasn’t just another overpriced beauty product with empty promises. Olaplex had a patented molecule that genuinely repaired broken bonds in damaged hair. Hairstylists went absolutely bonkers for it because they could suddenly take clients from black to blonde in one session without their hair falling out.

The company built a perfect business model—professional products used in salons created credibility, while take-home versions generated recurring revenue. Professional stylists became unpaid evangelists, creating a viral sensation that barely spent a dime on marketing.

When Olaplex went public in 2021, its financials were nothing short of pornographic—80% gross margins and 60%+ EBITDA margins. Wall Street analysts were practically hyperventilating at the growth potential.

Then everything collapsed faster than a PE-backed HVAC-rollup.

First came whispers about lilial (an ingredient allegedly linked to infertility). Then a hair loss lawsuit hit the newswire. The social media machine that built the brand started tearing it down just as viciously. The stock plummeted from $30 to $1, erasing nearly $18 billion in market value. Their first-lien term loan now trades at 85 cents on the dollar.

Meanwhile, competitors like K18 moved in with simpler solutions—a 4-minute treatment versus Olaplex’s multi-step process that requires a chemistry degree to follow correctly.

The question now is can this former Wall Street darling manage a comeback? Or will Olaplex become yet another case study in how quickly a revolutionary product can become yesterday’s news?

Let’s find out.