Wella

History

Wella was founded in 1880 by Franz Ströher, a hairdresser from Saxony, Eastern Germany. The company originally made tulles, the base used for making wigs. In 1890, he invented the Tullemoid Waterproof, a technique that allowed the scalp to breathe. In 1894, he opened his first factory in Rothenkirchen, Germany and his sons Karl and George Ströher joined the business soon after.

In 1924, the Ströhers registered the name Wella at the German patent office. As wigs and hairpieces fell out of fashion, the company turned to permanent wave products; the name Wella was taken from Dauerwellapparat, meaning "permanent wave device" in German. In 1927, they introduced the first perming appliance and supplied it to salons. In the 1930s Wella developed the first hairdryers with built-in motors and movable tubes that allowed head movement during the drying process. Also in the 1930s, Wella introduced Wella Junior, a portable perming machine.

After World War II, the German Democratic Republic seized the Wella factory and all its patents were declared state-owned. The Ströher family and some members of staff decided to start the business again from scratch in Hünfeld, Hesse. Production began again in 1945 and, by the end of the decade, the new Wella AG had 50 employees.

In 1950, Wella introduced Koleston, the first hair balm designed to protect and nourish hair. In 1954, Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor appeared in Koleston advertising.

In the 1960s, the company launched Wella Privat, a salon-exclusive product range that let customers take professional-style products home for the first time. In the early 1970s, Wella introduced Perform a new perm product that allowed hairdressers to create Afro style looks. In 1972 they released Wella Balsam, the first shampoo specifically produced for retail sales. The advertising campaign featured the stars of TV show Charlie’s Angels: Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd. Wella also launched For Men, their first ever product line exclusively for men.

In 1995, Wella re-launched the Koleston line as Koleston Perfect. The new product included natural ingredients including fruit wax.

2002 saw the launch of Wella TrendVision, an annual presentation of Wella’s haute couture hair collections. The event is now known as the International TrendVision Award, or ITVA: a global hairdressing competition. In 2003, Wella was acquired by Procter & Gamble, further expanding the group’s beauty portfolio across Eastern and Western Europe, and Latin America. Reuters reports that P&G is exploring a potential sale of Wella.

Josh Wood became a Global Wella Professionals Colour Ambassador in January 2008 and in 2010 took on the full-time role as Wella Professionals’ Global Creative Director of Colour. Eugene Souleiman currently serves as Global Creative Director for Wella Professionals.

Wella founded Making Waves in 2011 – a programme that teaches hairdressing and life skills to disadvantaged young people. The program started in Brazil and has since expanded to include Romania. In 2014, Wella patented a new molecule called ME+. This molecule is a substitute for PPD, also known as p-phenylenediamine, which is present in most colouring products to fix the colour. PPD has been known to cause mild to severe allergic reactions. The ME+ molecule is currently used in the Wella Professionals colour brand Koleston Perfect Innosense, which is the first permanent colour product to be approved by the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation (ECARF).