L’Oréal Professionnel has inked a specialty retail partnership with Sephora.

The brand is entering 26 Sephora doors with six collections, including its Metal Detox, Curl Expression, Vitamino, Silver, Absolut Repair and Prolonger franchises. They’ll debut online Aug. 8 and in-store in Aug. 16.

Mounia Tahiri, the brand’s general manager, said the partnership comes at a time of growth for the brand. “We’ve been very focused on our ranges that not everybody has — those based on our expertise as [a leading] skilled brand,” Tahiri said. “It’s really paying off — this yr might be going to be our record growth yr, and last yr, we had a really strong yr.”

“Our relationships with the salons is evident and solid. They will really see what our brand focuses are,” Tahiri said. “The connection with Sephora is just going to reinforce their relationship with their customers… we’re at some extent within the U.S. where skilled and prestige retailers are enhancing one another, and the demand for skilled products has never been so high.”

It comes as those channels proceed to blur. Recently, Briogeo entered the skilled side of the business with SalonCentric. Because it applies to L’Oréal Professionnel, “One thing that made our partnership so meaningful with Sephora was that their guests over-index in relation to going to salons,” Tahiri said. “They’ll translate those products from Sephora to asking for a service.”

For Tahiri, Sephora allows the brand to forged a much wider net. “There’s not skilled products in everyone’s showers,” she said. “There’s still so many consumers we are able to touch and that’s where Sephora is available in. They will help us proceed to develop that awareness. And that’s being anchored in salons, so ultimately, it’s a win-win.”

Tahiri contended that hair stylists are still the brand’s foremost ambassadors. “The experience, the connection you create along with your stylist, you’ll never get anywhere else. Our presence and partnership with Sephora is just a strategy to bring awareness that that exists, and that our skilled products exist, and that can drive their curiosity around what services could enhance their regimen, and what steps will be in-built.”

The move also comes as prestige hair care continues to climb. In line with Circana, prestige hair care grew 11 percent in the primary quarter of 2023, outpacing the mass market.