São Paulo – Arab consumers are using hair products by the Brazilian company Acqua Coco. The company makes formaldehyde-free hair straighteners with its own formula and process, and ships it to Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. “The product is being very well accepted, theirs is a more mature market,” says Acqua Coco CEO Stephane Torres regarding the formaldehyde ban in place in Arab countries.
Acqua Coco also sells to Spain, France, and Italy, and Arab buyers got wind of the Brazilian brand’s cosmetics via European distributors. This attracted the company’s attention, and it is now working on selling direct to Arabs, who were paying higher prices to buy from third-parties. Ten days ago, the Egyptian importer visited Acqua Coco’s plant in Brazil.
The CEO explains that the straightener by Acqua Coco is a good match for Arabs’ hairs, which are quite thick and hard to straighten due to hair structure. Unlike many other products on the market, the straightener needs to be applied only once for a full straightening effect, according to Torres. The effect lasts three to six months, with only a retouch of the roots needed, she explains.
The result is 50% due to the product and the other 50% hinge on correct application, the CEO says. That’s why the product is intended for professional use at beauty parlors. Acqua Coco coaches its distributors on the correct way to apply, and then the distributors instruct the hairdressers. The company is also working on an instructional video, according to Torres.
She adds that the product is a combination of its components and its production process. Instead of formaldehyde, the straightener contains coconut oil, green coconut meat, and oxoacetamide. Besides the straightener, which is the flagship, Acqua Coco makes other hair care cosmetics, including oils and a home care kit with shampoo, conditioner and hair mascara. These are the second-to-best-selling items and are also sold to customers at parlors. The straightener can yield nine different types of results.
Acqua Coco is based in São José dos Campos, 87 km from São Paulo, and currently produces 10 tons per month. But it’s going through a general overhaul and its manufacturing capacity should reach 80 tons per month in less than two months. The company was created by entrepreneur Ana Nascimento last year and three months ago it begun a modernization process when it welcomed new investors, Torres and Ivo Machado among them.
Ana Nascimento has been working in the cosmetics sector for 15 years. She worked in salons and later in large companies of the sector and ended up getting sick due to regular contact with formaldehyde. Because of this, she began research and tried to develop a product that would work as a hair straightener but didn’t include formaldehyde. A cosmetologist and make-up artist, she also graduated as chemical technologist and was able to come up with her own formula.
After tests showed that the hair straightener produced good results, she decided to found Acqua Coco. Investors saw the potential of the product and decided to invest. Currently, besides the improvements and expansion of the plant, the new staff is modifying visual identity of the product, such as logo, packaging and website, and preparing marketing actions, among others. The idea is also to bring more technological resources to the marketing efforts with salons. The new packaging should be launched in the market soon.
Exports accounts for 60% of Acqua Coco’s sales and one of the targets set by the company from São Paulo is to invest more in the Brazilian market. Nevertheless, the company plans to expand its presence in the Arab countries, which it sees as of great potential.
Contact info
Acqua Coco
Website: http://www.acquacoco.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acquacoco
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Sérgio Kakitani
