amika

amika is a United States haircare and hot-tools company founded in 2007 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and still headquartered in Brooklyn, New York [1][2]. Styled in lowercase, the name is taken from the Esperanto word for "friend", and the company positions itself as a "salon raised" brand built around inclusivity, playful design and a single signature ingredient. The business began by supplying styling tools to salons before expanding into a full range of shampoos, conditioners, treatments and styling products [3].

The brand remains active. In October 2025 it announced a national launch at the US retailer Ulta Beauty, described as its first new brick-and-mortar retail partnership in more than a decade, and it continued to draw editorial coverage into early 2026 [4].

According to the brand, amika was created by "industry outsiders" in Brooklyn, and its early sources describe a small team of hairstylists, creatives and chemists rather than a single celebrity face. The company's own about page does not name a founder; trade publication BeautyMatter identifies Vita Raykhman as a co-founder, while other accounts refer only to the founding group [3][5].

amika launched as a hair-tools brand, selling dryers and styling devices to salons, and only later pivoted to haircare as its primary business [5]. Several sources place the broader styling, treatment and care range around 2011, after the tools era [6].

In May 2022, the private investment firm Bansk Group acquired a majority stake in amika [5]. The company has continued to operate under the amika name, with Chelsea Riggs identified in 2025 as its chief executive [4].

amika presents itself as the opposite of an aspirational, exclusivity-driven beauty brand, emphasising what it calls "inclusion, fun, and accessibility" and a core value the company describes as "fearless experimentation" [5]. Its central promise is summarised in the trademarked line "all hair is welcome", and its product range is organised around hair types and concerns rather than a narrow ideal. The aesthetic is deliberately bright and offbeat, with playful product names and bold packaging design.

A single ingredient anchors the line: sea buckthorn, a lipid- and omega-rich plant the company calls its "superfruit" and says it infuses into every formula.

amika's range spans cleansing, treatment and styling products alongside hot tools such as dryers and thermal brushes, with a newer body-care line. Among its better-known products are the Perk Up dry shampoo, The Wizard detangling primer, the Soulfood Nourishing Mask, the Bust Your Brass purple shampoo and The Immortal hair dryer. In its 2025 Ulta announcement, the company stated that Perk Up was "the #1 dry shampoo SKU in the prestige haircare market" [4].

amika holds B Corp certification, which the company says it achieved in 2024 after setting the goal in 2019 [3]. It is also certified cruelty-free under the Leaping Bunny programme. On environmental commitments, the company says it uses post-consumer recycled plastics, offers refill pouches, runs a recycling programme through a partner, and has pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2035 [3]. It further states that it donates at least one percent of profits to causes focused on equity within the beauty industry.

amika has been the subject of trade and consumer press, including a BeautyMatter profile on its origins and a January 2026 feature in Oz Hair and Beauty describing it as a widely visible, TikTok-popular haircare brand. Industry outlet Happi has also reported on its standing in the US haircare market.

amika is active and US-based, with distribution extending to the United Kingdom, Europe and the Nordics. Its most recent confirmed activity is the October 2025 announcement of a national Ulta Beauty launch effective December 2025, followed by editorial coverage in January 2026 [4].