Carin Haircosmetics

Carin Haircosmetics is a Belgian manufacturer of hair products for professional use in hair salons, based in Middelkerke, Belgium. The company develops, produces and fills its own formulas in Belgium and sells them to hairdressers rather than through ordinary shops. Its range covers hair care, colour and bleaching products, perms, styling and finishing products, and hairspray, alongside a private-label service that makes products for other companies.

The company dates its presence on the market to 1958 [2], although another page of its own website gives 1968 as its founding year [5], and the Belgian company register records the current legal entity as established in December 1968 [14]. It is a small business of roughly 30 people and remains active, with recent annual accounts on file and new product material published in 2026.

The early history of Carin Haircosmetics is told in more than one version, and the dates do not agree. On its English and Dutch "about" pages, the company says it has been "a stable value in Belgium and abroad" since 1958 [2]. Its private-label page, however, describes Carin as a small or medium-sized enterprise "founded in 1968" [5]. The French version of the about page gives no year at all.

The public register offers one way to read the two figures. According to company-information service Companyweb, which draws on the National Bank of Belgium and the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, the present company, Carin Haircosmetics SA/NV, enterprise number BE 0406.076.147, was established on 14 December 1968 [14]. That is the incorporation date of the legal entity, which need not be the date on which the business itself began trading. A reading in which the activity goes back to 1958 and the current company to 1968 fits both statements, but the company has not said so itself.

A European beauty retailer adds two more dates in its own brand history: it places the first product experiments in 1948 and says the company took shape under the Carin name in 1973, after several mergers [16]. Neither date appears on the company's own website.

A clearer milestone came in 2013, when the company obtained certification under ISO 22716, the international standard for good manufacturing practice in cosmetics [2]. The company describes the standard as "the reference in cosmetic industry" and presents it as a guarantee that its products are made with care for quality, people and the environment.

At one point, the business also stepped outside hair care. The West Flemish regional newspaper KW reported that the Middelkerke company had switched its production entirely from hairspray to hand gel in order to help the care sector [12]. The report's date is not known.

Within its own range, the most visible recent change is the renewal of its care line. The company introduced Botéa Elements as a successor to an earlier line called Botéa, "15 years after the launch of Botéa", describing it as a renewed treatment programme built around active ingredients. Neither launch year is stated.

Carin Haircosmetics presents itself as a completely Belgian company making hair cosmetics that it calls "high end" for professional use. The central idea in its positioning is exclusivity for the salon: the company says hairdressers can offer their clients "a unique product that can not be found in retail stores", and in its Dutch text it contrasts this with products available from the wholesaler around the corner.

Sales to hairdressers run through a network of distributors, which the company describes as exclusive. It argues that this keeps it close to the hairdressing trade and lets it respond quickly to the questions of professional stylists. Its website also invites companies to apply to become distributors, and it runs an online shop alongside the distributor network. Its technical products are available only to hairdressers who register for an account.

Training forms part of the model. Besides the service of its distributors, the company offers demonstrations and workshops, either at the Carin Haircosmetics Academy or on location at salons.

Local production is the other pillar of its identity. The company says it is "very proud" to keep research, development and production in Belgium, and its Dutch text adds that this work is still done with the greatest passion for the trade. It sums this up in the line "100% made (with love) in Belgium". It also states that it delivers its products "in a social responsible way". Its homepage lists three short principles: "The environment is priority", "Quality is key" and "Our employees are important". The company has not published quantified environmental targets.

In a company-written profile on the Voka Open Bedrijvendag website, the business adds several details about how it works. It says it handles development, production and filling entirely in-house, that it makes its own bleaching powder in Belgium, and that it still produces more than one million glass ampoules a year [13]. The same text says that half of its staff have worked there for more than 25 years.

The range is organised around the jobs a salon does. Care lines include Silk, Botéa Elements, Restru-vit, Pro-S, Prof. Salon Shampoo, Bio Protein and Honey Cream. Colour products include Color Intensivo, Platinium Blond, Luméa, Shades, Quickblond, Color Essentials and Funky Colors, together with an oxidant cream. The brand spells Platinium this way, and promotes the line with the slogan "Imagine, color, create!". According to the company's profile, some of its colour lines are ammonia-free and some are vegan; these claims apply to specific lines rather than to the whole range.

Finishing and styling products include Glow, Rage, For Men, Designer Look, Vapo Line and Fassile, as well as setting products such as Bio Mousse, Kick-Set, Q-Fx, Para-Set and Para-Fön. For men there is a separate section with the Kuraga range, and an anti-dandruff line called Anti-Schuppin is sold under the name Gustave Coryn; the company does not explain the link between the two names. Perm products include Pre-Perm, Clic Keratin Perm and a neutraliser.

Hairspray has a line of its own. Diva Hairspray leads the spotlight section of the company's homepage, where the brand promotes it with the tagline "Probably the best hairspray in the world!", alongside a second spray called Synergetic. The homepage also features the Glow finishing line, described as being "for perfectly styled hair".

Botéa Elements is the line the company describes in most detail. It calls it "a complete renewed hair treatment program with emphasis on active ingredients and their scientific proven benefits"; no study is cited in support. The company also publishes ingredient (INCI) lists for its products and its ISO 22716 certificate as downloads.

Beyond its own brand, Carin Haircosmetics offers private-label manufacturing, developing and producing hair products for other companies. The website also sells salon equipment such as capes, scissors, razor blades and combs, and product packages marketed under the MISS BELGIË name; the nature of the Miss Belgium tie-in is not stated.

No awards are documented for the brand. Its main appearance in the press is the KW report on its switch to hand gel, published under the headline "Van haarlak naar handgel" ("From hairspray to hand gel"). The company is a member of essenscia, the Belgian federation for the chemistry and life sciences industries, where it is listed under the cosmetics sector [15].

Carin Haircosmetics is active. The Belgian register lists the company as active, with annual accounts for 2025 filed in April 2026 and a workforce of 24.7 full-time equivalents; the legal form is a public limited company, and its main registered activity is the manufacture of perfumes and toilet preparations [14]. The register's staff figures have eased over recent years, from 29.2 full-time equivalents three years earlier to 24.7 in 2025. The company itself speaks of about 30 employees, a figure that counts people rather than full-time equivalents. The register also shows that the company's articles of association were last amended in 2023.

Its website runs a live shop and, in August 2026, added a brochure for the Kuraga men's hair care range to its downloads page [11]. The company says its products are exported to more than 40 countries through distributors [13]; that figure comes from the company and has not been independently confirmed.