Design.Me

Design.Me is a Canadian professional haircare brand headquartered in Montreal, Quebec [3]. It builds its range around clean, salon-developed formulas and a systematic product-naming structure, and is known in the trade for introducing a volumizing powder dispensed from a pump. Most sources, including the brand itself, date the launch to 2016 [8]; a LinkedIn company profile lists 2015, which likely reflects the registration of the legal entity before products went on sale [9].

The company is privately held and sells both directly to consumers and through a professional channel said to reach around 20,000 salons across North America [9]. It remains active, with new products appearing on its site and continued wholesale distribution.

By the brand's account, the company began with a packaging idea. Co-founder Safir and a business partner came across a way to dispense powder through a pump nozzle, a format the company says had not been used in the beauty industry before. That concept became PUFF.ME, described as the first volumizing powder sold in a pump format, which launched in 2016 [7]. Until then, the brand notes, root powders were sold in small tubs that had to be applied by hand.

A viral video in the United States drove early demand. According to the company, the response was strong enough that Safir and his wife, Amy Stollmeyer, a professional hairstylist who had previously worked with brands including Moroccanoil, left their other jobs in 2017 to run the business full-time [7]. Safir has served as chief executive since that year. The brand says the wider founding group numbered four friends who had wanted to build a company together.

Design.Me organizes its catalogue with a consistent ".ME" naming convention, where each line targets a specific need. The range spans shampoos and conditioners, treatments and masks, styling and finishing products, dry shampoo and heat protection. Signature lines include the PUFF.ME volumizing products, the GLOSS.ME hydration line, BOUNCE.ME for curls, the HOLD.ME hairspray and the FAB.ME leave-in treatment.

The pump-format volumizing powder remains the brand's defining product. A UK salon review credited it with pioneering its category, writing that "everybody loved it" and that clients returned for repeat purchases [8]. The same review described Design.Me as a brand that "genuinely changed something in the industry" [8].

The company states that its products are 100% vegan and made without animal by-products, that they are free from SLS, SLES, parabens and gluten, and that they are color-safe. It says all manufacturing takes place in Canada, with fulfilment from centres in Quebec and Missouri.

Design.Me presents itself as a clean, performance-driven professional haircare brand. The company explains its name as having two parts: "Design" for the formulation and innovation process, and "ME" for the individual user with particular haircare needs. Its tagline is "We design the product. You design the beauty." The brand lists five stated values: creativity, performance, accountability, empowerment and authenticity.

The positioning is deliberately broad across hair types, including fine, curly, damaged and color-treated hair. On its professional channel, the company frames its approach as restraint over expansion, saying it focuses on "fewer, better products that actually solve real problems for professionals" [9].

The company names accountability as a core value and ties it to a commitment to sustainability. It points to its InfiniteMIST product as an example, launched with a recyclable carton refill system.

Design.Me's products have received several beauty-press awards, which the brand lists on its site. The PUFF.ME Volumizing Mousse won an Allure Best of Beauty award in 2022, a recognition also noted in third-party editorial coverage [8]. The GLOSS.ME Hair Serum took an Elle Beauty Grand Prix the same year. In 2023, the GLOSS.ME Hydrating Mask was recognized in the Women's Health Beauty Awards and the BOUNCE.ME Curl Balm in the Fashion Magazine Beauty Awards.

The company is certified cruelty-free by PETA [3].

Design.Me is active. New products continue to appear on its homepage, its social channels remain in use, and it maintains wholesale distribution to salons across North America [9]. The company reported a workforce of 51 to 200 employees on its LinkedIn profile.