Headon

Headon is a Swedish haircare brand and salon chain based in Malmö. It began in 2002 as a single hair salon opened by Henrik Danielsson, and grew over two decades into a small chain of salons across the Skåne region in southern Sweden [6]. In March 2024 the company extended the name to a retail product line, Headon Products, a range of professional vegan haircare developed by its own stylists [8].

The brand frames itself around the idea that hair should be treated according to its type rather than the wearer's gender, age or style — a position summarised in its motto, "Hair is hair." Headon is active, with its consumer products distributed in Sweden, though the salon business remains concentrated in Skåne.

The first Headon salon opened in 2002 on Östra Kristinelundsvägen in Malmö [6]. According to the salon's own account, founder Henrik Danielsson painted the entrance door bright red without the landlord's knowledge — a gesture the company links to its identity of deliberately standing out [6]. Danielsson grew up on a farm outside Trelleborg and had at first imagined becoming a farmer before moving into hairdressing.

From that single location the business expanded into a chain employing roughly 70 hairdressers. The number of salons differs slightly between the company's own sources: the Headon Products site and a 2024 press release cite seven salons [5], while the salon-chain site headon.se lists eight, including locations in Malmö, Lund and Kristianstad [6]. The discrepancy appears to reflect ongoing expansion rather than a contested fact.

For its first two decades Headon operated solely as a salon business. The company also runs Headon Co. Lab, a creative hub near Malmö Central used for workshops and education, which was inaugurated alongside the product launch in 2024.

The Headon Products haircare line launched on 1 March 2024, developed by the chain's Malmö stylists [8]. Later that year the company announced a partnership with Lyko Professional, a subsidiary of the Nordic beauty group Lyko, signed in December 2024 with a kickoff in Stockholm in January 2025 [5]. The agreement covered distribution, co-development of an "Add Some Colour" line, and training for salon teams.

Headon presents its products as professional haircare formulated for hair type rather than gender. The company states that its aim is "to provide the best professional hair care," and lists inclusivity, transparency and environmental care among its core values. The "Hair is hair" motto — described by the company as "hair has no gender, only needs" — anchors its gender-neutral positioning [5].

Standing out is a recurring theme. The brand says that "setting ourselves apart from the crowd has always been our signature," a notion it carries through to fragrance: Headon commissioned custom scents, working from 2021 with perfumer Linda Landenberg, who won a Daisy Beauty award in 2017 [4]. Its two signature fragrances are a green, nature-grounded scent used in the cleansing range and a warmer, iris-based scent used in the Care range.

The product range covers shampoos, conditioners, leave-in treatments and styling products, grouped into Calm, Care and Styling series. Among the items the company highlights are its Care Shampoo and Care Conditioner, a Dry Shampoo, and a Cleanse Shampoo. According to a 2024 press release, the Care Shampoo and Conditioner were named best shampoo and conditioner for colour-treated hair earlier that year [8].

Headon points to hero ingredients including hyaluronic acid, panthenol (provitamin B5), Nordic sugar beets, shea butter oil, plant-based peptides and vitamin E, which it positions as nourishing and moisture-retaining. The company states that all of its products are 100% vegan and produced in Sweden [2].

Headon ties its packaging to an environmental rationale: it says its packaging is white specifically so that it can be recycled, and describes containers made of 50–70% recycled plastic [2]. The company also references a partnership with the recycling app Bower, through which customers can scan returned empty containers for a refund. The brand has not stated any formal third-party certifications; its vegan and recyclability claims are its own.

Within the Swedish hairdressing industry, the salon business has received several trade awards, including Årets Team (Team of the Year) in 2017, Årets Frisörföretag (Hair Salon Company of the Year) in 2022, and Årets Arbetsgivare (Employer of the Year) in 2024 [6]. On the consumer side, the Swedish beauty site Daisy Beauty reviewed the Headon Dry Shampoo in 2024, rating it 4 out of 5 and describing it as outperforming the reviewer's previous brands [7].

Headon is an active business. The salon chain has operated in Skåne since 2002, while the consumer product line is comparatively new, having launched in March 2024, with distribution through Lyko Professional beginning in January 2025. The product range is, at present, focused on the Swedish market.