HEÖ Helsinki

HEÖ Helsinki is a Finnish haircare brand built around Nordic minimalism and vegan formulas. It is one of three in-house brands of Taerosol Oy, a family-owned aerosol manufacturer based in Kangasala, in the Pirkanmaa region, and is positioned chiefly toward salons and the professional market [6]. Although the name evokes the capital, the company behind it operates from Kangasala rather than Helsinki; the brand describes the Helsinki reference as an expression of the city's design sensibility rather than its registered location [3].

The brand is a recent launch. Its EU trademark, "HEÖ HELSINKI," was filed on 4 September 2024 and registered on 27 December 2024, with Taerosol Oy named as the owner [11]. The parent company is considerably older: two Finnish business publications date Taerosol's founding to 1963, when Torsten Jalava began making hairspray at the request of his wife Aili Jalava, a hairstylist [6][7]. Swedish retailer Lyko instead gives the parent's history as dating to 1968 [10]; the 1963 date is reported in more detail and by two independent sources, and is followed here.

Taerosol started in cosmetics, producing hair products for the founder's wife's salon, but shifted toward industrial and technical aerosols over the following decades, becoming a supplier of lubricants and cleaning products [7]. According to Business Tampere, the company returned to cosmetic aerosols in 2018 and expanded into private-label manufacturing by 2021, before developing its own consumer and professional brands [6]. HEÖ Helsinki emerged from this reorientation as the salon-focused line, alongside the consumer brands Mjuuk and Piiink [6]. The business remains family-led, with Antti Pirttilahti as chief executive.

Specific founders or a launch team for HEÖ Helsinki itself are not documented in available sources; the brand was established as a new line within an existing company rather than as an independent start-up.

HEÖ Helsinki makes haircare for what it describes as all hair types, with a range that reflects its parent's aerosol heritage: shampoos, conditioners, styling mousses, dry shampoos, and a number of sprays. The company says its shampoos and conditioners draw on ingredients such as sorbitol, xylitol, betaine and panthenol. Editorial coverage frames the range as formulated with Nordic hair in mind — often fine and prone to flatness — and several products target blonde, silver and colour-treated hair.

Among the named products are the Cool Shampoo, a toning ("silver") shampoo for treated hair; the Dry Boost Spray, a dry texturising spray for volume; a sulfate-free, colour-protective Hydra Shampoo; and a Heat Protection spray that the company states shields hair up to 210°C. The brand's stated positioning combines Helsinki design with Finnish manufacturing, summed up in its tagline "Nordic Aesthetic — 100% Honest Hair Beauty."

HEÖ Helsinki presents itself as a vegan brand: the company states that all of its products are 100% vegan and cruelty-free, and that they are manufactured in Finland at what it calls one of the world's northernmost hair cosmetics factories. Lyko's product information adds that the packaging is fully recyclable [10]. Production takes place at Taerosol's Kangasala site, which the parent company says has been the focus of investment in automation and renewable energy [6]. The cruelty-free and vegan claims are the brand's own; no third-party certification such as Leaping Bunny is cited in available sources.

The Cool Shampoo was named best silver shampoo of 2025 by PINNI, a Finnish salon-industry magazine [8]. The brand has also appeared in commercial features in the Finnish press; a sponsored Iltalehti piece in March 2026 covered its rollout across more than 40 Prisma stores in Finland, with further retail expansion planned for that spring [8]. Distribution spans both Finland — through groups including S-Group, K-Group, Sokos Emotion and Tokmanni — and Sweden, where the range is carried by the retailer Lyko [10].

HEÖ Helsinki is active. Having formalised its trademark in late 2024, the brand recorded its most visible activity in March 2026 with the wide Prisma rollout in Finland, alongside an ongoing social-media presence and continued availability through Finnish and Swedish retailers [8].