Oligo Professionnel

Oligo Professionnel is a family-owned Canadian professional haircare and hair-colour company based in Montréal, Quebec. The business was founded in 1986 by Moty and Liliane Cohen [1], who spent roughly two decades developing formulations for other cosmetic companies before launching their own salon-exclusive brand, Oligo Professionnel, in 2002 [2]. The company develops permanent, demi-permanent and semi-permanent colour, lighteners, and hair care, and manufactures its products in Montréal. It remains active: in March 2026 it introduced Blacklight Blonde Science, its first at-home consumer line [3].

Retailers, including some Nordic stockists, list the brand simply as "Oligo"; its full name is Oligo Professionnel.

Oligo was established in 1986 by the Cohen family in Montréal. For its first two decades the company operated as a research-and-development laboratory, supplying hair-care formulations to cosmetic companies rather than selling under its own name [4]. In 2002 the family launched Oligo Professionnel as a salon-exclusive brand of its own [2]. The Canadian retail body BeautyCouncil describes this arc plainly, noting the company began as "a research and development laboratory supplying high-end hair care products globally" before moving into its own salon range.

Although the name is French, the company is Canadian. President Ilan Cohen has said that "every single product is made in Montreal," with the head office and manufacturing facility both located in the city [5]. According to Cohen, the business grew significantly once a second generation — three brothers — joined, and it is organised around three functions: product development, education and distribution.

The company remains family-owned and has no recorded parent company or acquisition history. Leadership is drawn from the founding family: Ilan Cohen serves as president, with Raphy Cohen as vice-president of operations and Ronen Cohen as controller.

Oligo Professionnel positions itself as a maker of "healthier, safer, salon-exclusive products," framing its work around the wellbeing of both the stylist and the client. The company sums up this outlook in its tagline, "When you touch hair, you touch lives," and states that each product is "designed to protect both stylist and guest." Salon Magazine reports that the brand's emphasis is on high performance combined with the removal of ingredients it regards as unhealthy, citing its ammonia-free permanent colour as an example.

The brand sells through professional channels rather than direct retail, distributing to salons via wholesalers across the United States, Canada and Europe. In an interview, Cohen described Oligo as "the fastest growing colour brand in North America" [6] and said the company had shifted from traditional hair-show marketing toward a digital and social-media strategy.

The product range is organised chiefly around two families: Calura and Blacklight. Calura covers permanent and demi-permanent colour, including Calura Permanent Shine, which the company builds on what it calls an exothermic system — a technology intended to raise the temperature slightly during application so the cuticle opens and dye penetrates with, in the brand's description, less damage. The permanent line is offered in 136 shades and is marketed as ammonia- and PPD-free. Related products include CaluraTEN, a ten-minute permanent colour (which, unlike the standard permanent line, does contain ammonia), and Calura Gloss, a demi-permanent colour built on a "Hybrid Technology" the company says combines the advantages of alkaline and acidic dyes.

The Blacklight range addresses lightening and blonde care and is marketed under the line "For Blondes. By the Blonde Expert." It includes several lighteners, among them a Balayage Clay Lightener aimed at freehand techniques, and a care collection that the company describes as 100% vegan and free of sulfates, salt and parabens. A separate semi-permanent line, FunkHue, offers vibrant fashion shades with what the brand calls Colour Lock technology to limit bleeding and fading.

Across its formulations, the company highlights plant-derived "organic essences" such as avocado oil, shea butter, pomegranate seed oil and evening primrose oil, alongside ingredients including hydrolysed proteins and sodium hyaluronate. In its FAQs the company states that its products are not tested on animals and are gluten-free [7]. Several of the vegan and free-from claims apply specifically to particular ranges, such as Blacklight Care, rather than to the whole catalogue.

In March 2026 the company extended beyond the salon for the first time with Blacklight Blonde Science, an at-home system for blonde hair organised around hydrating, repairing and neutralising products [3]. Announcing the launch, a company representative said, "For forty years we've been serving salon professionals across North America. It is our honor and pleasure to offer consumers salon-grade hair care for blondes."

Oligo Professionnel is covered mainly by hair-industry trade press rather than consumer beauty titles. Modern Salon and a March 2026 press release both describe it as one of the "top 10 professional color manufacturers in North America" [8], a characterisation the company uses in its own boilerplate. Canada's Salon Magazine profiled the brand in a "Made in Canada" interview with Ilan Cohen, and Behind the Chair has covered the Calura colour collection. No awards are recorded in the available sources.

The company is active and continues to release products, most recently the at-home Blacklight Blonde Science line in March 2026. Its reach is primarily North American — supported by a network of distributors across the United States and Canada — with a more limited European presence; its sole listed European distributor is based in Sweden, serving the Nordic markets in which the brand appears.