OUAI

OUAI is an American haircare brand founded by celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin, who also created the digital hairstyling platform Mane Addicts [4]. The name, styled in capitals and pronounced "way," is taken from the French word for "yes" — as the company puts it, "yes, in that casual, Parisian way." Its range has since grown from hair into body care and fragrance, and the brand remains active, operating a direct-to-consumer site with current-year product launches.

Since December 2021, OUAI has been owned by the consumer-goods company Procter & Gamble, which acquired it outright [5]. Atkin was retained as chief creative officer, and the brand continues to trade under its own name.

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

Atkin, described in her Wikipedia biography as an American hairstylist, entrepreneur and author, built OUAI around a stylist's frustration with the products then on the market. "I've struggled to find a haircare brand that my friends and I could relate to," she has said. "It was my goal to take these conversations and create the first socially-connected haircare brand" [2]. Sources differ on exactly when the company began: Wikipedia and the majority of accounts place the founding in 2016 [4], while the trade publication BeautyMatter dates it to 2015 [5].

In its early years OUAI positioned itself as an accessible, social-media-native label; BeautyMatter later characterised it as "an approachable, easy-to-use haircare products and supplements line made for Instagram" [5]. In September 2018 the investment firm Alliance Consumer Growth took a minority stake in the company, and Colin Walsh, previously chief executive of DevaCurl, was appointed CEO [5]. Three years later, in December 2021, Procter & Gamble acquired the brand [5].

OUAI's parent company is Procter & Gamble, which completed its acquisition in December 2021 [5]. Within P&G's portfolio it sits alongside other beauty and personal-care names including Pantene, Herbal Essences, Aussie, Head & Shoulders, SK-II and First Aid Beauty.

The company frames haircare as a lifestyle rather than a routine, summed up in its tagline "It's a Ouai of Life." Its stated attitude is one of saying yes — to "being better IRL than on Instagram," to letting go of unrealistic expectations, and to embracing imperfections. OUAI also describes an inverted approach to marketing, saying it prefers to "ask YOU what you want, instead of telling you what you need" [2]. In editorial coverage the products are placed in the prestige segment; one review noted that the shampoos and conditioners "compete with the best in prestige hair care" [6].

OUAI's catalogue spans hair care (shampoos, conditioners, treatments and styling), body care (cleansers, moisturisers and deodorants) and fragrance, including perfumes and hair-and-body mists whose scents are named after places such as Melrose Place, Santorini and North Bondi. Among its best-known items is the OUAI Hair Oil, which one product review called "the cult favorite" and credited to a blend of tamarind seed extract, rosehip seed oil and baobab oil [6]. Other frequently featured products include the Super Dry Shampoo and the Detox Shampoo.

On formulation, the brand lists ingredients it excludes. "Unlike most drugstore brands, you won't find sulfates in any of our products," it states, adding that it also leaves out parabens, phthalates and gluten, and that "all our products are cruelty-free" [3].

OUAI is active. It runs a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site carrying a 2026 copyright and current product launches, and operates across multiple regions under continued ownership by Procter & Gamble, with founder Jen Atkin remaining as chief creative officer.