Philip B.

Philip B. is an American hair and scalp care company based in Los Angeles, founded by hairstylist Philip Berkovitz [8]. The brand dates its own beginning to 1991, the year it uses in its tagline and the basis for the 35th anniversary it marked in 2026 [3]. It sits at the luxury end of the market, built around a single idea the founder returns to often: that healthy-looking hair starts with a healthier-looking scalp.

The company is still active and independently run. Its official site published new anniversary content and product lines through 2026, and it distributes internationally through department stores, though sources differ on how widely.

Philip B. is the professional name of Philip Berkovitz, an American hair stylist and entrepreneur. He grew up around a hair salon — by his own account helping with small tasks as a small child while his mother had her weekly wash and set — and began styling as a teenager in Massachusetts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1984 to work in celebrity salons, where he became known as one of Hollywood's hair-care specialists. Finding that commercial treatments did little for the over-processed hair he saw among his clients, he began mixing botanical blends of his own, buying ingredients from local farmers' markets and herb shops [8].

The founder's own account pushes the earliest experiments back further still: in a podcast interview he says he launched a Rejuvenating Oil around 1988, hand-mixing oils and selling them for about $25 before he had worked out what they cost to make [9]. The brand itself treats 1991 as its founding year, tying it to four original products: the Rejuvenating Oil, the Peppermint Avocado Shampoo, a Lightweight Deep Conditioner made with shea butter and plant-derived amino acids, and a Detangling Toning Mist built around apple cider vinegar to rebalance the scalp.

The founding date is recorded differently across sources. Philip B. states it was established in 1991 [3], while Wikipedia dates the first commercial sale of the Rejuvenating Oil — at the Los Angeles boutique Fred Segal — to 1992 [8]. The company expanded nationally in 1993, reaching Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

The brand is organised around one conviction, which the founder states plainly: that healthy-looking hair comes from a healthier-looking scalp. In the company's own framing, "Your face is the picture. Your hair is the frame" — when the frame looks good, it argues, the whole image reads younger and brighter. From that starting point, Berkovitz describes the products as "solution-focused" treatments meant to address specific scalp and hair concerns rather than general grooming.

The formulating principle follows from the same idea. Philip B. says it builds its products from botanical actives — plant-derived amino acids, shea butter and what it calls medical-grade essential oils — dosed at levels meant to treat, rather than the diluted quantities it associates with ordinary cosmetics. The company positions this as luxury "from blend to bottle," pairing the botanical emphasis with a high-end market placement; retailers describe the flagship Russian Amber Imperial Shampoo in the same investment terms the brand uses for the line.

The line spans shampoos, conditioners, oils and masques, styling products, brushes and body care, organised into collections such as Peppermint Avocado, Russian Amber Imperial and the original White Label formulas. According to the company, its formulas rely on high concentrations of botanical actives — plant-derived amino acids, pea peptides, time-released safflower oleosomes, shea butter and what it calls medical-grade essential oils — dosed at working levels rather than as token additions.

Two products anchor the range. The Peppermint Avocado Shampoo is one of the original four; the founder describes it as "the world's first tingling mint shampoo" and says it has stayed his number-one seller after more than three decades in production [9]. The Russian Amber Imperial Shampoo, a later and more opulent line, has been marketed as an "investment" product for colour-treated hair; retailer copy reports it was named "Best Shampoo" by American Vogue [11]. Berkovitz has said the Russian Amber collection was inspired by a visit to the Amber Room at the Catherine Palace outside St Petersburg.

On formulation, the brand takes an unusually blunt position for a botanical label. Its FAQ states that Philip B. products are cruelty-free and that it uses no parabens in any formula, but also that some shampoos contain sulfates and that it will use synthetic ingredients where they perform better [5]. Most products are described as vegan-friendly, though the company notes they are not vegan-certified because they are not made in certified facilities. Products are manufactured in the United States, with the brand's Stroke of Genius hairbrushes made in Spain.

In 1999, Forbes included Philip B.'s scalp treatment on a list of "100 Things Worth Every Penny" [8]. The founder's salon clientele, as documented on Wikipedia, included Madonna, Sharon Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Sandra Bullock, Courtney Love, Lauren Bacall and Ronnie Wood. The Russian Amber Imperial Shampoo's "Best Shampoo" recognition from American Vogue is cited through retailer reproductions of the brand's copy rather than a primary Vogue source [11].

Philip B. is an active, independently owned company; there is no record of it being acquired, and it appears to remain founder-led. Berkovitz's husband, the artist and designer Michael Huober, is listed as creative director at Philip B. Botanicals International. The brand published 35th-anniversary material and introduced new lines, such as its Magnolia Flowers body care, on its site in 2026.

Its distribution reach is stated two ways. The company's own "about" page says the products are sold in 35 countries [1], while the founder, in a 2026-era interview, put the figure at 50 countries worldwide, sold through department stores [9]. Both are the brand's own account and likely reflect either growth over time or rounding between sources.