Silhouette

Silhouette is a professional hair-styling line sold under Schwarzkopf Professional, the salon division of the German hair-care company Schwarzkopf. It is not an independently founded brand but a product range — spanning hairspray, mousse, setting lotion and gel — grouped into a Super Hold and a Flexible Hold series. The line is currently listed and distributed through salons and retailers, and its parent, Schwarzkopf Professional, is owned by the consumer-goods group Henkel.

Because Silhouette exists within the wider Schwarzkopf business, its origins trace back to that parent brand rather than to a separate founding of its own. No source records when the Silhouette line itself was introduced, so its individual launch date is not documented here.

Schwarzkopf was founded in 1898, when the chemist Hans Schwarzkopf opened a paint, drug and perfume shop on Passauer Strasse in the Berlin-Charlottenburg district [3]. The business moved decisively into hair care a few years later with a powdered shampoo — sold in a sachet marked with a black silhouette of a head — which became the first branded hair-cosmetic product in Germany [3]. Sources differ slightly on the year: Wikipedia dates the powdered shampoo to 1904 [3], while Schwarzkopf's own company history records the water-soluble powder shampoo gaining popularity in 1903 [4]. The 1898 founding year is consistent across sources.

After Hans Schwarzkopf died in 1921, the company was managed by his widow, Martha Schwarzkopf, who in 1927 established the Schwarzkopf Hair Research Institute [4]. Over the following decades the parent brand expanded across hair colour, care and styling; the Silhouette line sits within the styling portfolio of its professional, salon-facing division.

In July 1995 Henkel acquired the Schwarzkopf cosmetics business (Hans Schwarzkopf GmbH) [5]. According to Henkel, the purchase doubled the sales of its Beauty Care unit, and it describes Schwarzkopf as one of the leading hair-cosmetics brands worldwide [5]. Schwarzkopf Professional — the division under which Silhouette is marketed — operates as part of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA [2]. Within Henkel's hair portfolio, Silhouette shares a parent group with brands such as Schwarzkopf Professional's other styling ranges, Indola, Syoss, Palette and Fa.

Silhouette is positioned around what the company calls "long-lasting yet invisible hold," which it attributes to purified ingredients and micro-sized film-forming agents [1]. The line is organised into two ranges. The Super Hold range — hairspray, mousse, setting lotion and gel — is built around a film-forming polymer that Schwarzkopf Professional says delivers strong, long-lasting control with shine. The Flexible Hold range — hairspray, mousse and a styling and care lotion — is described as offering movement without sacrificing hold, with a "memory effect" that persists after the hair is brushed out [1].

Across the products, the marketing emphasises "micro-fine film formers" said to give invisible hold without weighing the hair down [1]. As part of Schwarzkopf Professional, Silhouette is a salon-professional line, distributed through professional channels; the parent site directs users to a salon finder to locate stockists.

Silhouette is active. The range is currently listed on the Schwarzkopf Professional website and continues to be distributed through salons and retailers as of 2026 [1]. As a line within a globally distributed Henkel brand, its reach is international.