Urban Care

Urban Care, styled URBAN Care by its owner, is a Turkish hair-care brand launched in 2013 by the Istanbul cosmetics company Selen Kozmetik [4]. It was created by Selen Yorgun Tavit, who also runs the parent company as chief executive. The range is built around shampoos, conditioners, masks, serums and styling products, sold as series named after pairs of ingredients such as Biotin & Keratin or Argan Oil & Keratin. The brand describes its products as vegan and paraben-free.

In roughly a decade, Urban Care moved from a new venture inside a family import business to what its owner calls Turkey's best-selling hair-care brand, a claim the company bases on Nielsen data for 2023 [2]. In August 2026 Forbes Türkiye reported that the brand was on shelves in 52 countries and produced more than 30 million units a year [10].

Urban Care grew out of a distribution business rather than a laboratory. According to the company, Bülent Yorgun spent ten years in the management of Mini Pazar, which it describes as the largest cosmetics distributor of the period, before founding Selen Kozmetik in 1997. The new company's first job was distributing the products of a Canadian cosmetics company in Turkey and the Middle East [5]. From 1998 it imported cosmetics into Turkey from Europe, Canada and the United States.

His daughter, Selen Yorgun Tavit, signs as the founder of Urban Care. In her message on the company website, she says that the firm's experience in the industry, and the direction the market was taking, led it to invest in a brand of its own. The stated goal was practical, effective care for urban women who put personal care first despite busy lives. In an interview with the trade site Turkish Cosmetics, she described the brand as a dream that became reality with her father's support and faith in it.

Forbes Türkiye, in a 2026 profile, reports that she created Urban Care in Istanbul in 2013 with a team of five people. At launch, the brand positioned itself as a local challenger to the global companies that dominated the Turkish personal-care market.

The brand first built its business in Turkish personal-care chains. The company says that this domestic momentum opened the way to exports, although its own website gives two different starting points. Its corporate chronology places the first step into exports in 2015 [4], while its international page states that Urban Care made its first export, to Singapore, in 2016 [6].

The Turkish Cosmetics interview adds detail to the Singapore story. Yorgun Tavit linked two awards from Watsons Türkiye to listings in Watsons stores in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. After a press launch in Singapore, she said, the brand began exporting to 13 countries within a single year, among them India, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia and Azerbaijan [11]. Selen Kozmetik also states that in 2016 Urban Care became the first Turkish brand to launch in international chains such as Watsons, Rossmann and Etos, in markets including the Netherlands and Germany [4].

Urban Care marked its tenth anniversary in 2023. Turkish business titles covered the milestone that year with stories on the brand's vegan production and its push into exports. By 2024, the owner reported a range of more than 90 products.

Figures for the brand's international reach differ with the date of the source. Selen Kozmetik's brand page, which carries a 2024 copyright notice, says Urban Care exports to 40 countries, and the CEO message refers to "nearly 40 countries" [2]. Forbes Türkiye's August 2026 profile gives 52 countries [10]. The same article opens on a five-week tour of five countries and seven cities, including a launch event in Santiago, Chile, attended by executives of the pharmacy chain Cruz Verde. Forbes also reports that the brand was growing about four times faster than the Turkish hair-care market as a whole, which it describes as growing at single-digit rates.

Urban Care is owned by Selen Kozmetik, also written Selen Cosmetics in English, which calls it "its own brand" and dates the start of production under its umbrella to 2013. The company is based in the Maslak business district of Sarıyer, Istanbul. PETA's cruelty-free database lists the brand as "Urban Care (SELEN KOZMETIK)". No acquisitions or changes of ownership are documented.

Besides Urban Care, Selen Kozmetik's website lists Hawaiian Tropic and a private-label business in its brands section. A Romanian online shop for Urban Care is operated by the Romanian company Good Skin SRL; the relationship between Good Skin and Selen Kozmetik is not publicly stated.

Urban Care's self-image is summed up by its name: care products for people living busy city lives. Its Romanian website describes the aim as offering "practical and effective" care that is kind to nature and animals, under the slogan "Urban care future". The brand calls its range fully vegan, and the same site describes its formulas as 99.5 percent natural, free of parabens and dermatologically tested.

In Turkey, the brand took an unusual route to the shelf. Forbes Türkiye notes that domestic cosmetics brands typically compete with low prices and heavy advertising, and reports that Yorgun Tavit did neither and turned down offers from supermarkets for years [10]. Today the owner lists a broad mix of channels in Turkey: personal-care chains such as Watsons, Gratis and Rossmann, its own online shop, quick-commerce delivery apps, national supermarket chains and perfumeries.

The company does not intend to stay a hair-care specialist. "Starting our journey with hair care products, we aim to become a personal care brand," the CEO message reads, adding that new categories are meant to repeat the success of the hair range. The Turkish online shop already carries a body-care section with shower gels, body lotions and scrubs.

Sustainability is presented as a founding concern. According to Selen Kozmetik, the brand has paid attention to its environmental impact since its first day, and its CEO message sets out a medium-term aim of offering clean, nature-friendly products in 100 percent recycled packaging [5]. No target date is given.

Social causes form another part of the brand's identity. Speaking to Turkish Cosmetics, Yorgun Tavit said that Urban Care "takes its power from women" and treats women's health issues as its concern. The company had run breast cancer awareness campaigns for years, and under the Urban Care name it later brought the international "Smear for Smear" cervical cancer campaign to Turkey. The campaign asked people to share photos or videos of themselves smearing red lipstick under the hashtag #rujunubulastir, to encourage smear tests, and was run with the association Life Without Cancer.

The range is organised into series named after their lead ingredients. Current lines include Argan Oil & Keratin, Biotin & Keratin, Expert Biotin & Caffeine, Hyaluronic Acid & Collagen, Brazilian Keratin, Bond Plex, Rosemary & Clove, Monoi & Ylang Ylang, Hibiscus & Shea Butter, Tea Tree & Keratin, Expert Apple Cider and a Purple line for toning. The Turkish shop also lists Glycolic Retinol and Intense Keratin series. Depending on the series, the line-up covers shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, serum, leave-in conditioner and scalp tonic, alongside dry shampoo and styling products.

In the Turkish Cosmetics interview, Yorgun Tavit said that a formula containing herbal keratin runs through the whole range, and named biotin, collagen, macadamia oil and milk proteins among its raw materials. She said the brand's no-rinse products contain no silicone. Its serums were singled out as the most popular products abroad, especially the Argan Oil serum and Shake N Repair, a restorative mousse that can be used on wet, damp or dry hair. She also mentioned the Macadamia series for damaged hair and the Lock N Roll styling spray, and said the brand's packaging had drawn praise.

Selen Kozmetik makes two product-level sales claims. It describes Expert Biotin & Caffeine as "Turkey's best-selling anti-hair loss series" and the Dry Shampoo series as the country's best-selling dry shampoo. A footnote to its Nielsen claim narrows the scope: for January to December 2023, Urban Care led the total hair-care category, including treatment products, in the Turkish perfumery channel by both units and turnover.

On animal testing, PETA lists Urban Care as cruelty-free, stating that neither its ingredients nor its finished products are tested on animals and that its suppliers follow the same standard [12]. No other third-party certifications are documented.

The brand's most clearly documented awards come from the Watsons Türkiye Personal Care Products Awards. Its Argan Oil hair serum was named Best Product of the Year in the first edition of the awards, and its Biotin & Keratin shampoo won Best Shampoo of the Year in the second [11]. The owner reported a total of 13 major awards by 2024, while the Romanian website refers to more than ten awards determined by consumer votes.

Forbes Türkiye's 2026 profile describes Urban Care as the largest domestic hair-care brand in Turkey. The founder has also received personal recognition: Selen Kozmetik's press page lists her inclusion in Fast Company's "Female Founders 100" and Ekonomist's "40 Under 40 Young CEOs", both in 2023.

Urban Care is active. Forbes Türkiye's profile of August 2026 described a brand still expanding abroad, and its Turkish online shop was operating in 2026. The brand remains owned by Selen Kozmetik, whose chief executive, Selen Yorgun Tavit, is also Urban Care's founder.