Jim Markham just can’t seem to retire.
After selling Abba Pure and Natural Hair Care to now-defunct Styling Technology Corp. in 1997 for $20 million, the perennial hair care entrepreneur thought his working days were done. But four years later Markham introduced PureOlogy, which he, along with private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners LLC, sold to L’Oréal in a deal estimated at more than $300 million in 2007, giving Markham the opportunity to try retirement once again.
It didn’t stick. When Markham’s two-year non-compete agreement with L’Oréal was up, he couldn’t keep away from checking out the latest hair care advancements. “When he hears all the new technology, the new ingredients, his mind goes working. It’s almost like he can’t not do it,” said Markham’s wife Cheryl, who is her husband’s partner and colleague in the hair care business.
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ColorProof Evolved Color Care is Markham’s fifth professional hair care brand, and his official entry into un-retirement. It builds upon what Markham discovered with PureOlogy —that color-protection products could garner a large, loyal audience from the 50 percent or more of American women who color their hair — and aims to best its predecessor with improved formulations.
“There was a lot of new technology, but nobody was using it,” he said. “And so, after looking at it, I bet I could make a better mousetrap. I can make it really unique. If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have come back.”
The discovery of surfactants milder than anything he’d seen before, yet still able to minimize color loss to achieve a reported 96 percent color retention rate after 10 washes, were what excited Markham enough for a return to hair care. He’s loaded ColorProof’s shampoos with a proprietary blend of seven of those surfactants. “The ideal is to have a nice big lather, so it’s a luxurious experience, but it’s really gentle,” said Markham. “We took the best of the new surfactants and some of the best of the old to make a really far superior performing product.”
In addition to the surfactant blend, ColorProof products contain the color guarding compounds Chromaveil and Heliogenol, a so-called Flexshield Technology driven by polymers that provide thermal and color protection, and enhanced nano-emulsions to push ingredients into hair shafts. ColorProof leaves out ingredients known to strip hair color and to be potentially harmful, notably sulfates, salt, gluten, phthalates, mineral oil, petroleum, PABA, MEA and DEA.
ColorProof launched last month with about 12 products priced mostly from $19.95 to $29.95 and grouped into the categories Moisture, Volume, Style, Smooth, Necessities and Finish. Markham believes the shampoos and conditioners will be the brand’s hero products, but he also pointed to PowderFix Instant Volume Texture, FiberBlast Texture Crème, and HeatProof Anti-Frizz Blow Dry Crème as product standouts.
Markham forecasted that ColorProof would generate $15 million in wholesale sales in its first year at salons, more than triple what PureOlogy rung up in its first year on the market, although he said sales would come with profit margins lower than the industry’s typical 40 to 50 percent. “There’s a bigger picture here than making the biggest margin,” said Markham. “We believe volume [and] quality is going to compensate for a skinnier margin, and why we think that is because we can offer a lot better product for more money, but if somebody else had it, it might be a whole lot more.”
ColorProof has already signed on 15 distributors, many of which had distributed PureOlogy before L’Oréal took over the distribution. Markham’s reputation convinced them that ColorProof would be a success. “They don’t call it the Midas touch. They call it the Markham touch,” John Philipp, owner of Huntingdon Valley, Pa.-based Tru Beauty Concepts, which has added ColorProof to a distribution lineup that includes It’s a 10, Moroccanoil and Keratin Complex. “I think it is going to be the next ‘It’ product line in the beauty industry.”
Markham may repeat the success he’s had with other brands, but he’s not interested in repeating his previous exit strategies. He no longer thinks about selling a brand and retiring. From the living room of his Newport Coast, Calif., house overlooking the ocean, Markham said, “We got a very big house. When we retired here, she [Cheryl] and I said we’d go play some golf, we’d go take classes, but that really wasn’t all that exciting. We really like what we do, and we’re not going to just sell it for another few hundred million and walk away.” He concluded, “It’s not about the money now.”