short on time? here’s the scientific gist of it. We take a biology-first approach to haircare, using synthetic biology to develop high-performance products that work with our natural human biology. For example, our K18PEPTIDE™ offers a holistic, durable, and long-lasting solution to hair damage, going beyond cosmetic chemistry and traditional bond building.

got time? here’s the deeper dive.

Here at K18, we're a biology-first haircare company. We’re unpacking how we use biology as an inspiration and a vehicle to develop our K18-patented technology. 

our biology-first approach

Hair is created by biology, so we found that understanding hair’s biology is the best method to repair it. Every strand of hair is produced through a biological process. As the cells in the hair follicles in your scalp multiply, your hair grows. This is biology at work.  While your hair is biologically inactive once it leaves your scalp, your hair is still a biological structure (for more on that, read this: Is Hair Dead?). Each strand of hair is composed of millions of protein chains that provide it with shape, strength, and elasticity, connected by various types of chemical bonds that can be broken by environmental, mechanical, chemical, and heat damage. This causes the proteins to degrade and lose strength and elasticity.

Through this understanding of hair’s biology, we discovered that many of the issues we see in hair care—frizz, split ends, and dull, dry appearance—begin with damage to the proteins inside the hair strand. So we looked to hair’s biology to find the solution for this molecular damage. We used biotechnology and synthetic biology to develop our K18 molecular repair—a technology that can reach new levels of repair that extend past the capabilities of cosmetic chemistry. Our K18PEPTIDE™ is backed by a decade of research, studying every sequence of the human hair protein genome to discover how nature works, and to uncover the ultimate fix for hair repair.