When it comes to self-expression, confidence and aesthetics in 2020, masking how you look and being artificial is out in favour of embracing, enhancing and elevating your natural look. Evo is championing this filter-free existence with a collection of curl products that priortises manageability, true care and hair health, rather than feeling like curls need to be hidden, straightened or heat styled out of their natural shape.
“This is a big passion project of mine. It’s taken me two and a half years to bring this to life. A couple of products have moved to different families. I’ve been making space in the curl family to do this,” said Evo Creative Director Lauren McCowan, who pioneered the range. “It’s so linked into the way the world’s going with body positivity. That push back on social media of filters, as people are becoming more and more aware of health and wellness, that it’s only natural that it translates up into your hair as well, and not forcing and manufacturing your hair to do things it was never meant to do.”
The collection is comprised of five products. Springsclean offers a deep clean rinse as a no foaming gel, which prioritises scalp care that can sometimes go missing when consumers are solely concerned about their curls in the mids and ends and the worry that scalp-specific products will detract from that. This detoxing product allows for textured curls, while also importantly breaking through scalp debris.
“Springsclean is very much about having that really deep clean rinse. It’s like a detox for your hair to reset it. So the break through of build up, scalp debris, oils and products on the hair,” Lauren said. “But the key cleansing agent for this is a product ingredient called coco glucoside, which is this amazing cleanser that will help to remove it from the outside of the hair, but it doesn’t remove colour. It doesn’t strip colour up or internal oils and hydration. So you can clean your hair without stripping the internal moisture, which is super important. Because you open the cuticle up too much and take too much out of the inside, it gets fluffy and you lose your curl pattern.”
Heads Will Roll is a co-wash conditioning cleanser, with treatment and moisturising properties. The luxury product is to be used between deep cleans’ to reset the hair, with every facet of the product accounted for.
“I’ve put a really beautiful luxe fragrance in here, because the other thing that I found when I was looking at a lot of curly hair brands was that all of them have some kind of coconut-based fragrance or some kind of fruity lime fragrance. Just because we want to wear our hair curly, it doesn’t mean we’re on holiday,” Lauren said. “I’m not choosing to not blow dry my hair. I’m choosing to wear my hair beautifully, the way it’s supposed to be.”
The collection continues with Baby Got Bounce, an intensive treatment product that speaks to global market necessities. This product breaks the mould by coming as a spray, rather than as a thicker product in a tub, becoming an easy three-minute rinse out treatment that doesn’t create the need for unnecessary product.
“This is very much about really intensively restructuring the hair; so proteins and moisturisers really feeding the hair, but it’s super lightweight,” Lauren said. “It also has a film form in it that lays a cuticle flat on the outside of the hair. It picks up the curl pattern and helps prep the hair really beautifully for styling as well.”
The group includes Liquid Rollers, which is an already established and iconic product for the brand and hasn’t been changed, but works in perfectly to this specific brand category. The product is renowned globally for its ability to control frizz and retain moisture, with a covetable texture that has made it a shelf, kit and bathroom staple.
“Liquid Rollers has been around almost since the start of Evo,” Lauren said. “We haven’t actually changed this product. It’s a massive product for us. It’s like a cult curl product. It’s so loved.”
The final product is Total Recoil, a unique curl definer that merges the texture of top-tier fiber creams with the hold of Evo’s gangster grip stronghold styling gel. The cream is water soluble to melt into curly hair and act as a must-have elasticiser.
“This is our curl definer, and I’m really proud of this because there is nothing in the world like it right now,” Lauren said. “The idea was that it milks into the hair. You can twist your curls, dry it, and then either leave them perfect and frizz-free, or if you want to break it apart and pull it apart, you’re able to do that without creating any frizz or ruining your curl pattern.”
Evo continues to go above and beyond to never sacrifice on quality or their heath-conscious values when creating products.
“I get really excited about our product development because we have such a massive black list of ingredients that don’t go in our product. So we’re actually quite difficult to work with to be as clean a brand as we are, but then get the performance as well,” Lauren said.
“The whole range is sulfate, paraben, DEA, TEA, propylene and glycol free; free of all the nasties. We’ve never tested on animals, and everything in our bottles is active, there’s no filler ingredients,” Lauren continued. “We’re very excited for this to hit the market, and just make curly hair really fun and enjoyable. They’re curl-specific, but there are a lot of crossover into other products with Evo as well. They work in really beautifully together.”
The products aim to simplify the curl management process for both clients and hairdressers, with the collection being both exclusive and effective. Essentially, the products work for every curl type, with the key words being both “curl-specific” and “curl-inclusive”.
“That’s really the kind of vibe for Evo. Just let your hair be hair. Whatever texture, whoever you are, whatever background and ethnicity you are, there is a product in Evo that you can use and have fun with without feeling ostracised,” Lauren said. “I’ve tried to make the easiest, least complicated set of products that will just help knock over that biggest wall as fast as it can, which, as a brand, that’s something that Evo really works to do. It constantly pushes boundaries and challenges the status quo.”
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