As wellness continues to influence beauty and personal care purchasing decisions, hair care brands are exploring ways to pair performance with emotional benefits.
Not Your Mother’s is entering this space with Aura Boost, a new wash-and-care collection designed to combine functional hair benefits with scent-led sensory cues aimed at enhancing the shower experience.
Wellness and playfulness converge in hair care
“There are two trends at play here,” Charlene Patten, chief marketing officer at Not Your Mother’s, told CosmeticsDesign. The first, she said, is the fusion of wellness into beauty as “we see consumers seeking both experiences and escapes from the stress of their daily lives.”
However, she added, the collection also taps into a desire for lighter, more playful moments within daily routines. “As life gets serious, there’s another trend toward playfulness and fun and Aura Boost definitely fits in here as well,” she explained.
Ingredient choices focused on results and accessibility
The Aura Boost line includes four shampoo and conditioner duos, each formulated with peptides and magnesium and paired with a targeted hero ingredient such as hyaluronic acid, aloe, green tea extract or amino acids. According to the company, the blends are designed to support strengthening, hydration, volume or repair depending on the variant.
Patten said the formulation strategy was driven by performance expectations rather than overt scientific storytelling. “To Not Your Mother’s, performance is paramount, however, we are not a science-led brand in terms of our communication,” she said. “Our consumers just want our products to work and we know the peptide cocktail delivers the results she’s looking for.”
She noted that ingredient selection also aligns with the company’s clean standards. “Everything we do at Not Your Mother’s lives up to transparency and our clean standards,” Patten added. “We evaluate those periodically to make sure we are leveraging the best available, approachable technology for our consumer.”
Gen Z insights shape experiential product development
During the R&D process for the collection, Not Your Mother’s carefully considered consumer data and social media behavior, particularly among younger shoppers seeking stress relief through personal care routines.
“We know that consumers, including Gen Z, are more stressed than ever,” Patten said. “We also see searches on TikTok and across social media for escapes for that stress, including wellness and at home treatments.”
She explained that Aura Boost was developed where those needs overlap. “It is the intersection of these two where Aura Boost was born,” Patten added, noting that future extensions could build on the experiential aspect of wash day routines.
Fragrance as a functional experience driver
Fragrance plays a central role in Aura Boost, with each variant featuring scent profiles such as coconut pistachio, apple wood, vanilla chai and sandalwood iris. Patten said scent was intentionally developed to support a sense of mental reset.
“We know consumers are looking for experiences, and fragrance can be a wonderful driver of experience in hair care,” she said. “How do we ensure her shower reset creates a sanctuary that then is with her the rest of the day?”
She expects fragrance to continue influencing hair care differentiation. “Going forward, I would expect fragrance to continue to play a key role as we have seen the growth of body and hair mists in the market among other at home fragrance solutions,” Patten added.
Retail rollout and category expansion strategy
Aura Boost launched online at Ulta retailers last month, followed by in-store and direct-to-consumer availability on January 11 and a broader Target launch on February 3. The staggered approach is intended to build awareness and trial before expanding distribution.
“Our go to market strategy includes launching at key retail partners first to drive awareness and trial, and then expand nationally the year after,” Patten said. “The awareness that we build in year one has a ripple effect to the rest of our retail partners across the national launch to drive additional trial and repeat.”
The launch strategy allows Not Your Mother’s to deepen its presence in the wash-and-care segment while competing for shoppers interested in wellness-adjacent hair care.
Setting the tone for future innovation
Aura Boost also signals how the brand is thinking about future product development across its portfolio.
“We want to provide solutions that help her solve her hard hair challenges while also creating an experience she craves,” Patten said. “That is where I would anticipate future innovation to land.”
She noted that while wellness trends are informing current launches, consumer needs will continue to guide the company’s roadmap. “If wellness trends continue, we will focus there, but we will follow the needs of our consumer first,” Patten added.
