Our Story
THE BRAND
PHYTO was Born from one man's vision: Patrick Alès - creator and founder of the brand.
1964
Invention of the blow-dry
by Patrick Alès.
1967
Invention of PHYTOTHERATHRIE,
hair care by plants, from the Greek phyto=plants,
thera=treatments and trix/tricos=hair.
1969
Creation of PHYTOSOLBA Laboratories.
Patrick Alès never ceased working with scientists. His products are efficient.
But he relies on science to prove it and lets “the plants speak” to develop new products.
1998
Creation of PHYTO SPECIFIC, a range of hair products for curly, coiled or relaxed hair; the number one high-end ethnic hair care range, distributed on the selective market.
2019
PHYTO turns 50 years old,
known internationally, lives by one mission:
Create a tailor-made BOTANICAL SOLUTION for each hair care need.
Patrik Alès' Story
The story of two passions: Hair and plants
PHYTO was conceived by celebrity hairdresser Patrick Alès, long before the emergence of environmental awareness and botanical hair care trends. It all started when Patrick Alès was a salon apprentice in Paris during the 1950's. He noticed that chemically-laden products were taking a serious toll on the hands of the hairdresser's and the hair of their clientele. The first seeds of his idea for a much gentler, less harmful range of hair products were quietly sown.
Fascinated by nature, he decided to study the power of plants, their history of use in traditional medicine, and the role they might play to reveal hair’s natural beauty. It was finding ways to rescue his clients’ dry, bleached-out locks in the sixties that inspired his first products: HUILE D’ALÈS and PHYTO 7.
In 1965, Patrick Alès presented PHYTO to the public along with the opening of his very own salon near the Champs Élysées, still open today, where his A-list clients such as Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became beneficiaries of his new botanical hair care brand.
PHYTO WAS BORN.
It was an instant smash on a worldwide scale.