The new owners of Ottawa-based haircare brand The Better Scalp Company are looking to expand the business across Canada and into the U.S. market by next year.
French national Melody Cymbor and her fiance Kevin Debuire have been together for over a decade. After living and working in Paris, they moved to the U.S. for university and now divide their time between the U.S. and Canada, specifically Montreal.
While attending Arizona State University for chemical engineering, Cymbor said she and Debuire, who was studying civil engineering, started a drop-shipping business to pay for their studies. Then, after graduating, she worked in the semiconductor industry for five years while he found work with a civil engineering firm in Arizona.
Suffice it to say that, in the decade they’ve been together, Cymbor and Debuire have held many roles: students, business owners, engineers and now, parents.
Late last year, a pregnant Cymbor was looking for skincare and hair care products that were free from harmful ingredients.
“Especially with my first pregnancy, I really wanted to be very careful with what I was applying to my skin and I was having trouble finding good products for skincare and it was even harder to find good hair care products,” Cymbor told OBJ this week.
Enter Michèle Marchand, founder of Ottawa-based The Better Scalp Company, which makes fragrance-free hair care products for people with skin sensitivities. Marchand had been diagnosed with allergic contact dermatitis in 2022, and realized that most shampoos and personal care products used fragrances and harsh ingredients that aggravated her condition.
Over the past few years, she grew the company by adding several Ottawa salons to her roster of clients and launching her products on Amazon last fall. But the success was almost more than she bargained for. When she considered her options, she saw two that made sense: look for investors or sell the company.
At the same time, Debuire had been looking to diversify his family’s income by acquiring a new business. When he saw that The Better Scalp Company was on the market, he and Cymbor got in touch with Marchand to get more details.
“We tried some samples and we really liked the product. We could see a big improvement with those products. It stopped the itching on my scalp. We also started distributing the products into our surroundings to get some feedback and we only got good feedback,” Cymbor said.
On Feb. 3, Marchand sold the company to Cymbor and Debuire for an undisclosed amount. As a condition of the sale, Marchand stayed on for a few months in an advisory capacity.
For Marchand, it was important that the company remain 100 per cent Canadian. Cymbor said she and Debuire have no plans to change that.
“We are still working with the manufacturing firm that Michelle was working with. We did not want to change anything in terms of the formulation. The products already speak for themselves … It was important for us that the company stay 100 per cent Canadian, since that’s what we liked about The Better Scalp Company,” she explained.
In transitioning the company from its original founder to new owners, Cymbor said she and Debuire took their time to truly understand the business.
“We knew the work that had previously been done and it was a good base. We took our time to understand the customers, working with the suppliers and the manufacturing company. We made sure that we understood the audience and that we kept all the established relationships with the salons in Ottawa,” she said.
She added that they spent time working with Marchand to understand her mission and how to carry it forward.
“We wanted to bond well with the previous owner. I feel like any owner puts a lot of effort into their business. It’s not just always about money. There’s a story behind it and we liked her story.”
From adding an induction seal to prevent leaking during transportation to decreasing the price of the shampoo-conditioner bundle from $70 to $60, the couple has already made a few changes.
“(The company’s presence on) Amazon in Canada was established, but it needed some work. So now it’s fully established. People can order either through the Better Scalp website or from our Amazon storefront … We also limited the number of SKUs to limit our cost. We’re not selling the 355 millilitre bottles anymore, only the 240 millilitre and 60 millilitre, which is the travel size,” she said, adding that they started working with Scarborough-based logistics company Flexspace Logistics to facilitate shipments.
Looking to the future, Cymbor said they’re planning to expand the brand beyond Ottawa.
“We’re working on increasing our visibility,” Cymbor said. “The brand was mostly (present) in Ottawa, so we’re opening it to new markets. We’re really focusing on developing the brand in Montreal and Toronto, which is our main focus. We’re working with new salons and spas too. And we’re bringing the brand to the U.S. market, even though we’re facing challenges with the tariffs.”
Beyond expanding the brand’s reach, Cymbor said they’re looking to add new products by the first quarter of next year, such as a hair mask, leave-in conditioner and possibly a scalp serum.
She added that her background in chemical engineering is useful when creating new products.
“As a chemical engineer, I’m naturally curious about what’s inside our bottles. I’m looking at how the formulation works and what ingredients are there and keeping a close eye on our manufacturing,” she said. “And, as engineers, I feel like we have a good mindset for thinking outside the box. If there’s a problem, there’s always a solution.”
A little over six months after their takeover of The Better Scalp Company, Cymbor said she’s happy they took the leap.
“Spending a good part of the year in Montreal, we experience the harsh water conditions on our itchy scalp. These products are great (at alleviating that) and we don’t want to let them go. For us, this was a good opportunity to keep the company alive and to let others know these products exist. The brand is already answering a real problem that many are facing every day.”
