After a quiet stretch that had longtime fans wondering, EVOLVh's founder lets us in on the biggest reformulation in the brand's history — and why he started over from the raw materials up.

If you've been wondering what's been going on at EVOLVh — why your favorite shampoo was suddenly hard to come by, why the ingredient lists looked different when products started returning to shelves, why the brand had gone uncharacteristically quiet — you're not alone. 
So, Dara delightedly sat down with EVOLVh's founder, Boris Oak, for the first in-depth conversation about what he's been up to. The short version: he's reformulated nearly the entire line. The longer version, as always, is well worth the read. And it's worth understanding before you reach for the new bottles, because what's inside them is genuinely different from what came before.

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Dara: Boris! Customers have been asking us for months about what's happening with EVOLVh. There were stretches where we couldn't get product, and when things came back, the formulas had some serious upgrades. Some people even wondered if EVOLVh had been sold. What's the real story?

BORIS: I appreciate you giving me the chance to talk about it, because there's been a lot of speculation. The truth is that over the last 18 months, we've reformulated essentially every product in the line. I rebuilt how we run our supply chain and how we make products from the ground up. That's why things were out of stock, and that's why the new formulas look different. We weren't sold, we were rebuilding.

Dara: That's a huge undertaking. What prompted it?
BORIS: When I started EVOLVh in 2009, I knew very little about how to actually make products. I had a strong mission (better-for-you ingredients, performance, formulations that were better when they went down the drain), but I was working with a contract manufacturer in a fairly traditional way. They'd bring me concepts, I'd weigh in, and the formulas were essentially theirs. I couldn't really change them the way I wanted to. For a long time, I made that work. But I’ve always wanted to be hands-on: working in the lab, choosing the raw materials, knowing every supplier of every ingredient. And I just couldn't get there in the old model.

Dara: When did that start to shift?
BORIS: At the end of 2020, when I started developing Better Roots using a different process. I built relationships with the leading raw material suppliers directly. I set up a small lab at home and started every formula myself, then worked with technical experts to get them production-ready. The Better Roots Serum was the first thing I made that way, and it's still one of the most special products I've ever created. Once I'd done it, I couldn't go back. I told myself I wasn't going to launch anything new the old way.

Dara: And so an upgraded EVOLVh followed.
BORIS: It had to. I was running two parallel models — Better Roots fully in-house, EVOLVh still in the old structure — and the strain was real. By early 2025, I made the call to bring everything under the new model. That meant reformulating from scratch, sourcing every raw material ourselves, and knowing every supplier on the line. It also meant a long stretch where we couldn't ship product the way we wanted to. I won't pretend it wasn't painful! But I genuinely couldn't be happier about where the brand is now.

Dara: Let's talk about what's in the new formulas. The new UltraShine Shampoo, for example — what should longtime fans expect?
BORIS: The biggest change is the surfactant system. I wanted a true amino acid-based surfactant system for shampoo, which is technically very difficult to pull off: these are surfactants you see much more often in skincare, because they're so gentle. They're the most compatible with your actual hair fiber and your scalp, so you're not stripping anything you don't want stripped. From there, we built viscosity using completely natural gums, no synthetic polymers. And we achieved that high-end slip with newer-generation ingredients that are both better for your hair and more biodegradable once they go down the drain. So we're hitting the triple-win we always aim for: better for your hair, better for your scalp, better for the planet.

Dara: How should someone who loved the original UltraShine think about the new one?
BORIS: Honestly, I'd ask them to come to it as a new product rather than expecting an exact replica of what they had before. The new version is built on much more advanced clean technology, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll feel identical from the first wash. What I'm seeing is that people often like it more over time, because it's actually changing the condition of their hair, not just coating it. I'll give you a real example: my Albanian father-in-law, who's an engineer and could not care less about hair products, told me last week that the new shampoo is his favorite. He'd been using the old UltraShine for years. When the engineer notices, I figure we're doing something right.

Dara: Tell us about UltraRepair, which is the newest addition.
BORIS: UltraRepair started as a SmartColor refresh and grew into its own range. It's an advanced bond repair system, fair to put in the conversation with Olaplex or K18, but with much cleaner chemistry and genuinely new technology. The hair fiber is held together by four bond types, and until now, repair products have only addressed one or two. UltraRepair is the first to treat all four, each with its own specialized active. Addressing all four bonds takes the results to another level. The mask is out now, with a shampoo and leave-in spray coming. I'm really proud of the performance of this one.

Dara: You’ve spent a lot of time tweaking the new products, especially the UltraShine Shampoo. Are you done tweaking, or everything still a work in progress?
BORIS: I don't really believe in formulating something and then leaving it untouched forever; the name EVOLVh is a mandate to keep evolving. So we'll keep refining as the science gets better. There's probably one more small tweak coming to the conditioner. But we're at the point now where the line as a whole feels right.

Dara: And is WonderBalm coming back? People are asking. (Including me.)
BORIS: I know! It's coming back, and what comes back will be even better than what people remember. Give it…about nine more months. Maybe a little longer.

Dara: Last question. Looking back at the last few years, what's the one thing you want longtime EVOLVh customers to take away?
BORIS: That EVOLVh has evolved! The mission hasn't changed — high-performance haircare that's genuinely better for you and for the planet — but the way we execute on it is on another level now. There's been a real evolution in what's possible in formulation since 2008, and I wanted us to be at the front of that, not holding on to the past. So that's what we did.

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What's available now at Ayla: UltraShine Shampoo and Conditioner, SmartCurl Shampoo and Conditioner, UltraRepair Mask, Better Roots Serum, and Better Roots Styling Foam. More of the reformulated line will return through the year as it becomes available.
As always, if you'd like help figuring out which formulas are right for your hair, email us at help@aylabeauty.com. We’re always happy to help!