After an explosive launch in New Zealand, cult-favorite hair-care brand Monday Haircare is entering the U.S. market.

Monday Haircare is launching in all doors at Target, as well as target.com, and subsequently at Ulta Beauty. The line, which includes four shampoos and respective conditioners — named Smooth, Repair, Sensitive and Volume — ranges in price from $6.99 to $15.99. The product is cruelty-free and formulated without parabens and SLS, and the packaging is made of recycled plastic.

The brand made headlines in 2018 when it launched in its native New Zealand, having sold out of six months’ supply in six weeks. “We took 25.6 percent market share in 14 days at our leading supermarket [retailer]. We sold six months’ worth of stock in six weeks. You couldn’t have gotten a bigger launch, and the way we’re going to try to replicate that here,” said Jaimee Lupton, founder of Monday Haircare.

Industry sources expect lightning to strike twice, saying the expansion could add $40 million in retail sales to the business, putting the brand at $55 million in global retail sales for its first 12 months in the U.S. market. Sources added that, pending expansion into the U.K. and Canada, retail sales could reach $100 million by the end of 2022.

The brand, which Lupton conceived after her own trials and errors with various beauty brands, brings a straightforward approach to formulation, focusing on what’s in the bottle as much as what’s left out. “What we’ve really achieved is taking everything from a luxury item and offering it at that mass price. The Ordinary, for example, has been able to do that in skin care, but in hair care, it hasn’t really been done before. Consumers want salon-quality hair care. It should be formulated without costing a week’s salary,” Lupton said.

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Given the brand’s minimal, pastel-pink packaging gives it all the more street cred on social media. “Everything on the hair-care shelf is screaming, and we wanted this to whisper,” Lupton said. “As for the name, we kept coming back to the idea that it seemed silly to keep your rituals just for special occasions, or for the weekend.”

Bubblegum pink packaging aside, Lupton said, part of catering to Generation Z is resonating with its values. “More broadly, we’re harnessing what’s taking place with the Generation Z consumer. They want a fair price, they want products to feel good, they want sustainability, and they’re looking for sulfate- and paraben-free,” she said. “We want to run deeper than a normal beauty brand.”

From there, choosing retail partners was an organic process. “Target really saw that gap in the market with affordable hair-care brands. And Ulta is such an authority in the beauty space. Both attract a really strong Generation Z shopper,” Lupton said.

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