Aerosol Product Availability Updates
Greetings dear milk_shake salons & stylists,
We would like to address the lack of availability of our aerosol products—namely our Lifestyling hairsprays and Volumizing Mousse. While we have attempted to provide ongoing updates, we recognize the need for further clarification.
In March of this year, we released an initial statement that addressed the extremely limited availability of our aerosol products. This situation wasn’t unique to us, the entire beauty industry was impacted by two main issues:
- A worldwide aluminum shortage
- A change in VOC regulations for aerosol products sold in the United States
These two factors caused a ripple effect that left many manufacturers scrambling to find packaging materials, while reformulating their aerosol products. For milk_shake, there was an additional complication: our products are not manufactured in the United States.
In order to be as transparent as possible, we’d like to explain a little about how beauty products are made. From conceptualization to production, the creation of a single product requires entire teams of people and can take anywhere from 6 months to a year to complete. In the case of aerosol products, it also requires a separate manufacturing facility.
All milk_shake products—which are sold all over the world— have historically been researched, formulated, and produced at our facilities in northern Italy. The change in the VOC regulations meant that any aerosol products being produced for sale in the United States would need to be completely reformulated. This created a huge issue for a relatively small facility that is responsible for making products for sale, globally.
To address this, the milk_shake North America team embarked on the gargantuan task of finding an aerosol manufacturer based in the United States who would be willing to take on a new client in the midst of industry-wide chaos. To say it was an uphill battle would be the understatement of the century. Compared to our major corporate competitors, our orders were small and our standards for reformulation were high.
After several months, we managed to come to an agreement with a facility that we were confident could deliver the caliber of products our salon customers were accustomed to. Once the dates were finalized, we released our first public statement. In the months that followed formulas were tested, packaging was designed, and final order quantities submitted. We were waiting for the final delivery date from our manufacturer.
Instead, what we received was news that our order could not be completed. As the situation was explained to us, the company that we had partnered with had undergone internal restructuring and had uncovered an inventory issue that impacted our order. To receive this news at the very end of all of our hard work was devastating. We were effectively back to square one.
We know how frustrating this situation is. We truly understand the impact that the lack of these products is having on your business. It’s hurting you and it’s hurting us—not to mention the impact on our distributor partners. We hear that you are using other brands, and that you are wondering when you’ll be able to count on having milk_shake hairsprays available again.
What we can share at this time is that we have found a new supplier and have every hope that we have finally come to the end of this issue. While we have received tentative delivery dates from our manufacturing partner, we are choosing to wait until they are finalized before announcing.
Your trust, and the trust of your clients rests on us providing you with accurate information, and we take these relationships very seriously.
Thank you for taking the time to better understand our shared situation. We truly appreciate your continued support during this difficult time and will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.
Thank you,
The milk_shake North America team
