The granddaughter of Conair founder Leandro Rizzuto is launching a new line of hair tools.
Sophia Wojczak is set to launch her line of brushes, clips and hair tools, called Leandro Ltd., named after her grandfather, with Ulta Beauty online Nov. 3. The product lineup includes eight brushes, four combs, metal and silicone-coated clips, polybands, bobby pins, jaw clips, rollers and an adjustable parting tool meant to help those to struggle to create straight hair parts. Prices range from $10 to $50.
"I personally was always struggling with parting my hair down the middle — some days I would kill it and have such a perfect part down the center, and other days I'd redo my part like 30 times," Wojczak said. She pitched the tool, which has a sliding part-maker to handle center and side parts, to her grandfather before he died in 2017, she said.
"I'm not a stylist and I don't always love doing my hair, so there's a theme throughout the line… short cuts or multipurpose or multitasking," Wojczak said. Leandro's clips have silicone shields that protect hair on both sides of the clip, for example, so hair isn't dented.
The line also features the La Fortezza Carbon Infused Dryer, $179.95, and Il Ferro Carbon Infused 1 Styling Iron, $159.95. "The iron has carbon-infused plates and the dryer has a carbon infused grill," Wojczak said. "It works together to work with heat distribution and eliminate frizz and static."
The line plans to center future launches around innovation, she noted. "I'm not just going to make a product because it's trendy or because it's cool," she said. "Filling in the white space in the market, that's what I'm chasing and that's what the brand's intention is."
Technically, Leandro is a collaboration between Babylisspro and Conair, Wojczak noted, which is still family-owned. Industry sources estimate the line could do about $1 million in retail sales for its first year.
Wojczak has worked in and around the company for a long time, she said. "I grew up in the company. I used to run around the warehouse and play manhunt and pack and unpack boxes in the storage room," she said.
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