Haircare Expert Philip Pelusi Celebrates 60 Years of Business Success

From sheet metal worker to Happi’s longtime haircare expert, salon owner and Tela Organics founder Philip Pelusi is celebrating 60 years of business and product development. A Pittsburgh, PA native, he originally embarked on a career in construction but pivoted later to the beauty business. He now owns numerous salons in Pennsylvania and sells his products on-site and online.

Pelusi “respected that profession,” but knew he wanted to pursue his passion for creativity and becoming a business owner, he told Happi.

The entrepreneur sold his car to pay for school at Pittsburgh Beauty Academy, got his cosmetology license and his first job at the Saks 5th Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. He eventually opened his first salon and started formulating products.

In the beginning, Pelusi sourced ingredients at trade shows but as time went on, he sourced his ingredients from “independent chemists and herbalists,” he told Happi.

“Back then, products were very limited,” said Pelusi.  “I was not happy with their lack of ability improve the condition of the hair, levels of heat protection and even the narrow category of textures they could augment.  I wanted to break free from those contrasts and think outside the bottle so to speak.”

Among his formulation achievements early one included the unique use of yeast derivatives and hyaluronic acid in his haircare products.

“At the time reserved for very high-end skincare, they were not known widely let alone used in hair care,” he said. 

Pelusi also made what was viewed as a “shocking decision to never create any aerosol products, specifically hairspray or mousse,” he told Happi. 

“This was decades ahead of when the subject of their damaging effects was even on anyone’s radar. In fact, aerosol products were in high consumer demand given the styles of that time,” he noted.

The 1990s marked Pelusi’s distinct use of sunscreens or natural UV light filters in every haircare product he created, even creating universal texture sun protectant for the hair and scalp – Philip Pelusi Sun Potion – which remains a top seller today.

At that time, he also also created a deposit-only color enhancing color conditioner, Philip Pelusi Color Boost, which helped clients “keep the look of fresh color and unleashed the creativity of his team of stylists,” he said. 

In 2004, Pelusi developed and designed his Tela Beauty Organic Certified Organic Herbal Blends products in Pittsburgh.

The Pelusi Sugar Cane Cleanse

In the early 2000s, Pelusi made this notable update; he replaced sulfates with his then newly created proprietary cleansing micro-emulsion coined the Pelusi Sugar Cane Cleanse comprised of sugar cane, sugar maple, apple seed and bilberry.  Pelusi said he took a chance in the marketplace and even with his stylists by making what some called a “radical move.” 

Pelusi also replaced water in his formulas with USDA certified organic aloe.  

These two “anti-suds” ingredient changes resulted in a completely different performing shampoo than others in the market. 

“We received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the increased quality of the condition of the hair, more texture control and even less color fadage, from both customers and stylists,” he said. “Exactly the results I was looking for from our living laboratories, which is what I fondly term our salons.  That is the best testing ground for us to work with our products in real time with real stylists and real clients.”

P2 by Philip Pelusi Smart Styling Treatments

Next, Pelusi turned the tables on traditional styling products.  He changed his approach to augmenting texture from the traditional “coat the outside” of the hair methodology to working inside of the hair strand. 

He explained, “I wanted to give the hair a more natural feel and look, allowing hair to move and have more styling longevity when facing elements such as humidity. These were and still are what our clients have described as life altering innovations.”

Pelusi initially created three of what would eventually be a total of six products in his P2 by Philip Pelusi Smart Styling Treatment Collection.  Each product contains its own unique proprietary microemulsion that penetrates the cuticle to reduce volume, increase volume or create defined curls but all without adding any coatings or weight to the hair, according to the company.

Patent Pending Hydro Charged Pelusi Ceramide Complex

Pelusi would also replace silicones in his products. Enter Philip’s patent pending Hydro Charged Pelusi Ceramide Complex.  This universal texture, cosmeceutical complex is a microemulsion of plant derived ceramides that are functionally similar to hair’s natural lipids in the hair’s cuticle layer. 

According to Pelusi, Pelusi Ceramide Complex “helps reinforce intercellular adhesion in the cuticle as well as reinforcing the cuticle layer’s adhesion to hair’s cortex by replacing ceramides that are removed during routine color and chemical services.  This helps to bond color treated hair’s often damaged cuticle layer to the cortex, so color molecules are also sealed in below.  So, this now smooth exterior surface also helps reduce tangles, create slip, and lots of reflective shine.”

Tela Hair Immunity Complex

Pelusi was an early adopter of organic products.

He told Happi, “We were beyond excited our first collection of organic hair care products earned the cover story of Women’s Wear Daily.  Our thought process in creating this line was performance trumps organics. The organic aspect of course was a huge focal point, but the products also had to have top results and performance on the hair, everything from color retention and enhancing condition, styling and more. Our launch contained over 70% USDA certified organic ingredients with several products reaching the level of 100% certified organic.”

One of the “groundbreaking” components within Tela Beauty Organics is its proprietary Tela Hair Immunity Complex. 

“We developed this dynamic mixture specifically for our Tela Life Force Collection. The idea was to a help create a healthy scalp environment and a healthy head of hair through the application of pre and probiotic enzymes derived from the fermented kelp extract,” Peluis said. “The same thinking and benefits of pre and probiotics inside the body now applied to the scalp.  We must have a healthy balance of specific microflora or the scalp cannot function at its optimal level and prematurely ages.”

Tela Beauty Organics Liquid IQ Smart Bond Elixir

In 2023, Pelusi turned his attention to bond-building with Tela Beauty Organics by Philip Pelusi Liquid IQ Smart Bond Pro Treatment & Smart Bond Elixir.  It reinforces the internal bond structure within the hair cortex resulting in improved strength and elasticity that is more resistant to breakage, according to the brand. 

Tela IQ restores the quality of hair fabric to “unimagined levels,” Pelusi asserted.

 “We discovered a unique ‘Gemini’ surfactant, a biosimilar ingredient similar to natural ceramides,” Pelusi said. “This uniquely creates a very fine emulsion capable of delivering not only beneficial natural lipids but also can be combined with keratins and other well-known bonding actives by chaperoning them rapidly deep within the hair shaft.  Hence, we describe this action as our Philip Pelusi Chaperone Delivery System.  This results in chaperoning water-soluble bonding agents, restructuring polymers moisture binding agents, and color protectants throughout hair’s structure from cuticle to cortex.”

The treatment allows restructuring agents to be fully presented—including hair bond multipliers best delivered to cortex structures, conditioning and structural polymers reinforcing damaged keratin and conditioning and structural amino acids, polypeptides and moisture binders restructuring keratin microfibrils, said Pelusi. 

An in-salon treatment, Tela Liquid IQ Smart Bond Pro Treatment is fragrance-free and has a heightened potency and increased concentration than Tela Liquid IQ Smart Bond Elixir, which is designed for consumer use. 

What’s Next?

As Pelusi marks his 60th anniversary as a salon owner, there is more to come.

When we asked Pelusi what’s next on horizon, he replied: “They say 60 is the new 40.  Retire?  From what? I still have more to say!”

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