Popular beauty brand files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Beauty, skincare, and cosmetic product manufacturers have faced many of the same economic challenges that other retailers have in the last three years.

Rising labor and product costs exacerbated by inflation, increased interest rates, cautious consumers who are watching their budgets in uncertain economic times, and fierce competition forced beauty brands to close and to file for bankruptcy.

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Major cosmetics brand Avon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2024, two years after another huge brand, Revlon, filed for bankruptcy in June 2022.

This year, beauty technology company Cutera filed for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 5 to reduce its debt by $400 million, and award-winning cosmetics company SBLA Beauty filed for Chapter 11 protection on March 11 to reorganize its business and restructure its debt.

Telehealth company Hims & Hers Health shut down its acne treatment dermatology business, Apostrophe, on March 7 after buying the San Francisco-based company four years ago for about $190 million.

Hims & Hers Health had another setback after forming a partnership with Novo Nordisk on the FDA-approved Wegovy obesity drug in April 2025. Novo Nordisk terminated the arrangement on June 23, 2025, over its concerns about Hims & Hers’ “illegal mass compounding and deceptive marketing,” according to a statement.

Hims & Hers has not filed for bankruptcy at last check.

Beauty brand shuts down operations

Another skincare brand Futurewise Inc. also shut down its business as it discontinued orders on its website beginning March 24, 2025.

Futurewise offered its skincare products Slug Boost, Slug Cream, Slug Balm, and Face Melt, which featured its “slugging” practice of skincare.

Slugging appears to have arrived in the early 2010’s with one of the first documented mentions of the term on a Reddit thread, the website said. The practice has since developed a cult-like following, Futurewise claimed.

Futurewise products were also available at CVS stores, according to the skincare company’s website.

The skincare brand also has not filed for bankruptcy protection at last check.

Haircare brand Essations files bankruptcy to reorganize its business.

Image source&colon; Getty/TheStreet

Haircare brand Essations files for bankruptcy protection

Popular beauty brand Essations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its business and restructure its debts on July 18.

The Chicago Heights, Ill.-based personal products manufacturer and distributor, which was established in 1981, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, listing $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $1 million to $10 million in debts.

The debtor’s largest creditors include the U.S. Small Business Administration, owed $1.01 million; Nikolovski Properties, owed $115,000 in landlord claims; and the Internal Revenue Service, owed $53,000 for taxes in 2021.

More bankruptcy:

Other creditors include Emco Chemical Distributors, Kraft Chemicals, and Neves Global Resources.

The debtor’s Subchapter V petition indicated that funds would be available to distribute to unsecured creditors after administrative expenses are paid.

Essation’s products include a variety of haircare brands, including Essations Collection, Naked by Essations, Naked X by Essations, Textures by Naked, and Tea Tree Collection.

Its haircare products include shampoos, conditioners, stylers, finishers, travel, and skin care and are available at over 170 haircare product dealers nationwide, according to its website.

The company’s haircare products address several hair needs, such as hair growth, volume, moisture, scalp care, hair repair, color-treated hair, frizzy hair, edges, detangling, detoxing, shine, and protein.