Kevin Murphy: Brand Review and 8 Standout Products

We talk a lot about “beach waves” in the beauty world, but really, it’s probably the most over-romanticized style on earth. Real, true beach hair is often less than ideal—it can be tangled, stiff, crunchy, and smell like algae and tide pools. It’s not the sexy, effortless, Baywatch-run mane that you think of when you read about beach hair. That look is runway beach hair, and it either takes a team of stylists or some seriously great products to appear that effortless.

The truth is, you don’t actually want beach hair—what you want is Australian pop princess hair, or more specifically, Kylie Minogue hair. And who better to give you that naturally tousled Kylie Minogue hair (hereby formerly known as beach hair) than Kevin Murphy, her personal stylist of 10 years?

Of course, that’s hardly his claim to fame these days. In 2022, Kevin Murphy is best known for his eponymous Aussie haircare line that can whip up lightweight, textured, and touchable styles with minimal impact on the environment (And if you truly are a beach fan like you say you are, this is huge).

After years of styling hair on the sets of photoshoots and movies (including a little-known film called Moulin Rouge), Murphy found himself frustrated and boxed in by what was available to him. “The lack of products that performed as I needed them to perform on a shoot forced me to go beyond conventional hair products and look into the advancements being made with skincare,” says Murphy. “I wanted to create a range that, in the hands of a stylist, would change the characteristics of the hair and also take hair trends in new directions.”

To achieve this, his products needed to start with hair health. After all, styling unhealthy strands can only get you so far. “[The brand] is born from the same philosophy as skincare,” says Kevin Murphy stylist and salon owner Sarah Lund. “It combines scientific knowledge with the best natural ingredients available.” That meant creating formulations featuring botanical ingredients that double down in repairing and strengthening. Fortifying ingredients like green pea protein, papain enzymes, and bamboo extract help to repair existing damage, while antioxidants like Kakadu plum, lotus flower, and desert lime provide lasting nourishment. It’s a veritable cocktail for success, and it smells pretty great, too. 

Murphy’s experience on set also makes him uniquely qualified to make products that you can trust will last, whether you’re under the lights and on camera or not. “Everything is weightlessly designed to deliver performance, strength, and longevity,” Lund says. In fact, in some circles, Murphy himself is known as the king of styling, yes… beach hair (a.k.a. Kylie Minogue hair). 

But the brand isn’t all movie sets and pop stars—Kevin Murphy is dedicated to maintaining a balance between using natural ingredients and maintaining those resources. Ingredients are all from sustainable and renewable sources and are harvested in a way that minimizes harm to the environment, and every product is cruelty-free. The packaging (which—done up in pastel pinks, blues, and lavenders—is absolutely the stuff of pop princess fairytales) is recyclable, biodegradable, and designed in a way that uses as little plastic as possible. 

So, which Kevin Murphy products are worth it? Check out a few of our favorites below.