Story

September 1, 1939, at 04:00 am, the blast of cannons sounded over Gdynia in Poland. The 24-year-old hairdresser in training Frans Lyko was among those who woke up that morning to face one of the darkest chapters in world history. World War II had started. Two weeks later, the storming of the city was complete, and Frans was deported to a concentration camp.

Almost six years later, the Germans decided for the prisoners of war in Frans's camp to march north. One morning, when the prisoners woke up after marching for 200 kilometers, all Germans were gone. Frans had survived the war, much thanks to his profession as a hairdresser. The Nazis had use for his professional knowledge in the camp, which saved him from the same dreadful fate that many of his fellow prisoners and family members suffered. He had thirteen siblings. After the war, only Frans and one of his brothers were still alive.

At the end of the war in 1945, Frans had the choice to return home, go to the US, Canada, or to Sweden. He ends up in Vansbro, Dalarna, and finds employment in a hair salon until 1952, when he decides to open his own barber shop.

A little more than 20 years after the opening of Frans's salon, his son, Stefan Lyko, followed in his footsteps and opened his own hair salon “Hår & Skägg” (Hair & Beard) in the neighboring town Dala-Järna.

In time, he met the hairdresser Rita, who also had her own hair salon in Värmland county, which was dismantled as Rita joined “Hår & Skägg”.

Besides his profession as a hairdresser, Stefan Lyko has formed an interest in computers. And as he decided to showcase all products sold in the salon on a website, Lyko.se saw the light of day.

It was a simple website with just the 80 different hair products sold at Stefan and Rita’s hair salon Hår & Skägg. One of the products displayed is the, at the time, very rare Australian wax Fudge Shaper that Stefan brought from a hairdressing exhibition in London.

Suddenly, requests started pouring in via email from all over Sweden asking to have the hair wax home delivered. Rita packed the items in the salon kitchen between customer sessions and the orders were shipped with cash on delivery.

Two years after the start of Lyko.se, Stefan realized that they needed a payment solution for the website. Through e-butik, they set up an affordable e-commerce platform and a system for presenting the products visually on the site.

From here on, Lyko's e-commerce took off for real and just got busier and busier. More and more products were brought in as sales increased.

Before a wrapping machine was bought, the family walked over to the local grocery store Hemköp and asked for the plastic wrap used to cover the store's pallets. Sometimes, customers got in touch to complain about the text “Scan skinka” (Scan ham) stamped on the plastic wrapped around their shampoo bottle.

As Lyko.se transitioned from a hobby project into a business, Stefan and Rita’s son Rickard Lyko has started his business studies in Sweden and abroad. Rickard has acted as a sounding board for his parents’ business, even though he always had his sights on a Wall Street career. In 2008, he decided to go all in on his parents’ e-shop instead. He sold his car and his apartment and moved into his boyhood room in Dala-Järna once again.

At this point, the company changed the name from “Hår & Skägg HB” to “Lyko Hair AB”. Rickard Lyko stepped in as the CEO and the rest of the family members as board members. To raise capital for new ventures, Stefan and Rita took out a loan on their house. Rickard and his sister Erika also took out as big loans as possible.



A lot happened this year. Erika Lyko started a hair salon in the Östermalm borough in Stockholm and in Dala-Järna every wake hour was spent adding to the assortment, updating the website, expanding the warehouse, advertising, packing and shipping orders. This is also the year when Lyko.se first was awarded “Merchant of the Year” by Pricerunner (again in 2009 and 2010).

2010 is here, and now neither the staff nor the products can fit into the narrow space in the salon in Dala-Järna any longer, leading to a move to Vansbro, the neighboring town where Frans had started his hairdresser business almost 60 years prior, to get access to a bigger warehouse and office.

The next year, in December 2011, we launched our first own product. The “Lyko Wild Strawberry Sensation Extra Hard Hairspray” was a hairspray that our own hairdressers collaborated on to find the right strength and fragrance. The spray was well-received and quickly became the most sold product at Lyko.se. Later, more products were launched under the brand Lyko, like hair brushes, volume powder, dry shampoo, and hair wax. Fun fact: the first hairspray was dedicated to Frans Lyko and had his social security number as barcode.

2011 is also the year we opened a warehouse store in Vansbro and our first commercials made their debut on TV.

In 2012, we made our e-shop more efficient by investing in a packaging machine, robot, and conveyor belts to optimize packing and be able to increase the capacity of the package throughput.

The next year, Lyko is named a Gasellföretag (Gazelle company) by Dagens Industri (yay!) and the days when the products had enough space on the shelves of the salon “Hår & Skägg” and were packed in plastic wrap from ham products between haircuts are long gone. Now, the products are picked from trolleys handled by forklifts in a big warehouse. The products are carefully wrapped with paper by wrapping machines and every item is scanned to ensure that the right product is shipped to the right customer.

In 2013, we also acquire “Hårvårdsbaren” and “Klippoteket” in Norrköping and start a collaboration with Avensia and Apptus to be able to offer a new digital platform and a top modern e-shop adapted to each customer.

This is a very expansive year in the Lyko story. At the end of 2014, it's official that Lyko has joined forces with the salon-exclusive hair care chain Bellbox. With the merger we get 30 physical, wholly-owned stores with integrated salons in Sweden and Norway. The purpose of the fusion is to become the Nordic market leader in retail of professional hair and beauty products. The merger creates an amazing opportunity for improving the customer offer further, both in physical stores and online.

In 2014, we also acquired Diva, consisting of three hair salons in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Alingsås. We also opened a flagship store in Täby Centrum and launched a new store concept, K15. We're also very happy to be a “Gazelle company” and awarded “Digital Gazelle of the Year” by Dagens Industri.

2015 is a year of great expansion as well. At Lyko.se, over 35,000 products from more than 500 brands in the hair care and beauty field are available. Additionally, Lyko has 33 wholly owned, physical stores with salons in Sweden and Norway thanks to continued expansion and the acquisition of the hair salon YOU in Stockholm. At the same time, we implemented our new store concept in all existing and new stores to give our customers the maximum experience.

2015 is also the year we launched the communication concept “Highlight yourself”, which guides our customers to highlight their best selves using the best of hair care and beauty products with the help of Lyko's creative hair stylists, knowledgeable store employees, and passionate customer service.

In the fall of 2015, we also opened our first combined hair and beauty shop in MOOD Stockholm. In the new MOOD store, we launched our first Beauty Express Bar, giving customers a quick fix with hair styling and makeup.

In 2016, we had 36 physical stores and in December the same year, the first Lyko Concept store also opened in Stockholm – the next steppingstone in the company’s aim to be the first choice for hair care and beauty products. Lyko Concept is an innovative salon and store concept that gathers the most exclusive assortment at Lyko in one place.

This year, we also launched a new product segment called Lyko Professionell Hudvård (Lyko Professional Skincare) at Lyko.se with a handpicked selection of skincare products selected by our certified estheticians.

In 2017, we became a publicly listed company on Nasdaq First North Premier. We also acquired “Affection Kosmetik” in Karlstad.

In the same year, we also launched “Lyko Social”, a digital platform that connects both hair stylists and consumers interested in hair care and beauty.

This year, we also launched our own booking system aimed primarily at hairdressers. The booking system has features that make optimal reservations for the hairdressers and offer the customer a chance to review their hairdresser.

A lot goes on at Lyko, not least as Kenneth Bengtsson is named the new Chairman of the board.

In the second quarter of 2018, we also entered the Finnish market with an online launch. At the same time, Lyko invested in a new warehouse in Vansbro with more automation in place in order to make the inventory management more efficient and to meet the increased demand.


In Sweden, we opened stores in Falun, Sundsvall, and a specialized skincare unit, Lyko Concept Skin in Stockholm. We launched our own skin type test online, where customers get individual recommendations from Lyko’s estheticians.

In 2018, we also started collaborating with Instabox and installed smart boxes in several Lyko stores.

Furthermore, we entered a partnership with ELLE Awards and became the main sponsor of Let's Dance (Swedish edition of Dancing with the Stars) in the tv channel TV4 and were named the “E-retailer of the year” at Retail Awards. Go us!

Lyko continued to grow like crazy! We started online sales in Denmark for example, opened the biggest Lyko store in the world in our hometown Vansbro, and we launched a new store concept, K19, along with the expansion of the Lyko Flagship Store in Westfield Mall of Scandinavia in Stockholm.

After 15 years online, Lyko passed the one billion mark and had a turnover of over SEK 1 billion in the rolling 12 months. In 2019, Lyko Online was also awarded the best workplace in retail 2019 by the Union Handels.

The website Lyko.se started in 2003. At the time, there was ONE Lyko hair salon in Dala-Järna. In 2010, Lyko moved to Vansbro and a bigger storeroom, but just a few years later, this storeroom, well actually the whole building, was crammed. So, after the courtyard too has received a roof to hold products, it was time to move again! But there was no place big enough for Lyko in Vansbro, so what did Lyko do? We built a brand-new warehouse and in 2020 it was finally time to move in! Together we managed to move approx. 55,000 articles and almost 3 million products three kilometers in just 4 days to the brand-new, fully automated warehouse of 13,000 square meters! Cool, right?

In March 2020, we launched our new communication concept “Lyko – Your Beauty Playground” and found ourselves in the middle of our biggest marketing venture ever!

On top of it all, we also started online sales in not just one, but FOUR new countries! And now we exist in eight countries in total: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and Austria – Hello Europe!

Last but not least, Rickard Lyko was awarded “Digital Leader of the Year 2020” by E-commerce recruit and E-handel.se. Congrats, Rickard!

A lot keeps happening at Lyko!

We expanded our portfolio of own brands by acquiring 4 companies for example. First, we acquired the well-established makeup brand Make Up Store, closely followed by the lifestyle brand Pusher, Lyko’s first acquisition aimed at men. Then follows Grazette of Sweden AB, with several brands and a factory in Gothenburg, as well as INZO Lars Bratt AB and the brand Waterclouds. INZO has, in addition to a factory in Tyresö, also B2B operations with their own salespeople.

Over the course of the year, we also opened an IT hub in Borlänge and our first flagship store on the main street Karl Johan in Oslo.

Prior to Black Week, we also managed to start the operations of the automation with double the capacity in the warehouse, which contributed to our success in delivering keeping up the pace with sales records online that Black Week 2021 meant. Go us!

And even though the retail operations were affected by the pandemic, and lost approx. 30 percent in turnover compared to the previous year, we continued to grow and landed on a turnover of just over SEK 2.1 billion in 2021. Bananas – we know!