A lot has changed for Sarah Hindsgaul in the decade since she joined Stranger Things — and that might still be an understatement. As the show’s lead hairstylist, she’s earned two Emmy nominations (you can thank her for Millie Bobby Brown’s buzz cut, Sadie Sink’s cave curls, and Natalia Dyer’s perm), met her now-husband Matt Duffer on set, and, most recently, channeled the chaos of 16-hour shooting days into her own beauty brand.
Behind the scenes, Hindsgaul Hair was born because the stylist was battling her own Demogorgon in the form of product buildup and Atlanta humidity. On Instagram, you might see her gluing down wigs or teasing retro volume, but the idea behind her line was more straightforward. She needed a “clean foundation,” with products that wouldn’t “weigh down the hair,” she tells me. “I wanted to make something the cast could use at home so they could come in fresh.”
Her fix? A four-piece hair care system, complete with a scrub shampoo, mask, dry puff, and mousse — and not your mom’s sticky foam from the ’80s, though that’s the era in which the show is set.
“I thought if I knew exactly what I wanted, how hard can it be?” Hindsgaul, who started the brand with her husband, tells me. Turns out, a little more difficult than expected. Five years of testing rounds later, the formulas were right, but the fragrance also had to be perfect.
The sensory experience was crucial for Hindsgaul because, growing up in Copenhagen, the only available shower was in the freezing basement of her apartment building. “You had to go down four sets of stairs over the courtyard in the snow,” she says. “The only thing that made it worth it was when the shampoo smelled amazing.”
Funnily enough, those frigid Scandi mornings ended up inspiring the brand’s signature scent, developed with perfumer Jérôme Epinette. With notes of citrus, cucumber water, violet, and cotton, it’s all about channeling a clean, crisp spa moment.
Below, Hindsgaul breaks down the four products she relied on most — the kind of backstage staples that quietly shaped Stranger Things’ visual language, season after season.
The Scrub
The catalyst behind Hindsgaul starting her own line — and the hardest product to crack in the lab, she says — is the Scalp Scrub Shampoo. It’s like an exfoliator meets clarifying wash. “One of the most important things was that the scrub lathers up to something that feels creamy,” she says. “All those little salt particles need to melt away.”
And melt they do. Sea salt lifts product buildup, while almond oil keeps the scalp calm and hydrated, leaving behind that elusive combo of squeaky-clean and feather-light. To boost shine, Hindsgaul added cloudberry, Nordic cotton, and pea peptides across the entire line — ingredients rich in antioxidants that help hair handle humidity, cold, and whatever else life throws at it.
After just one round of shampoo (something I’ve personally have never managed before), your scalp feels completely reset — and you bought yourself at least an extra two days between washes.
The Mask
To re-moisturize after the scrub, Hindsgaul’s conditioning mask uses a cocktail of lightweight oils — jojoba, apricot, shea, and Moringa — that add slip and shine without flattening your roots.
The formula also contains quinoa, chickpea, lentil, and rice — protein-rich superfoods your hair will happily snack on, as they help minimize breakage and protect against dryness.
The best part? It only needs to sit two minutes in the shower. Because who, exactly, has time for a 15-minute mask on a Tuesday morning?
The Mousse
Old-school mousse has a reputation for turning hair into ramen noodles — crunchy, brittle, and strictly look-don’t-touch. But Hindsgaul’s soft-hold version does the opposite: It gives lift and shape with a flexible finish.
The formula is boosted with vitamin E to smooth the cuticle and add shine — and most importantly, it’s weightless (spot the theme). “The whole idea was to not have residue,” she says. “So it needed to be very light.”
Once worked through damp hair, the mousse sets the shape while still melting into the strands, leaving a bouncy, air-dried finish that won’t turn greasy by day two. “The mousse is what keeps the hair in the position I want it to hold,” Hindsgaul says. “It’ll last until you shampoo again.”
The Dry Shampoo
Where most dry shampoos leave behind a chalky cast or include gritty texturizing ingredients, Hindsgaul’s puff lets you directly target oil-prone zones without the telltale product buildup. The powder feels silky and touchable — matte, but not in a “scratching out the white flakes” kind of way.
“You’re not forcing it into your scalp,” she says. “You just want to lay it on top.”
Hindsgaul uses it preemptively. The day after a wash, she taps a little around the ears to absorb oil before it even appears. On day two, she moves to the crown. And by day four (which she says she hits often), it’s a full-scalp situation.
Like the rest of the line, it’s engineered to disappear — minimizing residue and giving the illusion of freshly washed, voluminous hair. Which, honestly, is a beauty trick anyone can get behind.
