The history of the well-known Linna product family began in 1954, with the introduction of a childcare product range by Noiro Oy. ‘Linna’ (‘castle’) came from the Children’s Castle hospital, which opened in Helsinki in 1948 under the leadership of Archiatre Arvo Ylppö.
The tower of this wonderful new hospital was immortalised by the packaging for the first Linna childcare products. Despite being stylised over the years, the Children’s Castle has appeared on Linna Shampoo bottles ever since. We have also stayed true to the iconic, uniquely shaped white plastic bottle since the 1960s.
Over 50 years of Linna shampoo
Linna childcare products were used in nursing at the Children’s Castle hospital (the cradle of Finnish child healthcare), paediatric nurse training, and care for premature babies. Linna Shampoo was developed in cooperation with the Children’s Castle hospital in 1962. Mild and gentle composition were the keywords even then: the new product’s pH was close to that of tears, in order to be gentle to the eyes. In the early 1960s, this led to Linna Shampoo’s caring product pledge “Washes without tears”.
Even then, Linna’s selling points were the good experiences of professionals at the Children’s Castle, product safety and domestic production. Gentle Linna shampoo, Finland’s most popular brand by the 1980s, also became a hit among adults. By the time Linna Shampoo turned 25, it had been passed from mother to daughter, baby to grandfather – everyone in Finland knew the product. Today, all Linna products are manufactured at Kiilto’s factory in Turku, Finland.