I don’t know when the Hers targeted ads started, but looking at the “Recently Watched” tab on Hulu (a subscription app that I refuse to upgrade to watch ad-free), it was probably sometime between my millions of rewatches of “30 Rock” and “Absolutely Fabulous” and my one viewing of “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.” The algorithm correctly identified me as someone who identifies as a woman, or, more specifically, a woman slowly approaching middle age.
This also puts me in the growing demographic seeking Hers’ solutions, which, according to my personalized ads, include pills for weight loss and sexual health, as well as hair growth serums and pills. The telemedicine company, which launched as Hims in 2017 to democratize erectile dysfunction and hair loss medications for men, reported 1.9 million subscribers across both platforms in the second quarter of this year, a 43% increase over 2023. Hers’ business encompasses the company’s “some of the fastest-growing categories behind the scenes,” CEO Andrew Dudum told Axios in August.
50% of women will experience hair loss at some point in their lives due to stress, hormonal imbalance, aging, nutrition, genetics, or a combination of all these mitigating factors. One could argue that catering to a very large market – about 30 million women in the US alone, according to the Cleveland Clinic – is simply good business. But this is shaping up to be a much bigger business, as scalp care and hair loss products are some of the fastest growing segments of the $456.8 million US luxury hair products market, and hair loss products will grow 34% in 2024 over last year, according to market research firm Circana.
Even in a more conservative investment environment, hair growth startups remain an attractive proposition. Hair wellness brand Vegamore announced $80 million in growth funding from General Atlantic in 2021 ahead of its retail expansion into Sephora. It achieved $100 million in sales and double-digit EBITDA margins last year. In 2022, Unilever acquired hair growth supplement company Nutrafol after a 13.2% minority investment. In August of this year, Hey Day facial bar co-founder Michael Pollack and former Estée Lauder executive Steve Klebanow closed an oversubscribed $3.6 million pre-seed round of funding for Great Many. Great Many is a hair growth startup that prescribes topical and oral hair loss products, and its first clinic, opened in New York’s NoHo neighborhood, offers scalp treatments as well as hair analysis services.
But there’s still plenty of room for growth in the sector, both for new entrants and incumbents looking to differentiate in an increasingly crowded market. Many of the hottest brands and products currently treat “one type of scalp,” suggests Stuart Miller, CEO of Denmark-based Hair Clinic, which has been in the hair restoration business for 32 years and whose client list includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Violet Grey founder Cassandra Grey, and celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton.
“The reality is, if you think about skin care, for example, there’s no miracle that’s going to solve all of people’s problems,” he added. As demand grows, the market will need to adapt to that reality.
What is driving the trend?
Jennifer Lucchese, vice president of hair care products at Sephora, said the rise of the hair loss market is a sign of the ongoing “skinification” of the hair care sector. Modern consumers are paying as much attention to their hair care products as they do to skin care. She added that the trend began in the aftermath of the pandemic. At the time, many people experienced stress and COVID-related hair and scalp problems, and at the same time, their attitudes towards beauty and health evolved, leading them to embrace a more holistic approach to health.
Social media has also played a major role in normalizing hair loss for the masses: A quick look at TikTok alone reveals more than 91 million, often candid, videos about postpartum alopecia, a common and reversible condition that occurs after giving birth.
“People are starting to have these conversations. These are things they can talk about without just feeling embarrassed or keeping it secret,” says Dr. Afton Cobb, a dermatologist in Jackson, Wyoming, who is seeing more and more patients in his clinic with alopecia, the medical term for hair loss that can manifest in a variety of ways as a result of a variety of causes, some of which are easily treatable, some of which are not.
Cobb said more patients are looking for “more natural” solutions to combat hair loss. That demand has led to the emergence of new products touting plant-based, vegan ingredients and new scalp-centric brands. For example, Vegamore’s new Glo+ Hair Serum, for which Cobb oversaw clinical trials, aims to reduce hair loss with hair-thickening compounds found in natural ingredients like lapontic ruber root. There’s also Divi, from influencer Dani Austin, and Jooy, from beauty entrepreneur Jennifer Yen and anti-dandruff brand Jupiter, which raised $3 million in funding in January.
These new products have given the category a scroll-friendly sheen, with sleek, understated branding and celebrity ambassadors. (Nicole Kidman is an investor in Vegamore.) Retailers are also ensuring its continued growth by selling these products in the hair-care aisle alongside glossy styling products. In the past four years, Sephora has onboarded Nutrafol, Vegamore, and scalp-care brand Act+Acre, and is working with other hair brands, including Ouai, Fable & Mane, and Briogeo, to address overall scalp health with their products.
“Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about the underlying causes of hair loss and thinning, which is driving continued interest and investment in this area,” Lucchese said.
Growing a Successful Hair Removal Business
For longtime players in the hair removal industry, the increased interest has created competition but also new opportunities to stand out and scale.
“It’s interesting to see how many brands are coming into this market right now,” says Hårklinikken founder Lars Skjøth. “Their motivation is clearly opportunity: ‘Wow, there’s a lot of talk about this, let’s put something out,’ whether they have the rights or not.”
Scourse, a biochemistry expert, founded Hårklinikken after developing a proprietary compound to treat his own scalp problems. He’s grown his business steadily through word-of-mouth referrals, and in contrast to some of the more noisy telemedicine startups, his treatment protocols and first supplements, which soft-launched in June, don’t contain any pharmaceutical ingredients.
But Miller, who ran the business for clean beauty retailer Credo before joining the Danish company earlier this year, believes the high-touch business, which has doubled revenue since 2020, is scalable. Though 90% of Herc Clinicen’s global consultations, which serve more than 100,000 customers, are now conducted online, the plant growth extracts are still custom blended in one of five clinics in Copenhagen, New York, Reykjavik, Dubai and Beverly Hills, with formulas continually adjusted throughout the lifecycle of the brand’s relationship with the customer. Miller plans to expand Herc Clinicen’s presence with a sixth clinic opening in London next year. The company will also leverage the shop-in-shop model to expand its network of certified clinicians to aesthetic and dermatology offices, styling and color salons, and make its silicone-free cleansing and care products available through a limited distribution network that includes a national expansion of hair salon Spoke & Wheel. In January, select products will also be available at celebrity aesthetician Joanna Czech’s clinic. Schott and Miller have also beefed up their marketing muscle: this spring, Harkliniken signed Helena Christensen, the Danish supermodel who began losing her hair after receiving her first Covid vaccine, as its first ambassador.
“The thing that stuck with me the most about[working with the brand]is that skin care continues beyond the hairline,” Christensen said. And it’s a message that’s starting to get across to others.
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