🗂 Overview

Most of you will know someone that’s bald or balding (maybe it’s you) and like many people, you want to change that without going on a trip to Türkiye (Turkey).

This is where hair growth products step in. There have been proven medications, supplements and products that help reduce hair loss and/or promote hair growth. And companies that sell these products are killing it right now because they provide a solution to a very common problem (not that there’s anything wrong with being bald).

Like last week’s post about gut health, this trend is far from new and untapped. The hair care industry is booming right now. There are a lot of competitors but it’s also such a big industry and it’s growing so fast that niching down or targeting a less saturated region can still be insanely lucrative.

Don’t be scared of competition, it just means there’s plenty of demand and if you differentiate enough you can easily succeed.

👀 Things worth checking out

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📈 Stats

• According to data published by the American Hair Loss Association, it was stated that over 95% of hair loss in men is caused due to androgenetic alopecia. (source)

• Data published by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, it was estimated that nearly 40% of men encounter some degree of hair loss by 35 years of age, 65% at 60 years, 70% at 80 years, and 80% at the age of 85. (source)

• Androgenic Alopecia is explained here.

• The male alopecia segment dominated the market in 2022 with a share of 54.72%, owing to the high prevalence of hair loss in the male population worldwide. However, the female alopecia market is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate.

• North America has the largest market share in alopecia treatment in 2022 with a share of 35.89%, driven by increased awareness among consumers and advancements in technology.

• Asia Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR of over 9.5% during the forecast period.

• This is a great report to learn more about the market.

🧮 Trends

⭐️ Examples

• Hims, Manual, Numan and many more have grown immensely popular over the last few years. Hims was founded in November 2017 and now has a market cap of $1.4B. Likewise, Manual (a UK brand) is valued at around $180m.

• Mielle Rosemary Oil has benefited massively from rosemary oil’s benefits for hair loss going viral on TikTok. They’ve had a 271% increase in searches in the last 12 months.

• Sugarbear hair vitamins are another example of a brand that went viral in this space. You probably saw a bunch of influencers promoting their products a few years ago on instagram.

💡 Opportunities

• White-Label Prescription Medication - Medications like Minoxidl and Finasteride are the most popular (and generally accepted to be the most effective) prescription products for hair loss and hair regrowth.

   

  Companies like Truepill offer prescription products via white labelling (or as they like to call it - a virtual pharmacy). They’re used by HIms to offer prescription and consultation services to their customers - Hims is basically just a marketing company that out-source fulfilment to Truepill. You can see some of their customers here.

   

  They seem like a similar (but more complex) version of Supliful that I mentioned in last week’s email.

   

  They have a market cap of $1.6B and work with some pretty big brands so it might be difficult to get approved to use them but there will almost certainly be other companies offering this “virtual pharmacy” service. They are also licensed for the USA so won’t work in other markets.

   

  The good thing about these types of prescription products is that they are usually sold via subscription and it’s advised that people keep using them for a long time - in the case of minoxidil and Finasteride, once you stop taking them the hair loss resumes. So LTVs should be very high.

   

• Non-Prescription Products - Alternatively, you can sell non-prescription products like rosemary oil, hair gummies, biotin, vitamins, shampoos, scalp scrubbers and scalp scrubs.

   

  There are brands like this one that offer white-label services for these types of products as well which help to reduce the barrier to entry. I’d suggest starting off white-labelling first until you’ve got some traction. I included a list of supplement manufacturers in last week’s email - there are quite a lot of options so go deep into Google to find the best one.

   

  Like with prescription medication, you can sell these products via subscription, and as progress generally takes time to show you should see a higher (although maybe not quite as high as prescription) LTV.

   

• Derma-Rolling - Dermarollers are devices that may stimulate hair growth. These products have microneedles that prick the skin and may help hair growth by increasing blood flow to the scalp.

   

  There doesn't seem to be a go-to brand here yet like there is with medication and vitamins (at least from what I’ve seen) - so creating a brand that effectively promotes the benefits of micro needling and makes the product look sleek and attractive could be a big opportunity.

   

  You can sell these via subscription too, as over time the needles will need to be replaced for sanitary purposes. You can also upsell by offering cleaning solutions and tiered-quality products.

   

• Laser Therapy - According to a 2014 study, low-level laser therapy appeared to be safe and effective for hair growth in both men and women. At the moment there are a lot of negatives about this kind of treatment. It’s expensive and inconvenient but if you can solve these issues you’re onto a winner. Laser Caps seem to be the best solution for this but have a high cost (although this does vary by make and supplier). This could be a good high-ticket product to sell or a good product to bring to market at a lower price. Unlike the other product options above, this one is unlikely to have subscription potential, which means LTV might be lower over time (depending on your price and margins).

🛠 How to build it

• As with most businesses, it’s a very good idea to have at least some knowledge of the industry you’re operating in. So first make sure you learn about hair loss treatments and the risks and rewards associated with each solution.

• Determine which hair loss/growth solution is best for you and how you can offer that in a way that is different to competitors on the market. Consumers can be quite price sensitive here (particularly for supplements and medication) as it’s almost always going to be the same product repackaged. But don’t just make price your only differentiating factor - look at convenience, brand, quantities, after-care support, form factor, shipping, etc.

• A DTC website using Shopify is the quickest and cheapest way to get started - if the brand blows up look at selling on Amazon or in-store (depending on the product).

 🚀 How to grow it

• Influencer Marketing - This should be one of your main channels. Most hair loss brands have grown with the help of influencers be that. I’d recommend a mix of experts & non-experts unless you’re going heavy on targeting a specific niche.

• Track the Competition - As mentioned, there are a number of competitors in this space. Use a tool like tona to track your competitor’s prices, product launches, website changes and emails so you can stay one step ahead - tona can save you hours of work by doing all this automatically whilst also providing key insights into your competitors. With the number of competitors in this space, continued competitor research is a must.

• Paid Social Ads - Running ads on TikTok & Meta is still one of the best and quickest ways to find new customers. Use the Meta and TikTok ad libraries to see what your competitors are doing.

• User-Generated Content - Starting off with a brand for hair loss or hair growth can be tough because getting progress photos can take months or years. But once you can source progress content you’ll need it for your website and marketing materials. Get customers to send in photos & videos showing their progress - Manual encourages all customers to take and upload progress photos so they can track their change over time but they no doubt get permission to use these for marketing as well.

• PPC Ads - Like Paid Social ads, running PPC ads on Google is a great way to get in front of high-intent users looking for a solution to their hair loss/growth problems.

• Get in the Press - You can use tools like Brand Push or Qwoted. This company also helps small businesses get media coverage.

• Create Content on TikTok - Check out the hair loss and hair growth hashtags as well as for products like derma rollers, vitamins, minoxidil, etc and see what sort of content is working the best.

• Publish Written Content - Create a blog that answers common questions related to your niche. This will help you rank on Google and build authority in your niche.

• Reddit - Reddit has a big hair loss community. If you can find a way to bring value to relevant subreddits without overtly selling you should see some growth. Try using user-generated reviews, and get customers to post about their experiences with your brand. If your solution solves the hair loss/growth problem well enough it can easily go viral here.

👍 Tips

• There are loads of aspects to hair care - try niching towards specific aspects and look at expanding later if necessary.

• There are some massive players in this space already. But don’t let that put you off - new brands are popping up all the time. Make sure you focus on solving a problem and differentiating yourself from what’s already out there. Do a lot of research before launching anything.

• Look at good and bad reviews for popular products in this space and create a solution that solves people’s most common gripes whilst also maintaining their satisfaction.

📚 Helpful resources

• Truepill

• Supliful

• Shopify

• Doctor Gary Linkov - this guy has the best content for hair loss

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