Hair-care brand Briogeo is going after the hair density space.
Its new line, called Destined for Density, debuted on Friday with four products including a shampoo, a conditioner, a hair serum and supplements. The products are formulated for daily use to promote hair density at each stage of the hair’s three-phase growth cycle for fuller, thicker hair. According to the team’s own research, 155.6 million people globally are impacted by hair loss. Additionally, “hair growth” is a top-searched concern on sephora.com. “Hair growth/hair thinning” is currently a top search term on Google.
“Destined for Density is a perfect example of the skinification of hair and this 360-degree holistic approach,” said Nancy Twine, founder and CEO of Briogeo. “Skinification of hair was about linking the scalp to your skin, and Destined for Density is, in a lot of ways, about linking hair and scalp with inner wellness.”
What Twine means is that Destined for Density is a collection that focuses on the inside-outside nature of beauty with its ingestible and topical products. Such a concept of taking a supplement to enhance the effects of a topical has been present among skin-care brands for the past several years but has only recently expanded into hair care. Other hair-care brands offering supplements to pair with topicals include Nutrafol, Vegamour, Jupiter and Arey.
In order to accommodate the new collection, Briogeo is dissolving its existing B.Well wellness franchise by selling down existing products. It will keep the line’s supplements products, castor oil and tea tree oil by moving them to other collections. The deodorant will relaunch at a later undisclosed date, said Twine. B.Well launched in Jan. 2019 as an early iteration and adopter of the wellness hair-care trend, which has since proliferated across the hair-care industry.
In April, Wella Company acquired Briogeo. Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, WWD reported that Briogeo’s annual sales exceeded $100 million at the time, citing industry sources. Wella distributes hair-care brands such as Wella Professionals, Clairol, Nioxin, GHD and nail polish brand OPI. Wella itself has gone through a bit of M&A in recent years: In 2020, private equity firm KKR acquired a 60% stake of the company, while former sole-owner Coty retained the remaining 40% interest. In Dec. 2021, the company celebrated its first anniversary as an independent company. KKR and Wella Company have noted the ambitions to IPO in approximately four years.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to be an incredible company. The first thing we’re focused on is making sure we have the right [products] to meet the needs of the consumer,” said Annie Young-Scrivner, CEO of Wella Company, on an April episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. “The second thing is making sure we’re growing in the right way. There’s going to be lots of [exit] options for us.”
According to research firm Insight Partners, the global hair-loss prevention products market was valued at $23.5 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $31.5 billion by 2028. While, historically, topical products such as Rogaine and medicines like Propecia targeted men, women have become a louder voice as they more openly share stories around postpartum hair loss, alopecia and even related effects of Covid-19 infection.
“As a woman, to not feel punished for having this kind of [hair restoration] need [is important]. At the same time, you want to have an enjoyable experience when going through something like this, because it can feel traumatizing to feel like a part of your identity is potentially compromised,” said Claudia Allwood, CMO at Briogeo.
To that end, Briogeo’s marketing for Destined for Density will focus on sharing women’s stories and showing before-and-after transformations of people using the products. These will especially focus on those with traction alopecia, which is caused by tightly pulled hairstyles. The brand will also tap into dermfluencers more than it has in the past, in order to demonstrate its science-backed claims and formulations. Allwood said the campaign will roll out over the course of several moments, starting in January.
