A New York-based beauty startup has hit the ground running, providing custom shampoo and conditioner options to consumers, based on their hair type and goals.
Function of Beauty works by asking consumers to answer questions online about hair type, hair structure, and scalp moisture. Following this is a selection from five “hair goals”, as well as the preferred colour and scent. All up, 12 billion different combinations can be created.
CEO Zahir Dossa told Business Insider that, “if we know what a person’s hair profile is and how they’d like their hair to behave or look or feel, then basically we can combine those two data points to be able to come up with a unique base for each person based on their profile, and then various performance blends that we can add that appeal to each hair goal that they fill out.
Further adding to Function of Beauty’s appeal, if a customer’s personalised haircare doesn’t work for them they can send it back and a new formula will be created, free of charge.
Dossa founded Function of Beauty in October 2016, but the startup is now valued at $US110 million, as customers see the value in endless customisation.
Speaking with Business Insider about why he started the business, Dossa says he first noticed the need for Function of Beauty while studying his dissertation – focused on value chain optimisation and ecommerce – at MIT: “I saw that the most bloated [industry] was beauty, and more interestingly, the value chain for beauty hadn’t really changed over the last 100 years. There were all these middlemen in the way.”
Learn more about Function of Beauty here.
