Hair Loss Sparks Success

A story about how Dani Austin's personal struggle with hair loss led to creating Divi, a successful scalp care product company.

"I started losing my hair when I was in college at UT. First, it started with me being stressed because I'm at UT, flying to LA every weekend, posting videos, and having exams. I blow dried my hair, then got hair extensions to cover it up, which made it worse. Then I bleached my hair, which made it even worse.

When we got married, about a year in, I looked in the mirror and realized I literally had no more hair. I had bald spots all over. Jordan, my husband, tried to help by taking me to a wig shop in Dallas - the first place he googled. It was like a Halloween store where the most expensive wig was $15. I left there feeling defeated.

We learned about this wig shop in Los Angeles from Jeffree Star. We flew out there, found my first wig, and I wore wigs for a year. At first, I didn't tell anybody because I was embarrassed. About a month in, I felt like a fraud and decided to tell people. This opened up this door of all these females going through the same thing - this hidden epidemic of hair loss.

I took the year wearing wigs and focused on my scalp health and wellness. I started making my own scalp serums in my bathroom, mixing ingredients from Whole Foods and online. People started asking if I could ship it to them. That's where the idea for Divi originated.

We launched in October 2021, and our first full year we did about $40 million in revenue. This year we're on track to do 30-35% growth."