Part 1: Dani Austin and Divi Hair

Happy Tuesday Friends,

Below is a tldr summary of today’s piece:

• Lifestyle creator Dani Austin began experiencing hair loss in 2018.

• She openly shared her struggles online and started to create content around the topic.

• Dani dove into understanding its root causes, offering her audience reliable resources like wig reviews and sharing results of her homemade scalp formulations made in her bathroom.

• Her audience’s interest in the experiments led Dani to launch Divi Hair in 2021 to develop science-backed products targeting hair and scalp health.

• The brand reached $100 million in sales within its first two years.

The Early Days 🐣 

Dani Austin’s journey into affordable fashion started with a passion—and a little encouragement from her brother. In 2012, she began sharing budget-friendly fashion tips on YouTube. Within three months, her relatable style and approach had attracted 100,000 followers. As her audience grew, so did her content, expanding to cover all aspects of her lifestyle.

However, by 2018, the pressures of content creation began to take a toll on Dani’s health, leading to unexpected hair loss. Her condition worsened to the point where she was nearly bald. Instead of sharing her struggles, Dani kept her condition private, turning to hair extensions and wigs to conceal the loss. This difficult period also impacted her work, as she felt less comfortable in front of the camera, causing her to step back from creating as much content as before.

Over time, Dani made the courageous decision to share her hair loss journey with her audience. She began creating content to support other women facing similar struggles, including honest wig reviews and hair care tips. The response was overwhelming—the comments section was filled with stories and personal experiences from others who were affected by hair loss.

For the first time, Dani felt her content was making a genuine impact on people’s lives. Inspired, she dove deeper into understanding the root causes of hair loss and was stunned by the amount of misinformation circulating online. Determined to find real solutions, Dani began experimenting in her own bathroom, formulating scalp serums to test what worked and what didn’t. She shared her findings openly and started to build a supportive community of women dealing with hair loss. Dani’s transparency created a safe space where others felt empowered to share their own struggles and support one another.

Soon, Dani began receiving requests from her community to purchase the products she’d been crafting in her bathroom. Encouraged by the interest, she started sending samples to women eager to try them, and the results were promising—they experienced the same positive effects she had. Realizing the potential to make a wider impact, Dani took the next big step: she decided to bring her hair care products to market.

Divi Hair is Born 💇‍♀️ 

To bring her vision to life, Dani teamed up with a chemist to refine her formulation, and in 2021, Divi Hair was born. Divi Hair was founded to create science-backed products that make hair and scalp health accessible to everyone.

What sets Divi Hair apart is the central role its community plays in building the brand. With each new idea, Dani can quickly consult her audience to gauge what resonates and what doesn’t, allowing the company to fine-tune its products based on real feedback. This approach has eliminated the need for costly R&D as Dani’s community serves as her testing ground. Her approach to building a consumer offers a glimpse into the future of brand development.

So, what makes Divi Hair truly unique among creator-led brands? 

Unlike many creator-founded businesses, only 10-15% of Divi Hair’s customers come through Dani’s personal social channels. Dani has achieved what few creators do—she’s built a brand that stands independently, without relying on constant promotion from her own platform. 

The proof? 

Word-of-mouth has become Divi Hair’s largest channel for customer acquisition, outpacing even the reach of Dani’s 2.5 million followers. In the My First Million podcast, Dani’s husband recently shared that they did $40M in sales in its first year and about $60M in the second year.

Key Takeaways 💡 

Below are a few key takeaways from studying Dani and her ability to build a community around Divi Hair that extends well beyond her original audience.

• Deep human connections - Dani’s openness about her own hair loss journey, often sharing raw, emotional moments, created a safe and supportive space for tens of thousands of women. By revealing her vulnerabilities, she invited others to share their own experiences, building deep, human connections within a digital space. This trust and direct connection with her audience became the foundation and springboard for Divi Hair.

• The brand has a clear purpose - Divi Hair centers on a clear purpose—supporting those facing hair loss—and it’s a purpose that thrives with or without Dani’s constant presence. By fostering a community where people feel free to connect and share their stories, Divi Hair has grown into a brand that stands on its own. This self-sustaining community is rare for most creator-founded brands, which often remain closely tied to their founders’ personal influence.

• Product that is easy to understand - To build an entire world around a product, simplicity and clarity are essential. Divi Hair embodies this philosophy with a simple description: they develop science-backed products that make scalp and hair health accessible to everyone. The company treats its products as essential tools, focusing on fulfilling real needs instead of catering to superficial wants.

Dani and Divi Hair exemplify the future of the creator economy and the next wave of brand building:

1. Focus on producing valuable, objective content that addresses a specific problem.

2. Cultivate a community of people who are directly impacted by that problem.

3. Develop a best-in-class product to help solve the problem.

Countless creators and celebrities are launching brands and products that fail to address any meaningful needs. As consumers live in a world of abundance, most of these ventures will fade quickly. However, Dani and Divi Hair does not seem to be one of these cautionary tales. The brand achieved nearly $100 million in sales within its first two years and has since expanded into a comprehensive line of products focused on hair and scalp health. It will be fun to see where Dani and team take it.

Have a good week and remember to Go Direct!

Jordan & Scott