
Megan Andrews ’07 would have accomplished virtually something for brief hair in elementary college, however her mom insisted that she maintain it previous the tops of her ears. The outcome was an awkward-looking bowl lower that she was, nonetheless, enamored with. As she received older, social pressures pushed her to desert the beloved bowl lower and develop her hair lengthy.
When it got here to her freshman yr at Stanford, she lastly determined to chop all of it off.
This haircut sparked Andrews’s journey in navigating her personal id. Now, she serves as co-founder and chief working officer of Barb, a haircare startup for brief hair. Co-founded in 2021, Barb takes a gender-neutral method to its product branding, offering merchandise for short-haired girls, transgender folks and non-binary individuals who really feel unseen by traditionally-branded hair care. The Daily spoke with Andrews about Barb’s mission and story.
This interview has been evenly edited and condensed for readability.
The Stanford Daily [TSD]: How did Barb begin?
Megan Andrews [MA]: Barb has all the time been right here — I prefer to assume it simply now has a reputation. My co-founder Sheena got here up with the idea. It was fascinating as a result of she had been tossing this concept round for a lot of years after having an ungainly expertise of protecting brief hair. Do I am going to a barbershop? Do I am going to a salon? Where’s my dwelling for my hair? She really began to develop this entire idea and was completely different branding businesses to carry the firm to life. As it turned extra actual and he or she realized she was going to start out an organization, she realized she would possibly want some assist. It was a no brainer [for me] to leap in.
TSD: How does Barb affirm brief hair as an id for non binary, transgender and different individuals who couldn’t discover haircare merchandise that catered to them prior to now?
MA: It’s that feeling of belonging as quickly as you enter a room or have a look at our Instagram feed or see somebody like me on a TikTok channel. I believe there are a number of different methods you possibly can dissect it, but when we will make folks really feel welcomed and like they belong, then we’re doing our job proper.
TSD: What ways and concepts have you ever used to carry your merchandise to an already saturated magnificence market?
MA: We want to come back up with new, extra genuine methods of fascinated by magnificence. That comes from being actually assured in who you might be. That’s our angle, and we hope that resonates with folks in the trade: that they discover that in our model they usually see it, and that [the message] simply retains attending to increasingly more folks.
TSD: How did your expertise at Stanford assist encourage you to create Barb?
MA: My diploma gave me an opportunity to discover and perceive the approach different folks assume, the approach I believe and what’s thrilling to me. You can by no means underestimate the freedom to have a number of completely different experiences you can draw from to construct the greatest model of what you’re centered on at the second.
TSD: What are a few of the greatest struggles you encountered whereas co-founding Barb? What are a few of your fondest recollections?
MA: I’ve by no means began a enterprise, so there are a number of issues. You don’t know what you don’t know, and having the confidence to remain the course when issues aren’t clear or make you anxious is the hardest half for me.
You know, when it comes to recollections, it’s fairly cool. We’ve accomplished a few these ‘Barb’ haircuts. It’s this concept of sponsoring somebody’s expertise or paying for his or her haircut, getting the stylist and permitting somebody to undergo that transformational lower from lengthy to brief. It’s an enormous expertise for folks and it’s wonderful how they stroll into the haircut wanting a method and having this demeanor after which after the haircut, they will seem like a really completely different particular person. And that alone has been wonderful to witness.
TSD: Out of your 3,600+ prospects, you mentioned most are aged 25 to 45. How are you trying to widen your buyer demographic?
MA: In the final three months, 18 to 24 year-olds have been producing 20% of our income. I believe it’s as a result of I lastly received on TikTok. I really really feel like I’ve extra in widespread with Gen Z than a number of different generations, as a result of I believe Gen Z understands that we don’t have time to waste on what different folks assume. We actually need to stay our lives in a approach that’s genuine to us and tear down all the problematic ways in which issues have been accomplished. Somehow, we’re resonating with a youthful technology and we even have seventy-year-olds saying, ‘I can’t imagine you’ve gotten this hair product and may’t wait to make use of it.’ So it’s fairly cool to see that run the gamut.
TSD: What different hair care merchandise have you ever noticed to have gendered advertising, moreover pomade?
MA: With the overwhelming majority of merchandise on the market you continue to see this very gendered thought of who ought to have what sorts of hair, what it ought to odor like [and] what it ought to seem like. And not simply gendered — there’s homophobia, racism and all these cis, heteronormative methods of merchandise. And whereas proper now we’re centered on centering girls, nonbinary and trans folks, I believe it’s additionally vital to all the time needless to say no product really has a gender. We usually are not exclusionary towards anyone utilizing our merchandise, however we predict it’s actually vital to supply these completely different visions of what it seems prefer to have brief hair. That’s our begin, and we sit up for seeing a number of different corporations becoming a member of us.
TSD: How do you intend to make your merchandise extra accessible?
MA: Ultimately, we wish to be all over the place. We have over 50 completely different retailers and salons throughout the U.S. now. We simply signed a nationwide partnership with Bishops Barbershop chain in June. They have 50 areas, they usually’re slowly coming on-line and ordering the pomade into their retailers.
TSD: What suggestions have you ever acquired?
MA: People began discovering us and DMing us. I’d learn a DM that simply mentioned, “Thank you a lot for present, I can’t imagine I discovered my folks. It means a lot to see you and your model” — issues that had been clearly very life-changing for folks on the different finish of the pc. That instant affect struck us and continues to encourage us.
TSD: What sort of affect would you prefer to make on the queer neighborhood and the haircare trade going ahead?
MA: I would like queer children to really feel protected. I would like them to really feel valued, good-looking, stunning and all the pieces in between. That’s the most lasting affect. I believe all of it comes right down to particular person people feeling like they’ve a spot in the world and that they’re seen and cherished.
TSD: How do you hope your model will set a precedent for different haircare and sweetness manufacturers to create extra inclusive merchandise and promoting?
MA: We wish to be the game changers. We need everybody to say, “We ought to have been doing this all alongside and Barb is lastly doing it.” Come, be part of us all. It’ll be an enormous change in how issues are accomplished.
TSD: Where do you see Barb 10 or 20 years in the future? What are your final hopes and targets for the firm?
MA: Ten years from now, Barb will likely be internationally distributed. We’ll have big success inside every of our markets, however in the end will change the face of the hair and sweetness industries at massive. We may have began a dialog and developed folks’s pondering in that house. I believe the affect is the most vital half. If we will make sufficient cash alongside the solution to maintain it, that’s even higher.
https://stanforddaily.com/2022/08/14/qa-megan-andrews-07-changes-the-game-with-gender-neutral-hair-care-startup/