Launched: 2024
Key Executives:
2025 Full Year Expected Revenue Range: $10 to $20 million, according to industry estimates.
2025 Projected Offline Distributions Points: 630
Primary Category: Haircare
Key Markets: North America
Retail Partnerships: Sephora
Primary Distribution Channel: Prestige
Other Distribution Channels: Amazon, DTC
More than ever, the effects of stress, hormones, environmental pollutants, and the use of heated styling tools, are affecting not just our looks, but our overall wellness. When it comes to our hair specifically, these stressors can show up as dryness, oiliness, flakiness, inflammation, and irritation—and even hair breakage and fallout. I created The Rootist as an antidote to modern stressors, providing complete hair wellness for the roots, scalp, and hair.
Formulated to target hair concerns in a more effective and sustainable way, our haircare is made with our patent-pending Rootbiomic Ferment; think kombucha for your hair. This nutrient-rich superbrew promotes a balanced scalp and strong, healthy hair from root to tip. Instead of water (traditional shampoo and conditioners can contain up to 80% to 90% water), our Rootbiomic Ferment is the base in every single formula, and a little goes a long way. Because of this, The Rootist’s fermentation-powered treatments are highly concentrated, reducing waste, weight, and packaging materials. In fact, our new Densify Concentrated Shampoo and Conditioner is so concentrated that you can use less than half your usual amount.
Insights provided by David C. Chung, Founder + CEO
Key business initiatives for 2025?
In 2025, our focus will be on education. Our brand is unique and requires a change in consumer behavior, so we will be taking time to educate our consumers about our “no added water” formulas. We’re pouring all our energy into building The Rootist with Sephora in North America and growing our community to create demand and brand connection. We’ll continue to focus on overall brand awareness, education, and product trials—both online and in stores—with a renewed emphasis on our hero products as well as some exciting new product innovation coming in the fall. It’s tempting to expand assortments, channels, and markets too quickly when you’re starting and growing your brand, but I’ve learned it’s better to focus on your key SKUs and retail partners and grow vertically, not laterally.
What are you most proud of having accomplished?
With the brand not even a year old, I am very proud of the buzz and momentum the brand has generated, including:
Most of all, I am proud that we offer vegan, silicone-free, biodegradable formulas made with responsibly sourced, clinically effective ingredients, so consumers can experience complete scalp and hair wellness powered by fermentation.
What has been the biggest surprise?
It was a tremendous honor and a wonderful surprise to be invited by Sephora to launch into over 600 stores so early in the brand’s life. Launching with Sephora in the US and Canada simultaneously and entering in stores so quickly is practically unprecedented, and we were humbled to have earned their confidence and trust. The phenomenal Sephora haircare merchant team—led by Jennifer Lucchese in the US and Jennifer Tavone in Canada—have been huge believers and supporters of this brand and our unique approach to hair wellness through fermentation from the very beginning.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
The Rootist is pioneering new territory in the haircare landscape, specifically at the intersection of wellness and clinical efficacy—a space we refer to internally as “Science with Soul.” We are grounded in our values of connection, community, and change, and we’re committed to delivering breakthrough solutions that get to the root cause of every scalp and hair concern, through the ancient power of fermentation, as perfected by modern biotechnology.
Relentless innovation is a big part of our DNA. Typical shampoos contain over 80% to 90% water. We use Rootiomic Ferment to reduce and replace the unnecessary added water, making our formulas less wasteful and more powerful. Developing our breakthrough Concentrated Shampoo and Conditioner formulas took over 70 rounds to perfect whereas a traditional water-based formula would take an average of five to seven rounds. You will continue to see us making significant investments in innovation and clinical studies.
Insight on the future of the beauty industry.
The beauty industry is continuing to merge with the wellness sector as we learn more about the overlap between health and beauty. The Rootist is a prime example of this blending of beauty and wellness, as we attempt to address the effects of our digital-first world and the symptoms of stress and anxiety through biotechnology and fermentation. I think we will also continue to see the demand for wellness and self-care rise through ingestible beauty, personalized skincare and bodycare, exclusive probiotics and other mood-promoting ingredients, and new AI technologies. This connection between beauty, health, and wellness will keep driving demand for solutions that deliver real results for the issues consumers are currently facing.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
My mother was an amazing entrepreneur. She taught me that the key to success is your reputation. To her, reputation means underpromising and overdelivering. I have applied this advice to all of my businesses and have found that when you focus on doing a good job while helping others, success always follows.
What is the best mistake you've ever made and what did you learn?
I’ve made so many mistakes along the way. But I’ve learned that behind almost every “mistake” is a lesson. Mistakes teach you so much more than having things go perfectly the first time.
What advice would you give to someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
When you are going out on your own, it is important to remember to stay humble and hungry. You can put a lot of energy and hard work into something, but if you are not helping others or giving back then what is it all for? We don’t take anything when we leave this world. My advice is the same that my mother gave me: “Focus on under-promising and over-delivering.” When you do this, success always follows naturally.
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
I would love to see the beauty community, and all industries, collectively support sustainability on a global scale. We only have one earth, and it is our job to take care of it. The inspiration behind The Rootist was not just to launch another hair brand. I wanted to address this industry’s habit of shipping large bottles of water across the world. We wanted to push the boundaries of green chemistry with biotech haircare that supports the people and planet through fermentation, biologically made and biodegradable ingredients, infinitely recyclable packaging materials, reduced product weight to cut back on shipping and carbon emissions, and prefilled SKUs to eliminate small plastic pieces that are harder to recycle. I think we need to keep asking ourselves, “How can we leave this world better than we found it?”
Insight on the future of the beauty industry.
The beauty industry is continuing to merge with the wellness sector as we learn more about the overlap between health and beauty. The Rootist is a prime example of this blending of beauty and wellness, as we attempt to address the effects of our digital-first world and the symptoms of stress and anxiety through biotechnology and fermentation. I think we will also continue to see the demand for wellness and self-care rise through ingestible beauty, personalized skincare and bodycare, exclusive probiotics and other mood-promoting ingredients, and new AI technologies. This connection between beauty, health, and wellness will keep driving demand for solutions that deliver real results for the issues consumers are currently facing.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
My mother was an amazing entrepreneur. She taught me that the key to success is your reputation. To her, reputation means underpromising and overdelivering. I have applied this advice to all of my businesses and have found that when you focus on doing a good job while helping others, success always follows.
What is the best mistake you've ever made and what did you learn?
I’ve made so many mistakes along the way. But I’ve learned that behind almost every “mistake” is a lesson. Mistakes teach you so much more than having things go perfectly the first time.
What advice would you give to someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
When you are going out on your own, it is important to remember to stay humble and hungry. You can put a lot of energy and hard work into something, but if you are not helping others or giving back then what is it all for? We don’t take anything when we leave this world. My advice is the same that my mother gave me: “Focus on under-promising and over-delivering.” When you do this, success always follows naturally.
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
I would love to see the beauty community, and all industries, collectively support sustainability on a global scale. We only have one earth, and it is our job to take care of it. The inspiration behind The Rootist was not just to launch another hair brand. I wanted to address this industry’s habit of shipping large bottles of water across the world. We wanted to push the boundaries of green chemistry with biotech haircare that supports the people and planet through fermentation, biologically made and biodegradable ingredients, infinitely recyclable packaging materials, reduced product weight to cut back on shipping and carbon emissions, and prefilled SKUs to eliminate small plastic pieces that are harder to recycle. I think we need to keep asking ourselves, “How can we leave this world better than we found it?”
