Launch Date: July 2020
Geography: Austin, TX, US
Founders:
Executive Team:
Notable Investors:
2025 Full Year Projected Revenue: Under $2M
Primary Category: Haircare
Other Category: Wellness
Funding: Friends and Family
Primary Distribution Channel: DTC
Other Distribution Channel: Amazon
Key Retail Partner: Sephora
SHAZ & KIKS is a haircare and hair wellness brand founded by two Indian-American sisters, Shaz Rajashekar and Kiku Chaudhuri. Indian women have always been known for their beautiful hair and that’s not by accident. From a young age, we are taught how to take care of our scalp and hair through plant based ingredients that have been used medicinally in India for centuries. The idea that prevention is better than treating is a very Eastern approach to wellness, and these safe, effective, natural ingredients proactively address the root causes of issues, don't just treat them. At SHAZ & KIKS, we create formulas using these ingredients but modernized to give a luxurious and sensorial experience. Our mission is to help today’s women in their pursuit for their healthiest hair—scalp to strand.
Insights: Shaz Rajashekar & Kiku Chaudhuri, Co-Founders + Co-CEOs
Why now and why you?
The standard approach to haircare is mostly reactive, primarily focused on styling, rather than wellness. Have a hair problem? Let's blow dry, straighten, gel it, mousse it away. Even with some innovation in the haircare industry, there are still massive gaps. Traditional solutions either mask the problem or try to achieve a cosmetic outcome—softer hair, shinier hair, etc. The root problem though is being more proactive and having a holistic haircare regimen that focuses on creating a healthy scalp and hair environment.
And that’s where SHAZ & KIKS comes in! We grew up learning the true art of taking care of your hair, rooted in our Indian heritage and Ayurvedic science; ancient wisdom that was passed down from our grandmother during our childhood summers in India. Indian women are known around the world to have the most beautiful hair, and that’s not by accident. The Ayurvedic approach to haircare is a 360 approach, using nutrient-rich plants to nourish, balance, and strengthen our entire hair ecosystem, root to tip, inside out.
We are taking these ancient practices we learned from the wonderful women in our family, reimagining them for the modern world with innovative formulas, using ethically sourced Indian herbs, oils, and flowers and creating a holistic hair wellness routine. In addition to the efficacy, we strive to make our formulas luxurious and sensorial with unique textures and delivery methods that bring delight to the much dreaded task of hair washing—truly transforming the art and natural science of haircare.
Before SHAZ & KIKS, Rajashekar had a 20+ year career as a seasoned strategy and business management leader, driving businesses to identify growth potential and opportunities and driving teams to execute. A chemical engineer by trade, her experience spans corporate strategy, product innovation, strategic marketing, and general management in diverse industries and geographies. In Chaudhuri's first life, she worked in digital marketing and strategy in the tech and media industries for over 10 years. Her love for her culture and heritage led her to get her undergrad degree in South Asian studies, and after getting her master’s degree in marketing, she specialized in digital product strategy, marketing, and branding.
With Rajashekar's eye for innovation and Chaudhuri's passion for heritage, we combined our many years of experience, deep-rooted love for our culture, and our business smarts to create SHAZ & KIKS.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
With that, we created SHAZ & KIKS to modernize these ancient-old ingredients, formulas, and practices to help women in their pursuit for the healthiest hair—scalp to strand. Our competitive advantage is rooted in our ethos characterized by our three brand pillars:
1. Revolutionary Formulas Rooted in Ayurveda–Our proprietary Ayurvedic-rooted formulas are highly efficacious and highly concentrated that use new-to-market, plant-based ingredients, including our trademarked pHyto-PowerVEDA. Equally important as product efficacy is the customer experience when using our products to create that luxurious, sensorial experience through unique textures and delivery mechanisms; this is where our unique innovation comes in. We want our customers to look forward to their haircare rituals—even something as mundane as washing their hair!
2. Honoring Heritage–At the crux of SHAZ & KIKS, we are a heritage brand. After all, SHAZ & KIKS was born out of our experiences with our grandmother, learning about the art of Indian haircare that has been passed down from generation to generation. We use a lot of storytelling to educate and pay homage to the history and roots of these Ayurvedic ingredients, practices, and holistic approach to taking care of your mind, body, and spirit and how haircare is incorporated into all of that.
3. Pro Planet and People–We are on a continuous journey to protect our people and planet through ethical sourcing, plastic neutrality, sustainable packaging, and positive impact, eco-conscious product formulation.
What are you most proud of accomplishing to date?
We all know that building loyalty is arguably the hardest task for a brand, but that is where our core strength lies and what we are most proud of. Our DTC loyalty metrics say it all; from the very beginning, they have always been significantly higher than the industry average for haircare and have been improving year over year.
Our AOV has increased from $68 to $92 in the past three years, and our repeat purchase rate grew from 41% to 56%. The customer lifetime value of $300 is for all customers, but that number quadruples if you look at our returning customer cohort.
These strong metrics are a true testament to the love that our customers have for our products.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you?
The incredible power of building a strong community and fostering genuine collaborations within the beauty industry. We spent a lot of time initially feeling like we had to do everything ourselves. Leaning in to connect with other founders, influencers, and even customers in a meaningful way has been invaluable for support, learning, and growth.
What would you tell your past self before starting this journey?
Be patient and stay the course. Success is not overnight; building a truly sustainable and impactful beauty brand takes time and unwavering patience and resilience, even though we are inundated by those rare unicorn stories that are promoted by the media. It's about building a sustainable, profitable business, block by block.
What does success look like in the next 3-5 years?
Success in the next 3-5 years is about building a sustainable, profitable path for the brand. We are constantly trying to improve our already fairly strong unit economics, and we aim to get to a point where the business is funding itself and we can then reinvest into smart and strategic growth opportunities. That may come at the cost of a steadier growth rate rather than the coveted hockey stick, but at the end of day, it's about building a business that endures the test of time, and not one that buckles and sways at every headwind.
What's one industry trend that is overhyped, and what's being overlooked?
Overhyped: Miracle hair growth products. The market is flooded with products claiming to drastically accelerate hair growth. While some ingredients and supplements do support hair health and growth, the idea of overnight or dramatic transformation from a product is often unrealistic. Genetic factors, science of hair growth, overall health, hormonal changes, and consistent care all play a significant role.
Overlooked: Targeted scalp care. While the "skinification" of hair has brought some attention to the scalp, the consistent and targeted approach to scalp health is still often overlooked. Many people focus primarily on the hair strands themselves, neglecting the foundation from which healthy hair grows. The scalp isn't as visually apparent as the hair, making it easy to forget, and scalp care results are often seen in the long term through improved hair growth, reduced shedding, and better overall hair health, rather than an instant effect.
How do you think the industry needs to evolve?
The haircare industry needs to move towards more personalization and inclusivity. Moving beyond a "one-size-fits-all" approach by offering products and routines customized to individual hair types, textures, concerns (e.g., scalp health, hair loss, damage), and perhaps even genetic predispositions. Taking it even a step further is utilizing AI-powered tools and at-home diagnostic kits to analyze hair and scalp conditions, providing personalized product recommendations and treatment plans. Finally, shifting away from gendered marketing and product formulations to create more inclusiveness for all consumers. Hair is hair, after all!
If you could wave a magic wand, what one wish would you make for your business?
Our magic wand wish would be that Indian/Ayurvedic rooted haircare becomes as globally ubiquitous as Korean skincare—with SHAZ & KIKS at the forefront of innovation blending the old with the new.
