I am so excited to introduce Rebecca Allen, founder of Helix Hair Labs. We have the pleasure of working with Rebecca in a number of ways at OurX, and today, we’re here to learn more about what got her started with her business, a little bit about her entrepreneurial journey, so you guys can see the ins and outs, what it takes, the challenges, and what keeps your drive going, in the hopes of inspiring those in our community who are thinking of starting a business. Thank you so much for being with us Rebecca.

Thanks for having me. I’m excited.

Rebecca, can you start off by telling us a bit about Helix Hair Labs.

Helix Hair Labs is a hair care tools brand for the future of hair wellness. We are bringing everything from soft goods and accessories to hardware and wet product, all around growing your healthiest hair, styling it with minimal damage and protecting it. We just soft launched earlier this year and we are gearing up for the launch of our first hero tool in the next few weeks.

“So, we felt like initially it was a conversation just focused on hairstyling, because people were styling at home, but then it really became a much deeper conversation about hair health and this journey that we’re all on, right - even if you have your routine down.”

We’re big fans and definitely excited for all the things you have coming down the pipeline. What inspired you to start Helix Hair Labs?

So, to actually go back even further, Helix started as an idea about category expansion for my other business, which is a women’s footwear business. In the pandemic, nobody was wearing shoes for a moment there because we weren’t leaving our homes, and we really started to think about our footwear customer: Are there other categories that she’s into? How is she spending her time? What is she doing and how has her day changed? And we started thinking about hair because people were doing their hair at home for the first time. Sometimes people go to the salon all the time or have different ways that they solve for hair, and people were really getting to know their hair or re-getting to know their hair because they were spending so much time at home or focusing on their hair health, maybe for the first time.

We did a deep dive interview all over Zoom. We conducted tons of interviews where we were just spending time with folks and asking them about their relationship with their hair, their different routines, how they cycle through product, and what’s in their bathroom. We were asking people to open up their drawers and show us, it was very intimate and personal. We were understanding how their wash day works and all that kind of stuff, with people of all different ages and all different types of hair. The biggest thing that came out was really around hair health, and it was also at the same time that folks were losing their hair, whether that was illness related or stress induced, people were having a lot of hair-health concerns and talking about it in a much more front-facing way than we had seen ever before. So, we felt like initially it was a conversation just focused on hairstyling, because people were styling at home, but then it really became a much deeper conversation about hair health and this journey that we’re all on, right - even if you have your routine down. We spoke to people who were in their twenties and people through their sixties and seventies who were like, “I’m still just figuring it out”. So we felt like there was this opportunity to go on this journey together all around hair health.

“…what I thought was a uniquely black experience of … wanting to understand your natural hair - was … a much more universal experience…everybody was trying to get back to basics and focus on health. And I thought that there was something really powerful in the universality of it”

“…there was much more opportunity to bring people together and realize that at the end of the day, we’re all trying to solve for the same stuff, and that maybe it looks different, but at the end of the day, it resides much more closely than we realize.

I love that. Was there anything, before you started Helix Hair Labs, that also lent to this problem that you were trying to solve, like anything before your entrepreneurial experience?

I’ve definitely been on my own hair journey. I think we all have. I’ve gone through periods of chemical relaxer, periods of natural, going back to chemical relaxer, letting it grow out again. And what I thought was a uniquely black experience - of chemically processing hair, but then wanting to understand your natural hair - was, when we started talking to folks, a much more universal experience. Because maybe people are doing keratin treatments, or Brazilian blowouts, or Japanese straightener, or just over-processing their hair with heat or color; everybody was trying to get back to basics and focus on health. I thought that there was something really powerful in the universality of it because I think with hair, specifically, it’s typically so highly segmented. Look at wet products. Looking at your hair, I would say we probably have similar hair, but we probably use different shampoos and conditioners and are still trying different products.

We felt like with Helix and with tools, that there was much more opportunity to bring people together and realize that at the end of the day, we’re all trying to solve for the same stuff, and that maybe it looks different, but at the end of the day, it resides much more closely than we realize.

And the other thing was really looking at the trajectory that skincare was following and thinking about haircare as being in lockstep with that. Certainly we’ve seen skincare shift from color cosmetics to high performance ingredients with serums and all of these extra steps and different things that we’re doing with our skincare. That skinification, right? That all is playing out with how we care for our scalp and how we care for our hair. What we saw was that in the skincare side, high performance ingredient brands were giving way to tools like at-home devices all around efficacy and supporting your skincare routine with LED face wands and all of this gadgetry, right? I love gear and gadgets. So with Helix, we also feel like we’re in the high performance ingredient phase of haircare and that we have the opportunity to meet this customer where we know they’re going with tools and devices that are really going to supercharge their routine.

Awesome. So, something some people might not know about you. What was your job before you became this founder of Helix Hair Labs?

Yeah, so I am also the founder of a footwear business that’s called Rebecca Allen. We used my name because it sounded like a brand that already existed. And when we first launched that business, I would say, “Oh, yeah, I have a footwear brand” and people would be like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of it.” And I was like, “No, you haven’t.” But it sounded like a thing that already existed. So that was kind of to our benefit.

But before that, I was in finance. I worked at Goldman Sachs for years doing investment management. And I think for me, my father is an entrepreneur. You know, he’s almost 80 and he still has his new thing that he’s working on. So, I always kind of thought of my career as entrepreneurial, but I think it’s probably a little bit in my blood.

OK, what gets you out of bed in the morning?

I mean, my children, like physically, would get me out of bed in the morning. I have two young kids. My daughter just started kindergarten. Today was our first day, which is very exciting. And then I have a little, 10 month old who is still breastfeeding in the morning. So he’s kind of my first thing in the morning. But I’d say from a philosophical level - I guess it is definitely tied to my kids - I really want to lead by example for them. I want to show them and be an example of what working hard and seeing the fruit of your labor looks like. I think it’s really important for both girls and boys to see that mom’s working, dad’s working - managing that, but balancing that load of home and work.

My parents moved recently and they have all these pictures, and they’ll come over and then all of a sudden another stack of photos will appear because they went through all these old pictures. And there was a picture of me that’s actually right on my night table (I’m in my bedroom. I’m working from home today) And there’s a picture of me doing a handspring or something on the lawn of my childhood home and the sun is shining and it’s a beautiful summer day. And I need to frame that right by my computer or something because I want to live up to whoever that little girl thought she was going to be, and that’s something that I find I’m always going back to. Are you being true to yourself at the end of the day? Can you live your truth and who you are in all of the facets of your life? If you can do that, that’s amazing, right? And I’ve certainly been in roles where you did not get to do that, right? But I feel really fortunate that I am doing that at this phase of my life and I’m really trying to live up to that expectation.

Wow, I love that so much. It’s so important and definitely easier said than done, and something I also try to aspire to as well. So what does a typical morning routine or work day look like for you? Yeah. So, we have a small office space in Manhattan. I live in Brooklyn where I’m in New York. I’m in the office a couple of days a week, and I’m home some days, it kind of depends on what’s going on. And the day is usually like, breakfast, kids, it’s chaotic, there’s dancing, there’s radio and waking up and getting everybody scrubbed and presentable. I’m a very big breakfast believer. I eat at home, I have a real breakfast before I leave. And then I’m taking the subway to our offices on 38th between 8th and 9th.

“I want people to feel great about their hair, but I don’t want them to have to sacrifice other things to feel great about their hair.”

What issue are you most passionate about solving? What impact do you want to provide to your community?

I am trying to create efficiency and efficacy for people. At Helix, we make products for all types of hair, but I am very excited about, personally, the work that’s been done to make black hair and black hairstyles professionally acceptable, to recognize that there are different ways that different cultures style their hair, and there’s no one person who gets to determine what is presentable, what’s professional. I think at the same time, what we’re really trying to give people, through efficacy and efficiency, is that kind of breath. You don’t have to put so much on it.

I want people to feel great about their hair, but I don’t want them to have to sacrifice other things to feel great about their hair. And so, I feel like there’s two pieces coming from both ends. One is, it should be okay for me to just throw my hair in a ponytail on a day when nothing else is gonna happen. And I feel like sometimes, we could be our own worst enemy about what’s presentable and professional too. But at the same time, I think the conversation that is happening, and even legislation that is happening, is really pushing forward an agenda of inclusion. It is meaningful work and progress that I think has been made for hair. I think we want to play a role in that from the standpoint of giving people back time.

I grew up outside of the city in a community that was predominantly white and I played a lot of sports. I remember the time my friend next to me was taking a shower, throwing her hair in a ponytail, and I didn’t want to spend more time on my hair than she was, because that’s real. That’s less time you’re spending on homework. That’s less time you’re socializing. That’s less sleep that you get, right? Like it can get really crazy. And so, we really want to help people work through their routines in a way that’s not taking away from the other things that they want to do.

What initial steps did you take when you were first getting started with this company?

Well, I started mentioning at the beginning that we a deep interview with a ton of different people to really understand what was most important for folks, and health was that big piece, but then also, to understand what they were doing to promote the health of their hair today, what kind of stuff they would be interested in doing, and what kind of things they were looking for. So that was a big initial exercise that we did.

And then, like nitty gritty, before we had a name or a brand identity, we put together a fake brand and just called it New Hair Co. We put together a deck that was really just about the opportunity that we saw before us, and we had a couple sketches of some of our first tools. There was a bone, but there wasn’t a ton of boot on the bone. But people were interested. There were some people who were like, “This is exciting”. I understand this kind of timing and where we are in this trajectory and path for hair. It was definitely iterative too; how we were positioning the business and the brand initially has evolved from what it was to how we talk about Helix and what we’re building today, as we continue to have conversations and float around. But then, when we were able to secure a little bit of funding for it, we went out and built the brand. We got going on developing our first products, and then started marching toward getting to this soft launch place where we could test and learn, get feedback and understand how the brand was resonating. __ What are some of the biggest challenges that you faced when you were first starting out?__

I think people are excited that we’re doing something differentiated. I think they understand that there’s a whole new white space opening up in hair, and so I think that we feel like a breath of fresh air for a lot of folks.

We’ve had a competitor that makes a similar product to one of the accessories that we soft launched who has a design patent, and we have a pending design patent filed, but this person has one that’s on file. We have been dealing with them from a legal perspective to figure out how we can coexist. They feel very protective over their design, and what we know is that our design is different for starters, but also that there’s a lot of history and a lot of other similar products on the market. That been something that we were super surprised by we’re trying to we’re trying to handle it in an upstanding way. And that’s something we were not anticipating coming out of the cave.

What are some of the beliefs and values that guide the way you operate your business? Collaboration, that is definitely one of them. I think accountability and transparency are huge for me and how I personally operate in all of my interpersonal dealings, whether it’s business or personal. And I think also giving ownership and accolades. For accountability and transparency, I think it never helps anybody if you’re holding back, whether it’s good or bad, I think putting things out there and keeping conversations open is so important for team building. And even when you’re dealing, whether it’s service providers or manufacturers, buying partners, every kind of way you cut it. Accountability is owning it and moving on. I think when things go right, people get those props. When things go wrong, let’s have a talk about this and move on.

I’m trying to strike the balance of having a really clear vision for our brand, but also delegating and letting other people who have expertise run, and not trying to be overbearing for people who know a lot more than me about something. So those are some of the things that really guide how I try to engage my team. And we work with a lot of outsourced contractors because we’re lean and early.

What does success look like to you?

For me, you know, we have investors, we want do right by our investors, we want to create value and have a meaningful exit so that our investors can realize the value of the business. And that’s something that we’re working toward.

But for me, ultimately, when I step back and think about success, we’re relaxing and big thinking, I think being able to be in charge of your day is a lot of what success looks like for me, like ultimately. And I think that there are seasons to work and seasons for life and personal and cycling that balance. Like nobody is striking that balance perfectly all day, every day. But if I think about how much I have in the tank to really run at something? And then is there a season to rest and reinvigorate after that? And so we’re really trying to go hard and think about that cyclically.

What’s the best advice that you’ve gotten on your entrepreneurial journey?

Ooh, this is something that I’m trying to be better at myself actually. I think great founders do a really good job of communicating with their shareholders, investors and advisors. I feel like sometimes we will be sitting on good news that’s pending and waiting for something to happen to then share it out instead of just keeping a regular cadence of communication. I feel like really good founders are super on top of their communication and I am working on getting that cadence right. I think that’s really good advice that some of the smartest folks that I see take to heart.

“…you just have to be in a little scrap ball. Like digging it out and just scrapping it out. And I think that is what I would tell myself like, you need to get dirtier, you need to roll your sleeves up further and you need to be in the dirt more.”

__I want to go back to that image that you saw of your younger self, maybe a little bit older, but the version of you who was just starting out, maybe about to just start her first business. What advice would you have given to that version of yourself?

I think I consider myself a pretty scrappy person. Like I think I know how to do things in a scrappy way and it’s something I pride myself on, but like, I think like being even scrappier is like, you just have to be in a little scrap ball. Like digging it out and just scrapping it out. And I think that is what I would tell myself like, you need to get dirtier, you need to roll your sleeves up further and you need to be in the dirt more.

Yeah, like you have what you need and work with what you have.

Yeah. There’s something that you can be doing right now to drive your business forward, right? Because in the beginning, you are not sitting at 10,000 feet in this vacuum thinking about strategy. You need to be doing tactical man-to-man combat, like how are you driving forward?

I would tell myself to get even lower to the ground. Get on the ground.

That’s definitely real. I think it definitely paints a picture and sets that expectation for people that might just be starting out. You kind of have to wear all the hats and do all the things in the beginning and just figure it out and not let that part discourage the journey either.

Yeah, if you have any last words, feel free to share. This was fun. I gotta go get more scrappy right now. It’s a good reminder. Thank you so much for including me.