Beta Test is a column where we'll periodically test and sample locally made products made by entrepreneurs around the Bay Area. Have a product that you'd like us to consider? Email us at: sbloomberg@bizjournals.com.
Company: Barb
Website: https://thebarbshop.com/
What they do: formulate and design gender neutral products for short hair styles
Founders: Sheena Lister and Megan Andrews
Founded: 2021
Location: San Francisco
Employees: 3, plus a part-time sales manager
Product lines: a soft clay pomade
Price: $30 for a 2oz jar
Choosing a hair style is one of the most personal, and visible, ways we express ourselves but the beauty industry still largely divides its products and services into stereotypical gendered categories, often alongside a "pink tax" markup.
But hair is hair regardless of gender (hair type is more important), so a couple of years ago, a San Francisco duo decided to formulate their own styling products for people with short hair and launched a gender neutral hair product line called Barb.
"We launched this as a passion project with the hypothesis that there are many other short hair women, non-binary, trans folks who have had the same experience. We went out to find them and we were very pleasantly surprised by the response and how many other folks like us are out there," co-founder Sheena Lister told me.
Lister founded the company in 2021 with Megan Andrews. The two met through mutual friends and had similar experiences, and frustrations, with the beauty industry.
Despite having short hair, they would be up-charged for a women's haircut at salons. And while traditional barbershops specialize in shorter hair, they cater to men.
Styling products aren't better.
"I had been buying and using products for my 15 years of having short hair that had been made for and marketed to men," Lister said. "And looking at premium brands that are traditionally feminine like Bumble and Bumble or R+Co, those brands are traditionally set up for women with long hair, and a lot of those brands have short hair products… but those products are actually made for men."
While neither Lister nor Andrews had previous beauty industry experience, they worked with industry partners to formulate their first product: a soft, clay-based pomade with a subtle fragrance that's not overtly feminine or masculine. The packaging is similarly minimalistic with an orange logo and text on an off-white label.
Their target customer is anyone with short hair, from chin-length bobs to buzzcuts. Even baldies love it for the smell, Lister told me.
Barb says it has sold more than 10,000 units to over 5,300 customers.
It currently sells the pomade directly via its website, as well as through 88 barbershops and salons nationally — retailers which they affectionally call BarbTailers — and that'll get to around 100 locations by the end of the year through a partnership with Bishops.co, an "all-ages and all-genders are welcome" salon that launched out of Portland, Oregon and now has dozens of locations around the country. It also sells online through Urban Outfitters, as well.
They also have a research and development initiative that they call Ba(R)b&D through which they partner with stylists, dubbed BarbTenders, who work with short hair styles. Some are helping the company develop its next three products in exchange for a share of the profits, as well as credit for their contribution.
Barb's mission is about more than selling jars of pomade, though.
"The product is what keeps our lights on but what's been most exciting has been the community part," Lister said. "It doesn't matter what their gender identity is or their sexual identity is. The common denominator is short hair… Whether you're 18 with short hair or 70 with short hair, there's so much identity wrapped up in hair."
Next year, Lister and Andrew plan on launching a product specifically designed for curly hair, though some people already use the pomade for defining their edges and styling curls, Lister said.
The company is still a small operation with three full-time employees and a part-time sales manager.
They also recently brought on a new director to help develop Barb's go-to-market and retail strategy: Andrew Ross of New York-based XRC Labs, where he is a senior advisor and venture partner. Ross was previously an executive at Estée Lauder and served on the boards of other beauty companies including Dr. Jart+ and Deciem.
Testing notes
San Francisco Business Times Editor-in-Chief Doug Fruehling: I loved the pomade! I'm the kind of guy who buys a lot of hair products and then throws half-used containers away after using them for a while and realizing I don't like them. But I really, truly loved this pomade. This stuff is goes on light and clean. It holds but very lightly — just how I like it. It worked really well with my short hair, and it had a great subtle scent.
Bay Area Inno reporter Sara Bloomberg: My hair is on the longer side, and it was just below my shoulders when I tried Barb's pomade. I enjoyed the mild scent and soft texture of the pomade. It left my hair feeling soft and not at all greasy, but I couldn't get the volume that I look for in hair products. My hair was just a little too long for it to work.
