Josh Wood, hair colorist to the stars, gets $6.5M led by Index in its latest D2C bet

Index.html" target="_blank">In the age of Index.html" target="_blank">Index.html" target="_blank">Amazon, where up to Index.html" target="_blank">Iness/2019/mar/07/almost-90-of-uk-shoppers-use-Index.html" target="_blank">Index.html" target="_blank">Amazon-research-reveals">90 percent of all consumers use it to buy goods and Index.html" target="_blank">Index.html" target="_blank">Amazon is accountIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing for a Index.html" target="_blank">Index.html" target="_blank">Amazon-consumer-spendIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing/">rapidly-growIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing percentage of a consumer’s total retail spend (along with other giants like Walmart), direct-to-consumer brands — leveragIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing social media alongside tech-first apps — are emergIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing as sometimes surprisIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing, but often effective, competition.

Index.html" target="_blank">In one of the latest developments, London-based celebrity hair colorist Josh Wood — who has worked with the likes of David Bowie, PJ Harvey, Florence Welch, Saoirse Ronan and Elle Macpherson, as well as with fashion designers Miuccia Prada, Donatella Versace and Marc Jacobs (and, disclaimer, me: I tried out his products before agreeIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing to write this story) — has raised $6.5 million led by Index.html" target="_blank">Index-ventures">Index.html" target="_blank">Index Ventures, with JamJar Index.html" target="_blank">Investments and Venrex also participatIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing, to launch his products Index.html" target="_blank">Into cyberspace with the aim of disruptIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing the at-home hair color Index.html" target="_blank">Industry.

At-home hair color is a huge market that has largely been untouched Index.html" target="_blank">In terms of Index.html" target="_blank">Innovation. Some 80 percent of women over 25 color their hair, with 75 percent of those doIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing it at home, workIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing out to an Index.html" target="_blank">Industry worth $20 billion annually.

As with other direct-to-consumer brands, tech is playIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing a role on multiple levels at Josh Wood, from how the product is developed through to how it will match with consumers, as well as how it is marketed.

But unlike other direct-to-consumer startups, Josh Wood actually put down roots (heh) first Index.html" target="_blank">In a very non-tech environment.

If you live Index.html" target="_blank">In London, you might already recognise the name and logo of Josh Wood. Apart from his star list of clients (and the name check he gets Index.html" target="_blank">In the media for that work), he has already been runnIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing his hair colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing busIndex.html" target="_blank">Iness at some scale.

Wood’s products have been adornIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing a selection of London buses, Index.html" target="_blank">In part to promote a partnership he’s had for the last year with Boots, a big UK chaIndex.html" target="_blank">In of drugstores, where his colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing kits and other products are sold alongside big names like Revlon and L’Oreal.

That partnership has been a big boost for both Wood and Boots so far. Some 240,000 products were sold Index.html" target="_blank">In the first year, contributIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing to the first growth spike that Boots has seen Index.html" target="_blank">In the hair colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing category for more than a decade. (One reason also that the startup attracted the likes of Index.html" target="_blank">Index, which has been behIndex.html" target="_blank">Ind other companies that have straddled the worlds of women’s consumer goods and tech, such as Farfetch and Glossier.)

The range of products — which Index.html" target="_blank">Includes hair colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing kits, root concealer products, and color-specific shampoo and conditioners — has been marketed from the start as a new take on hair colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing.

Wood has been workIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing as a colorist himself for some 30 years, and while he has worked with some of the biggest names Index.html" target="_blank">In women’s hair care Index.html" target="_blank">In that time — he’d once been a global ambassador for Wella and he is currently global color creative director for Redken — he believes that there is a lot of room for improvement Index.html" target="_blank">In home colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing.

“You get thousands of boxes of hair colors, and women are usually terrified of makIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing the wrong choice,” he said Index.html" target="_blank">In an Index.html" target="_blank">Interview. And that’s before you consider how prolonged dyIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing at home can fry your hair if you don’t know what you’re doIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing, or usIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing the products Index.html" target="_blank">Incorrectly.

Wood’s focus up to this poIndex.html" target="_blank">Int has been maIndex.html" target="_blank">Inly on the product itself. UsIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing his learnIndex.html" target="_blank">Ings from beIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing a leadIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing colorist, and knowIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing some of the pros and cons of workIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing with brands that already sell mass-produced consumer goods, he has worked with chemists and other product designers on developIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing new ranges of shades an add-Index.html" target="_blank">In product, called “Shade Shot Plus,” that extend the range even further and brIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing Index.html" target="_blank">In highlights that are unique to each person’s hair; as well as aftercare products.

Shade Shot Plus has been a particularly notable development. Wood said that up to now the maIndex.html" target="_blank">In endgame for producers of at-home hair colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing products has been to create standardised colors that will always look the same on each woman, so that it can be sold more consistently and predictably (thIndex.html" target="_blank">Ink of those slightly macabre locks of hair that you sometimes see hangIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing Index.html" target="_blank">In the aisles at drug stores showIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing “the color”). But the product developers couldn’t standardise how the highlights product would look. That roadblock, Wood said, turned out “to be a gift.”

Index.html" target="_blank">In fact, standardised color runs counter to how professionals work, and what those who go to professionals want. “No two colors are the same,” he said of Shade Shot Plus “One of the big barriers at home is that women feel they have obvious ‘box color’, cookie-cutter lego hair, but this unlocks that, because the tones deposit differently on everyone’s hair.”

That product development is set to contIndex.html" target="_blank">Inue. With an approach remIndex.html" target="_blank">Iniscent of Third Love how it has redefIndex.html" target="_blank">Ined shoppIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing for bras by Index.html" target="_blank">Ingerie-startup-gets-a-55m-boost/">vastly extendIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing the range of bra sizes, the idea will be to extend that color range even further down the lIndex.html" target="_blank">Ine.

“This is the tip of the iceberg Index.html" target="_blank">In terms of the ideas I’ve got,” he said. “There is a lot to learn from base color and foundation matchIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing. This is a category that has had no Index.html" target="_blank">Innovation for decades and this is just the first iteration.”

But now, with the fundIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing, the plan is to complement that product development with technology to help people fIndex.html" target="_blank">Ind colors that best suit their own preferences — whether it’s for a new color that will go with a specific complexion, or to fIndex.html" target="_blank">Ind the tIndex.html" target="_blank">Int that most closely matches the color their hair used to be before it turned grey. At the same time, the aim is to deliver at-home dyIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing Index.html" target="_blank">In an experience that is more remIndex.html" target="_blank">Iniscent of what you get if you pay much more (and spend more time) goIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing to a trusted, professional hair colorist.

“We are pressIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing heavy on beIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing able to deliver an amazIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing consultation onlIndex.html" target="_blank">Ine that will deliver a bespoke hair color that is very natural and covers grey,” he said. “But at our heart, I’d like to thIndex.html" target="_blank">Ink of us as a brand that cares for the condition of your hair.”

Wood said that he is currently hirIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing and workIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing with technologists to develop color-fIndex.html" target="_blank">IndIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing tools, akIndex.html" target="_blank">In to the kIndex.html" target="_blank">Ind you might come across Index.html" target="_blank">In onlIndex.html" target="_blank">Ine makeup storefronts, to explore both how a woman (or man) looks, and what she or he is lookIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing for.

This is Index.html" target="_blank">In progress but the idea, it sounds like, will not only Index.html" target="_blank">Involve computer vision but also machIndex.html" target="_blank">Ine learnIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing to tap Index.html" target="_blank">Into a bigger database of what “lookalike” complexions and people choose for colors, as well as a database created by Josh Wood itself to match those colors, based on the tIndex.html" target="_blank">IntIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing choices that many professionals would make for those people were they sittIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing Index.html" target="_blank">In a chair Index.html" target="_blank">In a salon.

Wood said that he wanted to raise this money and expand the product as a direct-to-consumer offerIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing because he didn’t thIndex.html" target="_blank">Ink he’d be able to achieve this with somethIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing that is sold on a shelf — although the idea will be to complement that, too.

“The reason we are approachIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing this growth phase from a digital perspective is because we want to develop our busIndex.html" target="_blank">Iness” — the market for at-home colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing is much bigger than professional, Index.html" target="_blank">In-salon colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing — “but also have a best-Index.html" target="_blank">In-class consultation tool. I’ve been colorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing for nearly 30 years and this is the moment for me to democratize my learnIndex.html" target="_blank">Ings, and I couldn’t do that without digital. There is no other way to connect with so many consumers, and it’s very difficult to get that element right Index.html" target="_blank">In a brick-and-mortar poIndex.html" target="_blank">Int of sale.”

I asked Wood if he would also explore the idea of subscriptions, a la Dollar Shave Club, as part of the mix as well, and his answer was actually a little refreshIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing and I thIndex.html" target="_blank">Ink is a good sign for how this might develop over time.

“We are less keen on subscriptions and more keen that women feel we’re Index.html" target="_blank">In the bathroom with them every time, monitorIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing how their hair color changes over time. We want somethIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing much deeper than just sellIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing the same thIndex.html" target="_blank">Ing to them once a month.”