Revlon and Lanvin Board Member Ceci Kurzman Launches Platform for Textured Hair
Frustrated with the lack of investment, innovation and data surrounding textured hair care, Ceci Kurzman, a veteran music executive and board member at Revlon and Lanvin, has come up with her own offering.
Cue OurX, a direct-to-consumer platform she founded with the mission of creating a new standard for tightly textured hair and scalp care via education, personalized regimens and its own product line.
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“It’s really about solutions. Solutions both to what I think has been a bit of an industry misguided approach to textured hair, but also really solutions for consumers,” said Kurzman, who previously founded artist management company Nexus, in an interview with WWD.
Via the platform, users will go through an in-depth assessment, which collects data on everything from their hair and scalp attributes to their lifestyle and preferences. That includes a series of at-home hair health tests and personalized education and the analysis of this data, combined with the input of trained hair experts, who will provide consumers with a daily regimen to achieve their optimal hair health.
As part of the regimen, there will be a curation of treatment-based products, developed by OurX specifically for textured hair. Launching with seven stock keeping units including Scalp Serum, $24; and Detox Cleanse Complex, $24, the products are formulated with skin care inspired ingredients like hyaluronic acid and squalane, combined with innovative ingredients, such AI-created peptides.
Subscriptions, including hair coaching and curated education, are available and on average cost $100 every six weeks.
“This is the expert in your pocket that has taken all your data and designed a program for you and it takes you through day-in day-out,” continued Kurzman. “It takes you through styling choices that aren’t going to damage your hair. It takes you through what to do at night, what to do if you’re going to go to the gym, what to do if you’re going to go in the water.”
She likened OurX to fitness apps, seeing them both as goal-oriented companies. “We want you to have a great experience in the shower, but we’re really looking for the results over three, six, 12 months and seeing that long-term shift to achieving and maintaining hair health.”
OurX will be led by CEO Meghan Maupin, who previously cofounded Atolla, a custom skin health brand that was acquired by Function of Beauty in 2021.
While the business was initially self-funded, it subsequently raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Reign Ventures, with OurX set out to build an intentionally diverse investor base.
“The two leads are women of color and it’s amazing when you sit down and you get to bypass all the silly questions about ‘is it really a big market, is this really a problem,’” said Kurzman. “You can get right to ‘yes, oh my god we need this and you can start working on the business plan.’”
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