Apply HN: Anti-Dandruff Shampoo Subscription Service

Could you please clarify whether your business will actually be manufacturing this new shampoo, or whether you'll just be distributing a product that's already being manufactured by someone else?

- If you're manufacturing it, why would you only be selling it by subscription? If it's really a superior product, you could be selling it through thousands of retail outlets (and benefit from economies of scale from manufacturing it in higher quantities).

- If you're distributing someone else's product, what are the barriers to entry that would prevent anyone else from competing with you? (E.g., do you have an exclusive distribution agreement with the manufacturer?)

- Our business will be manufacturing this shampoo.

- Initially we would like to sell it as subscription service so we can keep price low, deliver superior quality product and build initial customer base who will love and regularly use this shampoo. Once the product is established and receives positive feedback from customers, we will bring this shampoo to retail stores.

With Amazon's Subscribe & Save option available for a lot of the major brands' anti-dandruff shampoos, I think your idea really banks on being able to create a better (and better-known) brand than them.

How will you out-compete Head & Shoulders, Dove, Selson Blue, etc. purely in terms of reach?

Purely in terms of reach or acquiring customer, we will do following to promote Love & Care Shampoo:

- We will make sample shampoo available for subsidized cost. So customer will be able to try it before getting into subscription.

- We will promote shampoo in general clinics, hair clinics, skin clinics, hair salons.

- We will do door to door promotion.

- We will offer shampoo to Stylebee beauty and wellness professionals. So they can promote product to their customers.

- We will also focus on African American women as most of them spend lots of time and money styling their hair as they want style that last. Our Love & Care shampoo offers the exact benefit of long-lasting relief from dandruff, including flaking, itching and dryness -its active ingredient adheres to the scalp's proteins, so it keeps working in-between washings.

- Social media promotions to get new customers.

- Uber like friends referral program with discounts.

It sounds to me like you're building a brand in an existing competitive market where your competitors already have strong brands and strong channel to market. You're going to find it difficult to get shelf space.

Also: there's nothing to stop your competitors from stealing your recipe if you show any success at all. I think consumers will be turned off by the subscription model... you're better off selling it by the bottle on amazon.

Do you have data showing that customers want something different than what is on the shelf right now?

Do you have a formulation worked out already?

Very interesting, Dandruff is widely linked to fungus with Malassezia being the most prevalent species and cause.

What is really interesting is if you dig deeper into the data you can find that these fungus eat certain oils in sebum leaving behind specific metabolytes and an undesired ratio of oil in sebum which is what I think causes the symptoms of dandruff...it is essentially a side effect.

Good observation. Only thing which really works on the dandruff is Ketoconazole. However, washing hair with ketoconazole shampoo can leave your dry. So I guess adding deep conditioner to the shampoo makes real sense. Also, I see lot of people apply hair oil before washing their hair with shampoo.

Do you like this idea? Please share your thoughts.

I do. However, my worry is that most people in the HN community do not have organic chemistry experience as such they wouldn't understand the significance of the venture.

Am I a fool for shampooing every day?

"Most people use shampoo twice a week" - really?

We are referring to the ketoconazole based anti-dandruff shampoo. The correct statement should be ‘Most of the people use medicated anti dandruff shampoo twice a week in between their regular shampoos”.

What is the different size you are planning to provide & Is their any special scheme if the customer recommend the product to other.

The Shampoo subscription pack will contain 75 ml Ketoconazole based anti-dandruff shampoo and 50 ml hair oil. It will be delivered to your door every month. Our customers won't have to worry about commitment as they can pause or cancel subscription any time.

If our customer refers subscription to their friend and they end buying, our customer and their friend both will get 20% off on their next one-month subscription cycle.

Where did u get this idea from?

I personally lost lot of hairs due to dandruff. I lost hair to the extent that I had to get hair transplant surgery done to get my hair back. After discovering this shampoo, I realized that if I would have used Ketoconazole based shampoo earlier in my life, it would have not only just fought dandruff, but also I would have prevented hair loss.

After using Nizoral brand Ketoconazole shampoo, my dandruff problem got a lot under control and my scalp is not itchy anymore. Even I recommended this to my friends, who were struggling with dandruff. They liked it as it worked for them. But we all keep complaining about following 5 things, which could have been improved in any Ketoconazole based shampoo:

1. Smell, texture and lather of current Ketoconazole shampoo is bad as compared to the other regular famous brands like Pantene, Dove, Head & Shoulders. This alone can amazingly improve the product quality.

2. Dryness - Washing hair with Ketoconazole shampoo leaves hair dry. So it becomes really important to apply hair oil before using the shampoo.

3. Price - Current Ketoconazole shampoos are expensive. 200 ml Ketoconazole shampoo cost around $20 (AUD).

4. Poor bottling and packaging - Bottling and packaging of the current Ketoconazole based shampoo make them look like medicated shampoo. Also most of them are not 100% recyclable.

5. Availability - Ketoconazole based shampoo are not readily available.

So with Love & Care we would like to address above problems and create product which is way better than exiting Ketaconazole based shampoos.

According to Australian government health data, about 50% of the population suffers from dandruff at some point in their life and regular washing with an anti-dandruff shampoo is useful in the treatment of dandruff. We personally believe that with Love & Care shampoo, quality of people's life suffering with dandruff, itchy scalp and hair loss will improve significantly. Also not worrying about dandruff will boost their confidence.