After shepherding Glam Seamless through a sale to Beauty Industry Group, founder Alexandra Cristin is exiting the hair extension brand to turn to the next phase of her entrepreneurial journey. She will remain an equity stakeholder.
“Thanks to Alexandra’s significant brand building and innovative skill sets, Glam is well-positioned to continue to climb to new heights,” says Derrick Porter, CEO of Beauty Industry Group (BIG). “The brand will focus on expanding its consumer base by offering new textures and methods in addition to focusing on its Glam Bars and the services they provide.”
Glam Seamless will be led by an interim CEO until BIG appoints Cristin’s replacement in the CEO role. Cristin, a plus-size model, started the brand out of her New Jersey apartment in 2012 with $1,500. By 2016, it was bringing in $2 million in yearly sales via direct-to-consumer distribution. Glam Seamless opened brick-and-mortar salons in New York City and Los Angeles before being acquired by BIG in February 2019 for an undisclosed amount. Prior to the acquisition, the brand hadn’t taken on any outside capital.
Since 2004, BIG has assembled a stable of 13 professional and consumer haircare and hair extension brands. Its last acquisition was in May 2022 when the company scooped up prestige hair extension brand Bellami. In August 2021, private equity firm L Catterton acquired BIG.
Cristin didn’t launch Glam Seamless with the goal of an exit, and she wasn’t pursuing a sale when she got two offers within three months of each other, which ultimately led to the brand ending up in BIG’s portfolio. At the time, it was hitting seven-figure profits. “I never said I was looking to sell, but the brand was getting so much market share that it was kind of hard to miss us,” says Cristin. “That made it very attractive.”
Cristin concluded BIG would be a good home for Glam Seamless after realizing the company could further scale the brand—and she could help guide its path at BIG. “They also were very supportive of me continuing to stay on and grow the brand how I saw fit with their support and financial backing,” she says. “On a personal level, I felt like it was getting too much. It was really fast. I decided being acquired was definitely the right move.”
For founders aiming for an exit, Cristin suggests keeping comprehensive financial records for every year of business. In addition, she recommends being as scrappy as possible while consistently investing heavily back into the business.
“We invested so much back into our product development, research and development, our website, our customers,” says Cristin. “As a founder, it’s very important to have that discipline, especially within the first five to seven years to continue to reinvest. I think it’s very tempting to say, ‘Wow, I’m making money, I’m profitable, I want to spend it,’ but to grow that business and continue to have momentum, you want to make sure that you’re reinvesting.”
The reinvestment in Glam Seamless paid off. According to Cristin, its repeat customer rate reached nearly 60%. “To acquire a customer costs money, time,” she says. “Our customers were staying with us, and that makes the business very profitable because, on every second transaction, you no longer need to invest that advertising dollar.”
Although Cristin is bowing out of day-to-day operations in Glam Seamless, she isn’t done being a beauty entrepreneur. She’s already hard at work on Infinity Skincare, a brand that will be in the skincare device category. Its forthcoming device slated for a spring release is currently in clinical trials.
Along with Glam Seamless and Infinity Skincare, Cristin founded size-inclusive activewear line Tribe 35, which she will be able to concentrate on more as she moves on from management of Glam Seamless. Her other passion project is the nonprofit The Alexandra Cristin Foundation, where she assists women business owners with mentoring and grants.
“I’m able to look into their lives and their business and see what’s coming next,” says Cristin. “The pandemic brought about a lot of changes for all of us, the way we work, the way we interact. We’re all really trying to figure out that work-life balance.”
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