After building Mermade Hair into one of the biggest brands in its category in Australia, founder Tara Simich believes she can continue the hot hair tools streak in the United States.
Already, Mermade Hair has a substantial retail footprint in the U.S., and it’s poised to get even bigger. Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, CVS and Revolve carry the brand, and two major retail chains are set to join its stockist list next year. The U.S. accounts for about 20% of its business. Globally, Mermade Hair is in more than 5,000 doors, including leading Australian retailers such as Myer and Adore Beauty. It also has a network of 2,000 salons in its home country.
“We’re excited for the next chapter and to be on the ground basically and replicate what we’ve achieved in Australia,” says Perth-based founder Tara Simich. “We’re like a household name here.”
Mermade Hair has grown more than 400% year over year, with Amazon, its fastest-growing channel, increasing about 300% over the same period. Simich is in the middle of fundraising to support retail expansion, inventory buildout and Amazon growth. Michael Toure, founder of Toure Capital, is guiding the process. Mermade Hair previously raised an undisclosed amount in Australia, and Simich retains majority ownership of the brand.
Simich credits much of Mermade Hair’s rise to its dominant social media presence. The brand generates more than 100 million social views every 90 days and has racked up 13 million views on TikTok over the last four months. Almost every video on the platform shows someone using a Mermade Hair tool to style their hair or someone else’s.
“We don’t try to sell products on our social media like a lot of brands do,” says Simich. “We sell the results and the style or the trend.”
Mermade Hair tools’ signature pink color has helped them stand out on social media. Keeping the prices mid-range has been another draw for consumers. Most of Mermade Hair’s hair tools are priced between about $75 and $120. Simich says, “We came in with salon quality, but at a more affordable, accessible price point.”
Trends have fueled the hair tools brand from the beginning. Simich introduced Mermade Hair’s inaugural Pro Waver in 2019 after seeing Kim Kardashian sporting a wavy hairstyle that previously could mainly be achieved with a 1990s-style crimper.
Simich says, “Basically I was like, well, if I want to achieve this trend, no one’s selling these nice new wavers, you could only get some random ones from Amazon, so we basically went to China and created a jumbo one so you get a more relaxed wave rather than that crimpy, zigzag look.”
Mermade Hair has followed a similar formula since: Monitor how women are wearing their hair and reinvent what’s out there to produce the trending looks. The brand’s Hot Rollers, launched at the end of last year, responded to Simich noticing that big, voluminous hair was in vogue. Rather than copying existing hot rollers, Mermade Hair innovated by lengthening the rollers and incorporating storage for accompanying clips. The most successful release to date for the brand, its Hot Rollers have surpassed $2.5 million in sales.
“We came in with salon quality, but at a more affordable, accessible price point.”
Mermade Hair releases around two tools per year, and the releases are generally paired with complementary accessories or wet products. Simich explains the dual releases have elevated Mermade Hair from merely a hair tools brand to a styling brand, too.
“Your hot tool is going to work so much better when you’re using the right products with it. We know the customer’s going to have a better experience if they’re also, say, sectioning their hair correctly or they’ve got a really amazing round brush to support that blow dry,” she says, emphasizing, “We’re only dropping products where we know that there’s a gap that’s not being filled or a trend that we can provide the solution for.”
Celebrities and celebrity hairstylists have been a crucial catalyst for Mermade Hair’s growth as well. Within months of the brand’s launch, the hairstylists for Kylie Jenner and Sofia Richie reached out, and Simich says Mermade Hair is now in weekly conversations with Sabrina Carpenter’s hairstylist. A video posted by Khloe Kardashian of her using the Pro Waver caused the tool to sell out and, according to Simich, generated $10 million in retail contracts.
Not every endorsement translates into sales, though. It has to align with the person’s aesthetic. Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson, for example, has a distinctly 1990s-inspired style that fits naturally with Mermade Hair’s signature waves, and her hairstylist is a regular Pro Waver user.
“A big part of how we choose who to work with now is, what have they been doing with their hair for the last six months?” says Simich. “It’s just so important. I think these days, customers are too savvy. It’s got to be authentic.”
Replenishment is a business challenge for brands selling hair tools with long lives, but Mermade Hair is finding it not as problematic as other players. Simich estimates that its customers are willing to upgrade their tools every 18 months.
“Back when my mom was young, you’d have one straightener, one hairdryer for 30 years,” she says. “When we drop new colorways, we have our customers come back. We have multiple waver types and curl tongs and other interchangeable tools. There’s just so much variety now and a lot of retailers are really expanding their ranging in hair tools because the customer is just investing a lot more in beauty.”
As Mermade Hair makes the rounds with investors, it has a compelling story to pitch about the strength of the hair tools segment. According to market research firm The Business Research Company, it’s projected to grow from roughly $34 billion in 2025 to about $49 billion by 2030 worldwide at a compound annual growth rate of 7.7%, with North America the largest market.
The segment’s momentum is evident among hair tool makers. SharkNinja’s Beauty and Home Environment Appliances division grew 40.8% year over year to $194.1 million in the first quarter. Consumer insights firm YipitData ranks Dyson’s Airwrap Co-anda2x Multi-Styler in the top five growth-driving hair stockkeeping units year to date, generating around $7.4 million in general merchandise value growth and selling slightly over 10,300 units, underscoring consumers’ appetite for premium hair tools.
