Haircare Brand It’s A 10 Sells 17M Bottles Of Its Hero Product Annually—And It’s Just Getting Started

Carolyn Aronson had been quietly fighting for the right to protect and expand her haircare brand It’s a 10 for seven years before winning a lawsuit in December against her ex-business partners for planning to misappropriate its intellectual property. With the win, she received nearly $1 million in damages and $60 million in counterclaims were dismissed. The grueling legal process gave It’s a 10 an unusual distinction. Aronson says, “I am probably one of the few brands that owns all of their formulas and can actually prove it because it was solidified in the court of law.”

Prior to winning the lawsuit, Aronson bought out her former partner and ex-husband Scott Scharg in 2017 to make It’s a 10 a rare solely female-owned professional haircare brands. In fact, It’s a 10 proclaims it’s the largest solely female- and Latina-owned professional haircare brand on the market. In 2020, a Forbes article reported it had reached $500 million in sales.

With full control and a global perspective for It’s a 10, Aronson is just getting started building the 16-year-old brand. International growth and celebrity ambassadors are two of several strategies she’s pursuing. “We’ve really only scratched the surface as far as the awareness of the brand and the possibility of the brand,” she says.

Beauty Independent spoke with Aronson about the history and future of It’s a 10, and why she’s considering acquiring other companies.

What led to the start of It’s a 10?

It’s a 10 Haircare was my second attempt at creating a professional haircare brand. I started one in 2001 that failed. Around 2003 to 2004, we kind of weeded out of that and migrated into It’s a 10 haircare. I’ve been in the beauty industry since I was 16 years old, so pretty much my whole life. It was really built out of my frustration of what I didn’t receive all those years behind the chair.

Were there any lessons from that first brand that didn’t take off?

When you fail is when you learn the best lessons. Ultimately, I think we launched with too many products. There were quality control issues. I just think we tried to do too much too fast. So, really I’ve learned in life—I’m now 55 years old—that the fastest way to get to your goals is slowly and steadily.

How much money did it take you to launch It’s a 10, and how long did it take you to develop it?

We were broke after our first brand and divorced, my partner and I. We originally were married when we started our first company that failed, so we split the little money we had left—a total of $80,000, we each received $40,000 in the divorce—and we put that money into starting It’s a 10. We obviously both believed in what we were trying to do. We bought closeout bottles, and we only launched one SKU, which is our Miracle Leave-In product.

We sell up to 17 million bottles a year of the Miracle Leave-In, which is our hero product. It now comes in seven different variances. I build collections around my leave-in, and I create collections for hair problems. So, each collection has a goal to it.

At the beginning, what do you think was an important element of the brand that allowed it to take off?

With little to no money for marketing budgets, we actually gave out millions of samples the first few years to get them into hairdressers’ hands. I believe that the juice in the bottle is what really helped the brand build, and I think that is what has given it legs to last 16 years and to continue on and to constantly grow. I work very, very hard on the formulas that are created. I’m very, very particular. I don’t release them unless I feel they’re a 10. I actually own all my formulas, and its really a golden formula within our industry.

That and the marketing behind it, which is simple, easy to use, very multifunctional. What the bottle says it does is what it truly does. The names are simple. I think not only the hairdressers as well as the consumers really are able to understand the brand, which is a big part I think of a lot of frustration of hairdressers and consumers when they are introduced to a brand.

What percentage of It’s a 10’s distribution is salons?

After many, many years of starting off really salon-only and then expanding into massive distribution and then aspects within the retail world, the balance of our distribution is quite equal. We’re in Sally Beauty’s nationwide, we’re in Ulta’s nationwide. So, those specialty retail distributions are equal to the actual professional aspect to it. We also now have our own e-commerce, so a hairdresser could go on to our own website and purchase the products with their professional discount.

And then of course we’re in a lot of the SalonCentric, BSG and professional distributors nationwide. We’ve really been able to balance the blend of it all and continue to grow the brand at the same time without cannibalizing some of the other distribution areas.

How many products does the brand have today, and how do you think about expanding its line?

We have well over 75 products today, and how I think about expanding the line is always removing the slower sellers and bringing in new collections. Every year, I launch new collections. I think it’s really important to to keep the brand fresh, to keep the brand innovative, to make sure that we are keeping up with technology, which I happen to love. We are the innovators within the industry, so I’m always looking to bring newness and uniqueness to the professional haircare industry.

How have you incorporated your interest in technology into the brand?

Technology is so diverse at this point. It’s obviously our own e-commerce site. It’s how we engage with the hairdresser and the consumer, and there’s multiple ways today to do that. We have done some really unique marketing, where we’ve actually connected with the public whether it be hairdresser or consumer. We’ve created a national Love Your Hair Day, which is on October 10th, 10/10 day, which we celebrate every year.

We’ve done amazing things every year to engage with the public. In our first year, we started off renting an eight-story billboard and giving out thousands of samples in Times Square. Every year since then, we’ve done something bigger and more amazing. We flew a blimp over Coachella. We’ve been the sponsoring brand of Miss USA for my makeup line as well as my haircare line. We’ve done Miss America. I’m the first professional indie haircare brand in the world to have ever done a Super Bowl commercial. Now, we do it on an international, worldwide level. We don’t just do it on a national level. I like to go where they don’t go.

Bringing awareness to a brand comes in many forms, and obviously social media today is a huge one, using all the different platforms, working with influencers. I think the print ad days of magazines are pretty much gone, at least within my business. I used to spend millions on that type of advertising. I use today’s technology to engage with the public.

You brought Justine Skye on recently as the brand’s first-ever celebrity ambassador. How do you think about using celebrities or influencers to promote your brand?

That was for our coily collection that we launched. She’s obviously a perfect fit for that. She’s embracing her natural coils more, which is great. A lot of coily women are, and I’m super proud of that aspect of our industry, having a coily daughter myself. It’s been an amazing experience with Justine. I want to continue to work with her. I’m going to renew with her. She’s a true professional. She’s just such a natural, and I think obviously the fact that she loves the products helps.

I’m a firm believer in very organic brand sponsors and natural engagement. I want the people to already love and use the products. And a lot of the times, that’s what’s happened with celebrities, even ones that I haven’t paid. Gabrielle Union publicly spoke about our Miracle Leave-In product completely unsolicited and how she was able to grow her hair with it.

In the beginning, when I didn’t have big budgets to necessarily work with these influencers or a public figure a lot of it came organically, and there were ways that I gave back to them after the fact. I created a Miracle Leave-In product for breast cancer for Christina Applegate’s foundation after she organically spoke about my product.

I’m a firm believer in working with people where it’s a good fit. Of course, I expect professionalism. You always have to be careful, and you hope that their lifestyle is not something that could ever hurt your brand because it takes two seconds to end up like a Tiger Woods situation. It’s a fine line, and we tread the waters gently when we engage in those situations.

I’m looking to engage and work with other celebrities or influencers at all times. I’m looking for someone right now for my Be A 10 Cosmetics line. I think it can be a really good thing if it’s a mutual win.

The haircare category has been picking up steam post-pandemic. How does It’s a 10 take advantage of that interest while also standing out from other brands on the market?

I think the fact that this brand is owned and operated by a hairdresser automatically gives it an advantage. It’s not necessarily corporate-run, it’s not an investment for some bankers, it’s run from from the true understanding of the professional haircare industry. I’ve literally touched thousands of heads, used thousands of products and been in this industry for 38 years. I think that’s an advantage right off the bat.

I think my packaging is an advantage. I go bright colors, I go things that pop, I put a little bling on them. It’s very much who I am. When I design it, I think that, if you scan a shelf, I’m going pop off. You have about two seconds to grab someone’s attention, so the little things that I’ve done that are possibly unique within the industry I think have really helped propel me and the brand in a direction that, even after 16 years, we’re still growing in leaps and bounds.

I am a treatment-based haircare line. I’m a firm believer in healthy hair is hair that’s going to work great any way you want to style it. I start off with really trying to create products that add to healthy hair and not damage it more, not weigh it down, not make it feel gunky or crunchy. When people take them home and use the products or when a hairdresser uses them, they start seeing a difference. That’s what it’s all about. From there, you can really do whatever you want with your hair, which is a happy hair day.

Are you still a practicing hairstylist?

No, I sold my salon back in 2000, and I haven’t worked in the salon since then. I was a kid when I first started. I used to do sometimes 18 to 20 people a day and work 10-, 12-hour days. I love, love doing hair, but, you know, it gets to the point where it’s great that you can migrate into other parts of the industry. I always say I just traded my scissors for bottles. I still make people look and feel beautiful.

Anyone who’s a hairdresser knows that you never ever get out of doing hair. You always have someone who’s like, “Oh, can you cut my hair?” Then, of course, there’s my family. I’m forever helping them with their hair. It’s like riding a bike, it’s something you don’t forget, especially because of all the years I did it. I always have my hands in it, I cut my own hair sometimes. They say doctors are the worst patients. Well, hairdressers are the worst clients.

Your brand is going worldwide for the first time. Why is now a good time to do that?

I bought my partner out in 2017 and his mindset was that we should never go international, and he was head of sales and distribution. I designed everything and ran the inside of the business. I always wanted to go international, but it wasn’t a battle I could win. When I took the company over in 2017, that was a major goal of mine. I restructured the entire company as far as distribution. For the last five years, I’ve been very, very busy restructuring the company.

When we go into countries, usually their attitude is, “It’s about time, I’m tired of shopping it from America.” We are a well-known brand, and it is going really well. We’re in 40 countries, and we hope to be in 60 countries by the end of the year. We’re expanding quickly. I’m going to be on QVC in England in June for a whole hour. England is really embracing the brand and loving it. It’s exciting.

Why did you choose to buy out your partner, and what did it take for you to do that?

It was a very challenging accomplishment. I am 100% shareholder of It’s a 10 Haircare now. I don’t think there’s any professional haircare brands in the world that are 100% owned by a woman owned by a Latina, especially of my size.

It took a lot of perseverance, a lot of hard work and really getting over challenges and, obviously, a lot of money. It’s almost like I bought the company and I put a ton of debt in it that’s since been paid back. I basically had to start over in a lot of ways. It was risky, it was a challenge, and I thank God I prevailed because, if I didn’t, I would’ve lost everything.

“I always say I just traded my scissors for bottles. I still make people look and feel beautiful.”

Are you thinking about an exit now?

At this point, I’m exploring all kinds of things. I actually want to buy other companies. I have 15 companies, It’s a 10 is just one of them. I’ve expanded into hair extensions, hair tools, makeup, and I’m starting a men’s line. There are many, many things I’m into, and I hold it close to my chest at this point because it’s a competitive industry, and I’d rather not discuss it, but I’m just beginning.

I’m 55 years young. I can never imagine retiring. I love what I do, I love the industry. There are a lot of things I dip my toes into as far as being an entrepreneur, and I will continue to do that. I will always be in the beauty industry in some way, shape or form. There’s no doubt about it. There’s a beauty in getting to the point where you can expand. Your mindset becomes, how can I not start more companies?

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs building haircare brands today?

You better come to the table with something new and innovative. Like any industry in the world, the beauty industry is oversaturated, it’s very competitive, and you have massive companies you’re going up against with huge budgets. If you can actually come to solve a problem that the industry has and market it well, you too can live the American dream.

What’s the future of It’s a 10?

As mentioned, It’s a 10 right now is going worldwide, and that’s taking up a lot of my time. I’m flying all over. I love to see each country have its launches. Taiwan did this beautiful party, and they decorated in their Taiwanese way. It’s really exciting to see the brand go all over the world and be embraced. Our focus for the next few years is to really solidify our world platform while obviously still making sure that our national platform is solid, innovative and engaging.