Jupiter Takes An Inside-Out Approach To Scalp Care With New Supplement

Jupiter is getting to the root of scalp health with a new supplement that has roots— ashwagandha and turmeric roots, to be specific—as well as vitamins biotin, palmitate, ascorbic acid and more.

Priced at $35 on subscription for a 60-count bottle, Daily Scalp Essential, which is designed to foster thicker hair and a moisturized scalp, is the brand’s first push into the ingestible arena. Hair and scalp vitamins are ubiquitous—Nutrafol, Ouai, Keranique, JSHealth, Wellbel and Vegamour sell them, to name a few brands—but Jupiter felt there remained room in the market for an offering informed by science that’s tailored to consumers experiencing scalp flaking.

“Oftentimes, deficiencies in certain vitamins and nutrients can lead to skin irritation. The scalp is an extension of the face, so it makes sense that your scalp can be impacted by what goes in your body as much as what you put on your body,” says Jupiter co-founder Robbie Salter, adding, “We’ve always had a holistic view of scalp care. Our line offers both over-the-counter and cosmetic products to control flaking and scalp discomfort. A supplement perfectly rounds out our current lineup.”

Priced at $35 on subscription for a 60-count bottle, Jupiter’s Daily Scalp Essential is designed to be taken twice a day for thicker hair and a moisturized scalp.

Jupiter customers are instructed to take two Daily Scalp Essential capsules daily. Along with Daily Scalp Essential, Jupiter has four topical products priced from $24 to $29—Balancing Shampoo, Nourishing Conditioner, Restoring Serum and Purifying Mask—and a $15 Scalp Brush. Salter describes the brand’s price positioning as “masspirational.” He underscores, “We are delivering 10 times the value of our price tag.”

Since Jupiter’s launch in May 2020, Balancing Shampoo has been its top seller. The product has sold out seven times. “It’s a dandruff care product that works and smells better than traditional drugstore dandruff shampoos,” explains Salter.

“The scalp is an extension of the face, so it makes sense that your scalp can be impacted by what goes in your body as much as what you put on your body.”

Capable of reducing hair breakage by 30%, the shampoo containing zinc pyrithione, an anti-fungal and anti-bacterial agent approved by the United State Food and Drug Administration for over-the-counter dandruff treatments, can be particularly beneficial for consumers with hair damaged by regular coloring. About 60% of Jupiter’s customers color their hair.

Dandruff remedies have traditionally been relegated to drugstore aisles, and Jupiter is among several brands betting on the potential of elevated dandruff products. Their bets are grounded in market dynamics, including consumer interest in upgrading ingredients and haircare, a category that saw the biggest percentage sales jump, at 23%, in prestige beauty for the third quarter this year, according to market research firm The NPD Group, and remaking of the over-the-counter segment by startups with modern design and formulations.

Jupiter co-founder Robbie Salter JON SIMON

Data Bridge Market Research forecasts the global dandruff segment will advance at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3% to reach nearly $13.25 billion in 2029 sales, up from nearly $8.13 billion in 2021 sales. Although the segment is niche—Rolex alone achieves $13 billion in annual sales from watches—it touches on a substantial portion of the population. Salter says 75% of people worldwide experience some sort of dandruff, making the prevalence of dandruff greater than the prevalence of acne.

A key insight that drove Jupiter’s approach to dandruff product premiumization is that the legacy players that have dominated the segment (think Selsun Blue and Head & Shoulders) have largely targeted men, and women with a penchant for beauty and wellness weren’t being spoken to. “When we came out, we were a gender-neutral brand. We wanted to be just as good for women as men. Men and women get dandruff equally,” says Salter.

“Our products are safe for everyday use and formulated to be not just ameliorative, but preventative.”

The insight about the segment overlooking women was validated by a test brand called Headway that Salter, a former SVP at MediaLink, and his two co-founders at Jupiter—Ross Goodhart, founder of lifestyle goods manufacturer Rohego Holdings, and Alexa Adler, former manager of customer experience at Warby Parker—trialed for two months with about $10,000 in digital advertising prior to introducing Jupiter. Today, about 75% of Jupiter’s customers are women, primarily high-income millennial women in big cities. “Women are willing to pay for premium ingredients,” says Salter.

He argues Jupiter’s problem-solution orientation will enable it to stand out in the increasingly crowded dandruff-fighting space. “The world of scalp care is rife with so many brands using ingredients that are helpful, but don’t target the underlying cause of why you are having scalp discomfort,” says Salter. “When we got into the business, we said we’re going to use active, proven ingredients. Even though it makes the formulas more complex and it may take us longer, that’s the future of our products. The proof is in the products.”

Along with Daily Scalp Essential, Jupiter has four topical products priced from $24 to $29—Balancing Shampoo, Nourishing Conditioner, Restoring Serum and Purifying Mask—and a $15 Scalp Brush. Balancing Shampoo is its bestseller.

Jupiter’s problem-solution orientation doesn’t mean its products are solely for isolated incidences of problem flareups—and its entrance into supplements reinforces its drive for routinization. “We want to change the perception that scalp health products should only be used to address an issue and then shelved in favor of one’s ‘typical’ products,” says Salter. “Perhaps that might be the case with harsher products on drugstore shelves or behind the pharmacy counter, but that’s definitely not the case with Jupiter. Our products are safe for everyday use and formulated to be not just ameliorative, but preventative.”

Jupiter is largely a direct-to-consumer brand, but has stretched beyond its website to Amazon, Bergdorf Goodman and select barbershops such as Fellow Barber and Rudy’s. Asked about distribution expansion, Salter says, “We need to be cautious with how quickly we expand and with whom given the significant capital investment required each time we enter a new retail partnership.”

Jupiter declined to discuss sales or growth figures. Industry sources told publication Women’s Wear Daily in 2020 that the brand could generate between $1.5 million and $2 million in its first year of availability. Jupiter has secured funds in three tranches. It did an angel round during the concept phase, a bridge round once formulas were in hand and a seed round last year. Sugar Capital and Vanterra Capital were involved in the seed round. Jupiter hasn’t shared the total amount it’s raised. The brand is currently fundraising.