Nancy Twine, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Briogeo Hair Care, has come a long way since she left the world of finance in 2013 to start a hair care business in her East Village apartment based on family beauty recipes. Today, Nancy sells her high-performing clean collection of 36 SKU’s at premium doors including Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom, and SpaceNK, as well as online at briogeohair.com.  Inspired by a mission to redefine the prestige hair care space with naturally powered yet effective formulas, Nancy incorporated ingredients such as rosehip oil, algae extract, and B-vitamins into formulas when most of the hair care category was focusing on creating styling products. VMG was brought in as an investor in 2019 helping facilitate expansion; Nancy expects to have a team totaling 75 by the end of next year. Her best-selling item remains The Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Hair Mask, a five-time Allure Readers’ Choice Award winner, which serves as an entry point to the brand. Without the use of silicones, harsh sulfates and other harmful ingredients, the mask has been clinically proven to help strengthen and repair hair. CEW Beauty News spoke to Nancy about what sparked the idea for her latest launch, as well as Briogeo’s goals for 2022 and how interior design became her quarantine obsession.

Beauty News: You launched clean products focused on hair health and scalp care way before those concepts entered into the conversation. Did you second guess your path?

Nancy Twine: I remember when I first launched Briogeo most hair care brands on the market were incredibly focused on styling products and holding sprays. While retailers pushed us to launch those products because that’s what was trending, I knew that wasn’t our brand ethos. We’ve always been about treatment, transformation, and scalp care. We chose to stick to my vision and our brand DNA—clean, naturally powerful essentials that help build the foundation of healthy hair—and we’re so glad we did! We’ve been at the forefront of the skinification of hair care movement since the beginning.

BN: What is the story behind your newest launch, Don’t Despair, Repair! MegaStrength+Rice Water Protein+Moisture Strengthening Treatment?

NT: We’ve had the Don’t Despair, Repair collection for seven years now and we do a lot of social listening. We learned that there’s a portion of our community that suffers from extremely dry, broken and damaged hair that is beyond what a typical mask can repair. Our customers have been asking us for something more professional grade that will up the ante.

As I was tasked with figuring out how to do this, I thought back to a childhood memory with my mom. All the girls at school were bleaching their hair and when my mom said I couldn’t, I took matters into my own hands. I used the bleach from under the sink and applied it to my hair. My hair started breaking and I had to confess to my mother what I was doing. She explained that wasn’t the type of bleach to use to lift color.

My mom, being a chemist, devised an at-home remedy to bring my hair back to life. It was essentially a rice protein treatment—she soaked rice and water overnight and filtered out the rice. The leftover water was infused with rice proteins. I sprayed it on my hair over the course of weeks and my hair eventually returned to its normal state. This experience and the natural power of rice water as an ingredient is what ultimately inspired this new healthy hair essential.

This treatment is clinically proven to strengthen hair up to two times after just one use. If you use our Don’t Despair, Repair Shampoo and Deep Conditioning Mask in the same routine, hair is four times stronger with a 60 percent decrease in breakage after one use. I’m personally excited because this brings me back to a personal memory and I know this rice derived protein story really works [Nancy’s mother passed away unexpectedly in 2010, an event that eventually pushed her to change her career path].

BN: What are your goals for the new year?

NT: A lot of our growth will be fueled by world class innovation that will take Briogeo to the next level. We have two professional strength innovations that will be headlining our assortment for next year. There are also some great extensions from our existing product lines. We’ll be bringing our Scalp Revival Collection to Ulta Beauty this month. It is one of our top-performing franchises and roots us as pioneers of the skinification of hair care movement.

We are looking for opportunities to expand internationally and are aggressively accelerating our direct-to-consumer side.

BN: Did you take up any new interests during quarantine?

NT: When my lease was up in Manhattan, I did an extended stay at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel. I was really inspired by the hotel’s interior design work by Kelly Wearstler, which sparked my passion for design aesthetics, decor, and furnishings. I recently purchased a property in Miami, and it has become my passion project to do the entire interior design myself.