This Celebrity-Loved Hair Brand Is Turning Beauty Into a Lifesaving Mission

A new hair accessory is combining beauty, fashion, and giving back. RPZL, the celebrity-loved hair extension and accessories brand, has created a special edition hair clip with proceeds benefiting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Joining us now is the founder and CEO of RPZL, Lisa Richards. Thank you so much for being here today, Lisa. Thank you for having me. Of course, this is so interesting. So tell us a little bit more about what inspired you to create RPZL to begin with, and then also for this season to create this special edition hair clip. Okay, so I uplisted my last company to NASDAQ, and I tried to get Sanjay hair extensions in New York City. This was about 10 years ago, and I couldn't get it. I was born with terrible hair, and I wanted to get, you know, hair extensions that day. So you went to all these places. They had a color match. It was a $1,000 deposit. So I figured out a way to be the only on-demand hair extension bar where you can walk in that day and get hair extensions from clip-ins, I-tips. Tape, keratin, any length, any style, any texture. Yeah, just incredible to think about bringing that market here to the city. Tell us a little bit more about with the business, how you wanted to have this special edition hair clip and what that kind of means to you and to the business. Yes, absolutely. So, um, one of our lead investors and our lead stylist who've been with us for 10 years, both, um, had breast cancer and they both, um, recently beat breast cancer. So our, um, hair clip, we just, uh, launched a hair accessories two years ago. We've won every award Allure in style Cosmo for best accessory claw clip. Um, it's been going viral every summer I've been wearing So we made a special edition claw clip with pink bows. Um, to benefit, we gave a hundred percent proceeds to breast cancer awareness. Um, and, and, you know, for every woman out there, but really, you know, for our lead investor and for our main stylist, who both came back, you know, after six months and like. So powerful and strong and we idolize them. So it's for them too. Looking at your business, I mean, you've worked with high-profile names from Gigi Hadid, Paris Hilton, Alex Earle. How have the kind of celebrity and influencer partnerships really helped the brand grow as well? And how do you kind of get that to really help get more customers and have them remain customers for longer? I mean, the best thing about RPZL, our retention rate is 99%, which is huge. So it's, you know, we use the platform of different influencers and celebrities, and they've been all so great to work with, and they love our brand and support it. But it really comes down to the product. Like, we've won awards for our extensions and for accessories, so we do have high-quality extensions and highest-quality accessories. So that's why people are coming back. You know, use their voice and platform for the market awareness, but really it's the products that are really important to our customers. um and our Yeah, so important to have those services and those products be at the service level that you expect so that you have people who want to keep being customers, keep repeating their business for sure. As you think about kind of the whole landscape today with more budget concerns, inflation and all of those kind of issues that people face when they try to think where they're going to spend their money, how do you really get customers to come in and spend money on something that for some is really more of a luxury than a necessity, but again, still wanting to get those customers in? What kind of strategies, whether it comes to pricing? So we have, because we have the technology to do hair extensions in close to an hour, where a lot of places it takes four or five hours, we're able to order, I mean, Offer the most available competitive pricing. So because we're able to move it faster and have more people in in a day So I think our price point is the most compelling have the highest quality hair the best stylist in under an hour and just that having That on-demand service we get to walk in And get same day hair extensions and just our reviews like every platform We're on ClassPass. We're on You know, Ulta Beauty we just launched, we have Amazon, we have five-star reviews, so our clients, and just celebrities, you know, I, they buy them, like, well, we'll, I'll gift it to you, you know, if they post, like, no, we just want it, we love it, we want to support you, so I just think, you know, it's our price point's competitive, our quality's the best, we have the best team that's been with us for 10 years, we're able to get new acquisition and retention. Yeah, just incredible to think about that business growth there. Talk to us a little bit about, for people out there who maybe have never tried extensions or maybe don't think that they'd ever want to get them necessarily, how can that really help someone's confidence? And what would you say to those people to really get them in, how that personal connection that people could have once they maybe have extensions in, look in the mirror and feel better about themselves, how that can really impact their day? No, I'm a pretty confident person, but I always didn't love my hair. Like, I was blessed with other things besides hair. I have extensions in now. My hair is short and thin. In 20 minutes, they put flip-ins. And it's not just me. Like, I watch other people. We have people crying. You know, they feel beautiful and gorgeous. Like, my friends are walking out taller. They're negotiating tougher. They're, like, walking down the street texting me like every guy in New York City wants me. Like, for me, too, I want to run for mayor. I'm like, I can run this city now. It just gives you confidence. And that's the best part about our job. You know, this girl came in this morning getting married, and she was crying. She said that never felt more beautiful. And one of our lead stylists, who's definitely had a lot of emotions, she started tearing up. It's just so nice to be able to, you know, be part of their special transformation or their special day. Yeah, that confidence and being able to instill that in customers. So important. When you look at everything that you have done to get to this place, what advice do you have for other entrepreneurs who maybe have other ideas and say, hey, I want to get this started, but I don't even know where to begin? I mean, it. you just kind of keep, I know everyone says this, you have to keep going. Like I'm a honey badger. I don't stop. I, you, you wake up. I love what I'm doing. You, and it's, it is, it's hard. It's challenging. You're going to work every day. You're going to work. I get up 3am to manage our factory. I go to bed at 10 or 11, like this becomes your life. You do what you love and you overcome challenges. You, you, you know, you look at your plan and see what's working and if it's It's working to add more marketing and money to it if it's not working. Yeah, that important message of continuing to persevere and push through is always so good for people to hear as they start with all of the trials and tribulations of starting a new business. As you look ahead to the end of this year, to 2027, tell us a little bit about what's next for RPZL. Where do you see the biggest growth opportunity and where do you see the company going? So this is a new revenue stream that this wasn't even part of our business plan or our trajectory that now we have big brands that we're making accessories for. So we're talking to NBA, Super Bowl, NHL. Really my goal, I was a professional athlete. I really want to bridge the gap between sports and beauty. We just did a big deal with Surfside. So we have all these and go lacrosse and we have all these huge brands coming to us wanting to buy our accessories and more into sports and utilize the strength of our presence and partnerships well expand our target group. Well, it is a very exciting time for the company and we wish you all the best and congratulations on raising so much money for breast cancer research. Just incredible. Thank you so much, Lisa Richards, founder and CEO of RPDL. We really appreciate your time today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.