Dawn Myers founded Richualist to tackle a gap she saw in beauty hardware: a lack of tooling for textured hair. The company's product, Mint, detangles, conditions, gels and styles in a single stroke using refillable product pods, and includes warming technology to gently heat the product before application.
Myers said the tool brings styling time down to about seven to 10 minutes, describing it as a significant change for customers stressed by wash days. She also said the product helps make hair healthier by reducing shedding and breakage by up to 70%, since users no longer need to tug on their strands during washing and styling.
She built the product with the materials science company Dow, after an early prototype caught Dow's attention during a startup accelerator programme. Myers said Dow had identified the same white space and was starting a textured hair care unit, leading to collaboration on engineering and manufacturing guidance.
Myers sold her home and liquidated her 401(k) retirement account to fund initial development, and said the company raised about $1.4 million to commercialise the product. Development took about five years. In 2022, she was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer, and the company closed its funding round while she was undergoing treatment. She appeared on Shark Tank in 2023, with the episode airing in 2024, and secured a deal from investor Mark Cuban and entrepreneur Emma Grede.
Richualist was picked as one of TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield 200 startups this year, earning a spot at TechCrunch Disrupt, which kicks off this Tuesday. Myers said she is most excited for textured hair to be on stage with sophisticated technology in the space.