Fractional CMO for haircare brands

A fractional CMO for haircare brands where the regimen is the product.

I'm Monica Hacker, a fractional CMO for DTC haircare founders. Acquisition by hair type, regimen bundles, influencer and salon channels, and the AI system that runs it, with one senior person accountable for the number.

Part of my beauty and wellness practice. Based in New York and Miami.

The pattern

Haircare customers buy by hair type. Most brands still market by product.

The haircare brands that plateau usually have the same shape. Great shampoo and conditioner, a treatment nobody knows how to use, a site organized by product instead of by hair type or concern, and a Meta account that treats every customer the same. The customer with curly, color treated hair and the one with fine, oily hair are buying completely different things from you, and the funnel doesn't know it.

Haircare economics come from the regimen (wash, condition, treat, style), the replenishment cycle (shampoo runs out, treatment doesn't), and the channels beauty customers actually trust: creators with the same hair, and stylists. A brand that sells the regimen by hair type, times replenishment to real usage, and puts creator content at the center of paid compounds. One that sells bottles doesn't.

So I start with segmentation. Who buys, by hair type and concern, what they buy together, and what the reviews say made the difference. Then the site, the flows and the paid structure get rebuilt around it.

What I run

How an engagement usually works.

01

Paid by hair type

Meta and Google structured by hair type and concern, creator led creative at the center, TikTok where it earns its place, and budgets set against regimen LTV.

02

A site that sells the regimen

Shop by hair type, regimen bundles as the default, a quiz that actually recommends, and reviews sorted by hair like yours.

03

Creators, stylists and replenishment

An influencer and salon program that runs on a system, not a spreadsheet, plus email and SMS timed to when each product actually runs out.

Who this is for

Haircare founders I tend to work best with.

A DTC haircare brand that is already spending on growth, with a product people love, a catalog that could be a regimen, and a funnel that treats every customer the same.

Textured hair, color care, scalp health, clean formulas, it doesn't matter which. What matters is a product that works and a founder who wants growth to be profitable.

This sits inside my beauty and wellness practice. Not sure where you stand? Drop your site into the free audit and I'll send you three things I'd tighten up.

Where to start

Start with a Haircare Growth Audit.

A clear read on acquisition by hair type, regimen building, creator channels and the economics behind it. Delivered in 7 to 10 days with a recorded walkthrough.

What I look at first

  • Acquisition: what a customer costs by channel and by hair type
  • Regimen: what people buy together and what the site does to make that the default
  • Replenishment: time to reorder for each product versus how long it actually lasts
  • Creators and salons: what the spend returns and what's missing
  • The verdict: where growth is leaking and what to fix first

Starting at $1,500 Delivered in 7 to 10 days

Credited toward your first month if you move to a retainer.

Fair questions

What haircare founders ask me first.

What does a fractional CMO do for a haircare brand?

Owns the growth number across paid, the site, email and SMS, influencer and salon channels, leads whoever is doing the work, and reports on what is actually driving profitable revenue. With me you also get the AI growth system underneath.

How much does a fractional CMO cost for a haircare brand?

From $8,500 a month for about 10 to 12 hours a week, 4 month minimum, review at month 3. Paid acquisition on its own from $4,500 a month. A Growth Audit is $1,500 and credited toward your first month.

Do you run influencer programs?

Yes, as part of the growth plan rather than as a standalone. Creator content is the center of haircare paid, so I build the program and the paid strategy together, and I run the outreach on a system so it doesn't live in a spreadsheet.

Should haircare brands sell on subscription?

For shampoo and conditioner, often yes, timed to real usage. For treatments and styling, usually no. I'll tell you where subscription fits and where it just creates churn.

Which beauty brands have you worked with?

Summer Fridays directly, plus consumer brands like Stitch Fix and Huggies during my agency years at NoGood and Forward Progress. Most of my current roster is DTC, beauty and wellness, and healthcare.

Let's sell the regimen, not the bottle.

I take on a few new clients each quarter. If you're building a haircare brand people come back to, let's talk.

Book a call →

Thirty minutes. Bring your numbers, or just bring the problem. You'll leave knowing what I'd fix first.