Thanks to Alli Webb, bad hair days are a thing of the past.
These days, there's seemingly a blowout salon on every metropolitan street corner. Its efficient offerings appeal to both busy moms and boardroom bosses: come, relax, breathe new life into your lackluster tresses (No cuts. No color. Just blowouts.) and feel good with bouncy, voluminous hair for the rest of the day. Webb, one of the first purveyors of this booming beauty business, calls Drybar her home...and some of her house guests include Cindy Crawford, Julia Roberts and Emma Roberts. In actuality, the co-owner and former hairstylist calls many Drybars home, celebrating her 100th location opening this month. Now the beauty mogul is dishing all about it as Inc. Magazine's latest cover girl.
"It's pretty surreal to be on the cover of such a respected business publication like Inc. Magazine. It's definitely a major pinch-me moment," Alli told E! News. "I would have never imagined when we started Drybar 8 years ago that I'd one day be on the cover. This is such amazing recognition and I'm so very proud."
In the cover story, the blowout veteran spoke about her humble beginnings, to indecisive college student, to fashion store manager, to aspiring runway hairstylist, proving the road to success can have many twists and turns.
In efforts to take her dream a step further, the hair innovator proposed a plan of investment to brother Michael Landau, the other co-owner of Drybar, to create something new, fresh and convenient enough to make any woman feel beautiful.
"There was this huge gap in the market," Webb explained in the article. "There were full-service salons way overcharging for blowouts, and there were Fantastic Sam's, which were not a great experience. Drybar synthesized the two: reasonably priced and luxurious in feel."
When the sibling duo first opened doors in Brentwood, a suburb of Los Angeles, they were expecting to do 30 to 40 blowouts a day...only to service double that.
"For six months, I couldn't hire stylists fast enough," she recalled.
Fast forward to 2011, when Castanea Partners (which also owned Urban Decay) put in a whopping $16 million in investments.
Lucky for most of us, there's now a hair haven within your reach.
Find the exclusive cover story at Inc. Magazine.