Five-year-old indie hair brand Act+Acre is expanding its scalp-care focus with the launch of a new product duo: a showerhead and filters.
The filters, which launched on Tuesday, are the first of their kind, according to Helen Reavey, co-founder and creative director at Act + Acre. For one, they’re approved by a trichologist, which is a hair and scalp specialist. In addition, each houses 12 different filters and a proprietary blend of KDF 55, calcium sulfite and coconut-activated carbon, all of which help purify and filter shower water.
Available on the brand’s e-commerce site and online at Sephora, the showerhead retails for $120. The filters, which Reavey recommends be replaced every six months, are available to purchase separately for $32 each. For easy self-installation, the showerhead comes with plumber’s tape and a wrench. Installation takes just 60 seconds, according to the brand.
Reavey and Colm Mackin, Act + Acre co-founder and CEO, said the launch of the filter was a natural next step for the brand, which was driven by the realization of hard water’s impact on the health of the scalp. As explained by the National Library of Medicine, hard water is full of minerals and contaminants that can cause buildup on the hair and scalp, which can trigger side effects such as dryness, itchiness, irritation, and even hair thinning and loss. In 2023, biotech environmental company EcoPure found that 85% of households in the U.S. had hard water.
“A lot of people moved during Covid — and all of a sudden, they had hard water, and their hair wasn’t used to it. That [inspired] me to figure out how to get the water fixed. … And we realized there wasn’t anything on the market [for it] at the time,” Reavey said.
With the popularity of the #everythingshower trend in the last year, the beauty showerhead has become an opportunity for growth and innovation for brands. Act+Acre’s showerhead launch follows that of several popular brands including Canopy and Jolie, which launched showerheads in 2023 and 2021, respectively.
Similar to the hero Cold Processed technology used in Act + Acre’s hair-care products, it took years for the team to create a filter that removed chlorine, heavy metals and other contaminants from shower water to purify and soften the water. They eventually developed a filtration system that could deliver their desired 12-part filtration method.
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To promote the new product, Act + Acre will be gifting the showerhead to the brand’s top-spending customers, a handful of influencers, some hairstylists and makeup artists, and a group of product testers, all with the expectation that they will share the product with their respective online communities. The brand increased its influencer budget by 66%, compared to other launch campaigns, to include home decor and wellness influencers as well as beauty creators. While they couldn’t disclose the full details, the founders shared that they are also working with a major gym chain to replace its showerheads with Act+Acre’s.
Act + Acre has been a pioneer in the scalp-care category since its launch in January 2019. In August 2023, the brand entered 236 Sephora doors. It later entered another 83 doors in October with special tower displays when it launched its stem cell collection, which supports hair follicle health. The brand has 101,000 Instagram followers.
This year, the Act+Acre team is focused on growth. “We’re going to grow more than 100% this year — maybe 150%,” Mackin said. “We had an amazing year last year, but this is our first year in Sephora. We’ve built a robust field team, and the relationship with Sephora has been phenomenal.” The founders also shared that they are exploring launching a store on TikTok Shop and plan to grow their community with more in-person events.
