Hair Wellness Is Having a Moment. What Does It Actually Mean?
Hair wellness is emerging as the beauty industry’s latest approach to healthier hair, shifting the focus from simply treating hair loss to supporting scalp health and hair longevity.
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In case you missed it, ‘hair wellness’ is a buzzy new term floating around the beauty industry, and I have good reason to believe it’s only going to get increasingly more popular from here on out. If you’re anything like me and have stopped at nothing to grow or maintain healthy, strong strands that don’t break or shed, it’s important to understand that healthy hair starts at the root.
Because I struggle with hair thinning, I have been on the hunt for long-term solutions that really work. I swear by Kilgour MD serums, OMI hair growth peptide supplements, and even started wearing a red light therapy helmet at home in the name of scalp regeneration. So when I caught wind of TMPL8, a brand new hair wellness line rooted in Ayurvedic principles, I knew I had to give it a try.
In an interview with L.A. Times Studios, TMPL8 founder Shivangi Van Gogh shares what “hair wellness” actually means, the science behind thinning and regrowth, and how years studying Ayurveda helped inform her approach to hair health.
Define the term ‘hair wellness’ and who it applies to?
“Hair wellness begins with a very simple idea. Hair is not separate from the body that creates it. Our hair is constantly responding to what is happening within us. Age, hormones, stress, inflammation, nutrition, environmental exposure, scalp health, and the natural changes occurring in the body throughout our lives. When that internal environment changes, our hair often tells the story.
Hair wellness means caring for that entire biological environment rather than waiting until something goes wrong. And it applies to everyone. You do not have to be experiencing significant hair loss to think about the longevity of your hair.”
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If someone is experiencing hair thinning, do you believe they can truly regrow their hair?
“I believe the first question should always be: Why is the hair thinning? Hair is biologically dynamic. It moves through growth and resting cycles and responds continuously to hormones and many other factors. Depending on the underlying cause and the health of the follicle, there can absolutely be an opportunity for hair to recover and thrive again. But I do not believe in promising everyone that one formula can regrow their hair. That is too simplistic.
What we can do is create a healthier biological environment around the follicle and scalp... supporting the conditions associated with stronger, more resilient, vital hair. That is the philosophy behind TMPL8... creating the optimal conditions for hair to thrive again. Hair is information. We should listen to it.”
The haircare category is crowded. What inspired you to develop TMPL8? What gap in the market did you see, and what issues does your line solve?
“I never set out to create another haircare brand. The world did not need one. I spent my first career behind the chair as a colorist, then as Global Creative Director for Aveda, and eventually created my first hair company. I understood hair intimately from the outside. But I kept coming back to a much bigger question: What actually creates beautiful hair? That question ultimately took me back to Columbia University to study mind-body medicine, biochemistry, and neuroscience, and later to India, where I spent five years immersed in Ayurveda. I began looking at hair very differently... not simply as something we wash, condition, and style...but as part of a living, biologically ever-changing environment. That is the gap I saw.
The haircare industry has historically focused on the hair you can see. The growth category tends to focus on one issue: hair loss. I saw an enormous space between the two.”
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You spent some time in India, and this line is said to be rooted in Ayurvedic principles. What did you learn in India that you applied to product development?
“India was life-changing for me on every level. It changed the way I understood the body, mind, and emotions, and how they are all one interconnected system, communicating through multiple complex biological pathways. I spent five years there immersed in Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, and the mind-body connection. What fascinated me about Ayurveda is that it has understood this interconnectedness for thousands of years. It does not look at the body in isolated parts. It looks at the whole human being and recognizes that stress, the nervous system, circulation, inflammation, digestion, sleep, environment and daily ritual are all connected.
To me, Ayurveda is the original biology. That understanding became fundamental to TMPL8. I did not want to simply take an Ayurvedic ingredient, put it into a modern formula and call it Ayurveda. I wanted to understand the biological intelligence behind these ancient bioactives and use modern biotechnology to unlock and deliver that intelligence in an entirely new way. India also taught me that ritual matters. Touch matters. The nervous system matters.”
