Ultimate-DIY Hair Tool Launches on Kickstarter

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Equip Beauty, Inc., a start-up company, today launched a Kickstarter campaign, http://www.zyliststyle.com/pages/kickstarter to fund the Zylist, the first trimmer designed to enable high-caliber cuts and trims for longer styles. Invented by medical device executive turned entrepreneur, Rachel Croft, the Zylist will be offered via Kickstarter at a significant discount to the future retail price.

"Electric clippers have been around for 100 years. They're in every barbershop and 7.5 million units are purchased by consumers every year in the U.S.  But they're limited to short hairstyles," said Croft, who holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BS from Stanford University. "People with longer styles are left to choose between the salon and scissors, which almost always means the salon, since taking scissors to hair is scary." Croft estimates that consumers spend $13 billion every year on salon haircuts for longer styles.

The concept behind the Zylist is to enable novices to copy the professional stylists' technique of "combing out, securing, and cutting" the hair in a straight line. The Zylist performs these movements all inside the tool.  A clear paddle allows for perfectly even alignment of cuts. The tool can be combed straight down for blunt cuts, or to an angle to create varying degrees of layering.  Cutting takes place inside the tool, keeping fingers safe. The Zylist can be used for refresher trims between salon haircuts, bang trims, kids' cuts, and layered styles.  

The inspiration for the Zylist came to Croft after watching her husband cut his hair at home for years with an electric clipper. "He would feel like cutting his hair, and 20 minutes later would have a great haircut.  I'd just had our baby and was having trouble fitting a salon appointment into my schedule. I became frustrated that there wasn't an at-home tool for my long hairstyle. I needed a high quality haircut that would blend in at my corporate office, and I didn't feel confident with scissors. So, leveraging my background in product development, I invented the Zylist."

The Kickstarter campaign will run from October 21 to December 4. More information can be found at www.zyliststyle.com.

SOURCE Equip Beauty, Inc.