If female entrepreneurs and startups struggle to emerge within boundaries where skill is often less important than prejudice, there are projects that have managed to create a small crack in the glass ceiling.
This is the case Epigenhaira start up from Milan founded by Francesca Hanania and Chiara Insalaco who, after a long exchange of ideas, decided to build a business with high quality products to preserve long live hair. Therefore, strengthened by the experience gained in the field (for Hanania in the field of finance, which divides it into an international investment bank and a venture capital fund focused on consumer brands, for Insalaco in the field of pharmaceuticals and hair transplantation), they founded a company that, a few months after its launch, already has encouraging revenues and good public response.
How the project develops
«It all started with research: while exploring the US market, I noticed an increase in brands being handled repigmentation of white hair from the inside: therefore, not on capitalizing on color but on stem cell stimulation treatments in the bulbs to restore color to the locks”, explains Hanania. «I spoke with Chiara, who agreed to the idea of bringing a similar project to Italy, also reflecting on how important it is not to ignore gray hair as it is the beginning of a trichological problem much more serious than simple aging».
But intuition alone is not enough: you have to focus quality. «After the company was founded, we also involved Dr. Umberto Pompili, pharmacist and galenic expert: we entrusted the study and development of formulations to him», continued Hanania. «For me, it is important to collaborate with the scientific team involved 360 degrees: currently Chiara and I are partners at 48% and Umberto at 4% and we work on proprietary formulations with high doses of active ingredients, an element that few startups can rely on. We create it, test it, change it until we’re confident it works. In December 2024, Epigenhair was born, in July 2025 we debuted on the market and in September the turnover was double that of August: we did very well.”
More than just beauty, they prefer to put themselves aside consumer health (personal well-being, ed.): in a short time the brand, entirely made in Italy from the packaging to the anti-gray ingredients sold in some pharmacies and online (shampoo, conditioner, lotion and supplements), has conquered both male and female targets from 30 to 50 years.
