Former Google Staffers Write a New Chapter with Manuscript

Hair loss over the course of one’s life is a complex issue. Whether the culprit of hormone issues related to menopause or postpartum, telogen effluvium triggered by chronic stress, traction alopecia from tight hairstyles, nutrient deficiency or genes, hair fall is an often-complicated condition. Causes can’t be summed up in a single sentence. Treasured tresses deserve their own manuscript.

So goes the name of a new scalp and hair longevity brand founded by former Google employees Ye Jin and Nick Burns. This past summer, Manuscript was among the dozen beauty brands invited into Sephora Accelerate, the retailer’s incubator program. 

A Personal Project

The co-founders, who met through a mutual friend, bonded over their hairy experiences with hair loss. 

For Jin, months of GLP-1 medication resulted in a noticeably, albeit temporary, wider part. 

Burns, who also dabbled with the weight loss medication, attributed signs of androgenetic alopecia to genetic predisposition (it affects roughly 50% of men by age 50, according to sources).  

Whatever the root cause, one thing was clear: they needed a fix that addressed comprehensive concerns from hair loss to a healthy scalp microbiome to an “anti-grey” solution that would be safe, effective, inexpensive and easy to use.

“One thing we really bonded over was our own frustrations with hair loss treatments,” Burns told Happi. “It definitely runs in my family. We’re both in our 40s and hitting that age where it’s more common in people in our age group to begin experiencing changes in your hair whether it’s hair loss or greying or changes in texture. We really wanted to create a product that we wanted that we didn’t see in the market and that we really needed. It’s a personal project for us.”

The pair put their heads together by merging Jin’s financial background as an angel investor in the beauty industry with Burns’ expertise as a beauty writer and critic for publications from The New York Times to Gentlemen’s Quarterly. 

With Manuscript, the budding entrepreneurs want the tens of millions of consumers who are experiencing this common concern to know they hold the pen to their “mane” story.

“I [have a] predisposition to hair loss, but it doesn’t mean that has to happen,” said Burns. “There are options. We have agency to be able to take steps to prevent that and slow it down. It’s this idea of writing your own story. That you are in control of your own story.”

Longevity Serum

Manuscript’s debut SKU, Root Water Hair Longevity Serum, will launch this season. It was developed with an R&D team from a leading contract manufacturer in Korea. 

The serum, formulated with peptides and their manufacturing partner’s patented technology, addresses thinning and is designed to reduce new gray hair growth. The founders say it should be applied daily for three months before users can start to see results.

Jin and Burns view their debut product as the first of many longevity formulas designed to restore hair and scalp to a more youthful state.