How Dermatologist Brothers Fixed Hair Loss Treatment

After decades of treating hair loss, board-certified dermatologist brothers Ben and Sean Behnam began to notice a familiar pattern. Patients arrived frustrated, having cycled through shampoos and medications that promised results but rarely delivered a fuller head of hair. They realized hair loss was being treated less like a medical condition and more like a guessing game. Patients needed ongoing care, not one-off prescriptions or generic products pulled from a shelf.

The brothers decided to act on what they had been seeing. In 2021, as the COVID pandemic upended in-person medicine, they launched Happy Head, a telemedicine company that offers dermatologist-prescribed, customized hair growth treatments delivered directly to customers.

Related: Why Telemedicine Is the Future of Healthcare

Getting to the root of the problem

Unlike many hair loss treatments that rely on standardized formulas, Happy Head begins with a medical evaluation and builds treatment from there. Patients complete a digital consultation that is reviewed by licensed clinicians, with board-certified physicians involved in recommending specific products based on their results. Prescriptions are custom-compounded, combining medications at specific strengths based on the individual rather than offering the same formula to everyone.

Benjamin Katz, a serial entrepreneur and registered nurse who later acquired majority ownership of the company shortly after its launch, says that distinction is intentional. Most hair loss treatments are impersonal and one-size-fits-all. But Happy Head draws on clinical practice, including medications commonly prescribed in Europe but less familiar to U.S. consumers, and adapts them case by case.

At roughly $500 more per year than competitors, Happy Head isn’t for everyone. The company targets high earners who value specialized care. “It’s the difference between a Toyota and a Lamborghini,” Katz says. “We’re really optimized for people who don’t mind investing in their appearance and their health, and who see value in paying for a dermatologist rather than someone without hair expertise.”

Related: Virtual Primary Care Will Create a More Efficient Healthcare Experience. Here’s How.

Beyond the prescription

The company also offers genetic analysis to identify and decode your genes so you’ll know which ingredients will be most effective based on your own markers, a laser helmet that stimulates hair growth, hair-thickening shampoos and conditioners, vitamins, and serums. The test, StrandIQ, catches customers early—sometimes in their 20s, before hair loss or color loss becomes visible, allowing individuals to be more proactive.

Happy Head is also expanding into prescription dandruff treatment, a category Katz sees as underserved. Most Americans rely on over-the-counter products, which Katz describes as bringing “a knife to a gunfight” compared to prescription treatments.

Despite their success, Katz insists that Happy Head is a marathon, not a sprint. The company encourages hairline photos from months three through six to create visual timelines that prove growth is happening. “You see your kids every day, you don’t see them growing up,” Katz explains. “Looking in the mirror day to day, you don’t necessarily see the growth the way you do when you have a proper time series.”

Fighting above their weight

Competing against publicly traded companies like Hims & Hers and venture-backed Ro means facing massive marketing budgets and pressure to scale fast. The competitive landscape intensified when GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic brought a flood of capital into telemedicine. “All of a sudden, 2,000 people who wouldn’t have been in this space if it weren’t for the GLP-1s have gotten in,” Katz says. The industry went into hyperdrive, raising the stakes for everyone.

Happy Head operates as what Katz calls “a family office,” owned primarily by healthcare providers with no plans to chase growth-at-all-costs. That approach stems from hard experience. At his previous company, Car.com, a vendor crisis forced the business to spend a year without revenue. After raising money to survive, Katz had to accept a down round and ultimately lost control of the company. “I lost control of a company, which made me want to build companies that are sustainable and profitable,” he says.

So Happy Head stays targeted. “Rather than trying to sell ED medicine and everything else, we’re focused on one thing deeply,” Katz says.

With over 50 million men and 30 million women in the U.S. dealing with hair loss, that one thing could be big business.

Related: 3 Considerations for Telemedicine Companies Shifting Reimbursement Models

The long game

Not every patient sees results. Roughly one in nine won’t respond to treatment, and Happy Head’s approach is to investigate why. The company offers ongoing dermatologist access, switches patients between topical and oral treatments based on lifestyle, and examines factors like diet, sleep, and stress that might limit effectiveness. “Your body is a system at the end of the day,” Katz says, noting that before adjusting medications, the team often focuses on ensuring patients eat enough protein, vitamin D, and collagen.

That philosophy of long-term focus over quick wins defines Happy Head’s strategy. The company is already capturing equal market share with Hims and Ro among high earners—exactly the audience Katz wants to serve. “I believe in the power of long-term compounding,” he says. “If we could just stay as the best-in-class hair medicine player on the internet, then we’ll always eat.”

After decades of treating hair loss, board-certified dermatologist brothers Ben and Sean Behnam began to notice a familiar pattern. Patients arrived frustrated, having cycled through shampoos and medications that promised results but rarely delivered a fuller head of hair. They realized hair loss was being treated less like a medical condition and more like a guessing game. Patients needed ongoing care, not one-off prescriptions or generic products pulled from a shelf.

The brothers decided to act on what they had been seeing. In 2021, as the COVID pandemic upended in-person medicine, they launched Happy Head, a telemedicine company that offers dermatologist-prescribed, customized hair growth treatments delivered directly to customers.