We can’t imagine life without getting a good blowout — and it’s all thanks to Drybar founder Alli Webb, who singlehandedly changed the game when it came to hair styling.
The wildly successful entrepreneur launched Drybar merely 13 years ago in Brentwood, CA, and to no surprise, the concept became a phenomenon all over the U.S. as women were able to immerse themselves in a dream self-care day thanks to a luxe wash and blow-dry followed by a trendy hairstyle to finish off the look — all while sipping champagne and watching an iconic rom-com in an aesthetically pleasing heather gray and canary yellow-themed salon.
“I didn’t intend to change things up; I didn’t even realize that we were doing that until we started opening several stores and hair salons were frustrated that we were coming to town because we were going to take their blowout business,” Webb tells Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder exclusively in a virtual interview when reflecting on Drybar’s success. “If anything, we were additive to their businesses because we were bringing so many women to the shopping center. Some salons were intimated by that, and others — which to their credit, in my opinion — were smart to have us come in because we were feeding them women who were coming in just for blowouts but then also looking for cut and color somewhere. And once [these salons] understood that having [Drybar] nearby was good for their business, everybody kind of benefitted from it.”
All before turning forty, Alli found herself surrounded by celebrity clients like Zooey Deschanel, Jennifer Garner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, and Maria Shriver looking to have their hair styled by Drybar with demand for a popular product and tool line in major retailers. She was also named to multiple prestigious lists by Fast Company, Fortune, Marie Claire, and Inc. and even published a New York Times bestselling book.
And while she was literally living her dream, things started to take a turn proving that things aren’t always as they seem. Webb’s marriage fell apart, her teenage son entered rehab unexpectedly, and she no longer found meaning in the wildly successful business she had built, spiraling into deep depression. She’d lost sight of what made her happy in favor of an aimless push to succeed above all. Something had to give. So, the entrepreneur sold the brand for $255 million to Helen of Troy, followed by the franchisor rights for an undisclosed amount a year later, according to PEOPLE.
Once selling Drybar, Alli began to reinvent her personal and professional life piece by piece with the goal of accepting her “messy truth,” which inspired her new memoir titled The Messy Truth. Officially hitting shelves this past Wednesday (November 14), Alli learned how to embrace the honest in lieu of the perfect and realized that most of life happens somewhere in the middle, between the laughter and the tears.
“I go pretty deep,” she reveals. “I felt really compelled to be as transparent as possible and to give back to other entrepreneurs and women who are in my shoes for comparison or juxtaposition to the success with things falling apart in the background. I had to share that journey to help others know that we’re all going through that no matter what it looks like on the Instagram highlight reel.”
While writing every chapter brought on a ton of emotions, Alli tells Celeb Secrets that two of the hardest to get through were the one about her son entering rehab and the afterward.
“Writing about my son and that whole chapter about him was obviously a very difficult chapter in our lives, so to write about it brought up a lot of emotion and it really wasn’t that long ago,” she reveals. “And then having my son read it and edit it — and him coming back to me and telling me that I needed to edit it more because I sounded a little victim-y — was a lot. It probably was the most edited chapter of the book, making it really challenging.”
“The afterward was pretty challenging as well as it’s pretty raw and emotional,” she continues. “I’m just so proud of it because that’s just who I am.”
For more on Alli Webb andThe Messy Truth, watch our interview below. You can purchase the memoir on her website here, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Harper Collins.
*Quotes were condensed and edited for clarity.
