If you’ve ever worn hair extensions, you don’t need us to tell you how inconvenient and high-maintenance they can be. If it’s not clip-ins, which take forever to do yourself (and leave room for human error), then it’s sew-ins or bonded extensions, which require an afternoon in the salon.
So it’s no surprise that when Hidden Crown‘s hair extensions hit the scene, they blew up on Instagram for the sheer ease and accessibility of wearing extensions like a headband.
Instead of the tedious process of applying multiple clips, these hair extensions are shaped like an elastic headband with hair attached around the back. It takes the effort out of extensions; all you have to do is slip it over your head until it sits around the crown of your head (hence the name), layer your own hair around it, and proceed as usual. It’s so genius that these halo-shaped extensions are now favorites of Ashley Graham, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Olivia Culpo, and too many Real Housewives to count (among them Melissa Gorga, Erika Jayne, and Stephanie Hollman, to name a few).
Founder Shelley Goodstein had a pretty impressive resume before she added “founder and CEO” to the list. The Tucson, Arizona-based mom of three balanced her career as a pharmaceutical rep, modeling gigs with Ford Models, a blog called A Model’s Secrets, and a self-published book, a prescient, pre-social media guide to taking flattering photos.
Once she hit her 40s, she says her hairstylists started to put clip-in extensions on while she was modeling: “My hair would be fuller, and it’s the one thing you can’t Photoshop—fuller hair.” She loved the effect of the extensions so much that she once asked if she could keep them in for dinner with her husband afterwards. It was easier than doing it herself. “There had to be 25 clips—there was no way I could do that confidently,” she says.
When Goodstein began to search for other options (and thus found the fishing-line design), she also entered the Beauty Search contest for the since-folded More magazine, which celebrated women over 40. “I got to come to New York to do a photoshoot and won $10,000,” says Goodstein, who was 45 at the time. Her idea: Invest the winnings in a prototype of the halo-style hair extensions. “Once I had the extensions and perfected the design, I decided to test the market,” she says. Her best group of testers? Her blog readers.
Goodstein wrote a blog post in which she explained her new hair extensions, shared photos, and compared them to clip-ins. Readers sent in orders—and she sold out her first batch. “I doubled my money on day one, and then I never put another penny into my business,” she says. “I did all the shipping, I did all the service. I tried to figure out all the advertising.”
And while they’re an Instagram darling, Goodstein never sent them to influencers or celebrity reps to get coverage. The purpose of these halo-type hair extensions—which is to make extensions seem less overwhelming and easier to handle—is what made them stand out. That’s how celebrity hairstylist Justine Marjan discovered them.
“I’d seen Hidden Crown Hair Extensions all over Instagram for years and love how the headband-style makes extensions non-intimidating,” she says. “The clear string adjusts to your head shape and sits comfortably on your head, so you don’t have to worry about tracks showing or a clip coming undone.”
Bailey Marshall, a lifestyle blogger, learned about the extensions when a friend recommended them. “I didn’t even realize that Hidden Crown was even a thing until two months ago,” she tells Glamour. “You know the feeling when you leave your hair in a pony too long? That’s what I would get with clip-ins. Now that I have a Hidden Crown, I don’t know know why clip-ins are even a thing.”
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