For nearly two decades, Alex Brown, celebrity hairstylist, salon owner and founder of the new hair extension brand Ruti Ruti, has heard the same complaints about hair extensions: unmanageable cuts, heavy clip-ins, visible tracks and confusing application. Those frustrations were particularly acute among clients experiencing thinning hair and density loss, including women navigating hormonal changes associated with perimenopause, menopause and postpartum.

She saw an opportunity to rethink a category that has long operated on the assumption that more hair is better. “More hair is not always better hair,” says Brown, a former assistant to Ouai and Mane founder Jen Atkin whose clients have included Bella Hadid, Karlie Kloss and Hailey Bieber. “For too long, the industry has focused on density. Ruti Ruti believes it’s all about correct placement in the right areas of the head.”

That belief is at the heart of Ruti Ruti, a self-funded, direct-to-consumer clip-in hair extension brand designed for women with fine-to-medium-density hair. Its lightweight, pre-layered extensions are intended to add fullness without the bulk and professional customization often associated with traditional clip-ins. Brown declined to disclose sales projections or the amount she invested in developing the brand.

“Women will make appointments to get their purchased extensions installed. In some cases, we’re removing half the amount of hair that comes on the clips. The entire process is so wasteful,” she says. “Ruti Ruti intentionally uses less hair than many traditional clip-in sets because it was designed to enhance fine-to-medium hair and not overwhelm it.”

The brand is entering a growing category. The global market for clip-in human hair extensions was valued at $1.14 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $2.1 billion by 2034, according to market research firm Fortune Business Insights. North America accounted for nearly 46% of the market in 2024. Google Trends data for the United States shows search interest in “hair extensions” increased 40% over the past 12 months compared to the preceding year. Established competitors in the clip-in extension market include Bellami Hair, Hidden Crown and Luxy Hair.

Ruti Ruti sells two types of hair extensions: Ruti Ready, a seven-piece system starting at $425 for adding length and fullness throughout the head, and Ruti Sidekick, a four-piece system starting at $225 for targeting areas such as the front and sides. To deliver salon-level finishes without requiring professional installation, the brand uses a pre-cut, pre-shaped and pre-layered approach. Its extensions are made with 100% Remy human hair and an ultra-slim Genius Weft. Made to lay flat against the head, each piece features discreet clips with silicone grips. The wefts are labeled to guide placement, further simplifying application.

“[My clients] wanted an instant solution but always felt too intimidated with at-home extensions,” says Brown, adding that hair extensions are “typically manufactured and sold as blunt, uniform, one-length bundles or tracks.”

Ruti Ruti features 15 shades, presented through polished, editorial-style photography spotlighting real people to help customers visualize how each color will look when worn. Customers can also submit photos of their hair through an online form, and Ruti Ruti will color-match for them.

“More hair is not always better hair.”

Each package ships with a sample weft, allowing customers to verify the color and length against their natural hair before opening the sealed extension set. Once they’ve confirmed the match, they can remove the tag and incorporate the sample into the set. Because of hygiene restrictions, the remaining extensions must stay unopened and unused to qualify for a return or exchange. Each set also comes with an illustrated pull-out card explaining the application process. There’s a QR code linking to an application tutorial, too.

Brown envisions eventually enhancing personalization. Ruti Ruti is in the early stages of exploring artificial intelligence-powered shade matching to enable consumers to upload photos and receive a color recommendation. Brown is careful not to position technology as a replacement for the human eye.

“Hair color can look very different depending on lighting, camera settings and the tones throughout the hair,” says Brown. “Any technology would need to account for more than one flat color. Ideally, it would support our personal approach, rather than completely replace the human eye, especially in more nuanced color matches.”

Education is central to how Ruti Ruti plans to build its audience, particularly when it comes to challenging conventional measures of extension quality. “A major part of our education will focus on helping customers understand that the number of grams in an extension set does not tell the whole story,” says Brown.

The brand is relying on organic social strategies, including seeding sets to clients, influencers and tastemakers. Events and paid partnerships are part of the long-term plan.

Brown began reaching out to manufacturers in 2022 and heard plenty of nos and empty promises before vetting several potential partners and landing on the Chinese supplier she ultimately chose. The supplier produced samples that met Brown’s criteria from day one, but there was a catch. Because Ruti Ruti’s clip-ins differ from traditional extensions, the supplier was hesitant about whether it could manufacture them at scale.

“I really wanted to work with them, but they kept telling us no,” says Brown. The challenge was reproducing the samples consistently at scale, particularly the precise layering required for each extension.

Brown wasn’t willing to give up. After months of back-and-forth and an in-person visit, it took roughly a year and a half to convince the supplier to come on as Ruti Ruti’s manufacturing partner. The supplier finally signed on in February 2024 and started production shortly after.

Since launching Ruti Ruti on Aug. 31, Brown says, “We are listening closely to customer feedback and exploring additional lengths, shades and textures, along with products that could make wearing, styling and caring for supplemental hair easier.” The ultimate mission, she adds, is to sell “products that work with a woman’s life rather than adding another complicated step to it.”