Are you balding? There’s an AI for that

For Cyriac Lefort, the concept for his new startup, MyHair AI, got here two years in the past.  The French native was sitting in a hair salon in New York getting a routine haircut when his hairdresser checked out him and stated, “You’re beginning to lose a little bit of hair,” Lefort, who’s 32, recollects being advised.  

“He didn’t say that to my good friend sitting subsequent to me, simply to me,” Lefort continued. “In my thoughts, I wasn’t balding, and I nonetheless don’t suppose I’m. However when somebody tells you you’re shedding your hair, you purchase no matter they recommend.” 

So, he purchased the shampoo the hairdresser instructed and left considering that anybody may promote a person something by telling him that he’s shedding his hair. “Hair loss is such an emotional matter for women and men,” he stated.  

That interplay despatched him down a rabbit gap the place he found how complicated the hair loss trade is, with a lot misinformation and clinics with unverified critiques. (He later went to a hair physician who advised him he was, in truth, not balding.)

Lefort needed to create a product that, utilizing AI, would assist males diagnose hair loss.

Lefort is a serial entrepreneur, having exited one firm and presently working two others with Tilen Babnik, who’s 28. The duo determined to crew up and construct a 3rd firm: MyHair AI. They vibe coded the product in just some weeks. It really works like this: Customers take photographs of their heads and add them to the MyHair app. The AI know-how analyzes these photographs to measure hair density and detect early indicators of hair loss.

Over time, as a person uploads extra photographs, the AI tracks the evolution of their hair loss, letting folks construct personalised hair loss-protection routines. Customers may also discover specialists or uncover clinics by means of the platform and skim verified critiques so they don’t get scammed. 

“Our AI tells you what’s actually taking place together with your hair, matches you with merchandise that truly make sense in your hair sort, and explains the science behind them, together with attainable unwanted effects,” Lefort stated. “By bringing transparency and medical accuracy to this $50 billion market, we consider we will fully reorganize how folks perceive, deal with, and store for hair well being.”  

It took round a 12 months of ideation, a number of weeks of vibe coding on Cursor, a number of months of scientific and scientific validation, and some extra weeks of constructing a shopper app for the duo to be able to launch MyHair.AI. The corporate launched this summer season.  

“We didn’t rent anybody for the preliminary prototype; it was totally vibe coded,” he stated, including that now that the product has grown, their engineers deal with the code to make sure it’s strong and scalable. MyHair AI is likely one of the many examples of how briskly startups can construct nowadays with the rise of vibe-coding prototypes.

Lefort stated the product already has greater than 1,000 paying subscribers and 200,000 person accounts. The app has analyzed greater than 300,000 scalp photographs and has partnerships letting specialists and clinics have entry to MyHair AI to allow them to consider their very own sufferers quicker. On Wednesday, the corporate introduced that Dr. Tess, a famend dermatologist, is becoming a member of the corporate’s board.  

Others available in the market notably embody Hims. Lefort stated MyHair is completely different than others as a result of the product is likely one of the few that’s constructed a devoted AI mannequin, skilled on greater than 300,000 hair photographs, to diagnose baldness — somewhat than utilizing a extra generic LLM to take action.

Lefort stated the corporate is now targeted on enlargement. It needs to construct a reserving platform and accomplice with extra clinics. He’s hoping to construct AI that works within the “actual world.”

“Males fear about two issues of their well being, sexual dysfunction and hair loss,” Lefort stated. “We deal with one of many largest day-to-day issues.”