Celebrity-backed Omi Launches Hair Growth Peptides, in Naomi Whittel’s Latest Wellness Venture
Omi is a new player in the beauty and wellness space, with some big-name backers.
Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner are stakeholders in the company, after seeing results from using the product — which is rooted in hair growth peptide biotechnology; Tracey Cunningham, the in-demand celebrity hair colorist, has joined as chief innovation officer, and leading the team is Naomi Whittel, founder, inventor and a bestselling author.
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Whittel has a background in nutrition and is behind Naomi Whittel Brands, which includes Simply GoodFats products and her “Glow15” book release. Omi is the latest launch in the portfolio.
“I’m so passionate about inventing, but it’s first just curiosity,” said Whittel, who’s based in Los Angeles.
She created and sold three companies, she explained, the last of which was Reserveage Nutrition, the supplement brand acquired by Twinlab Consolidation Corp. in 2015.
“I brought resveratrol into the market in a really big way,” she said of Reserveage Nutrition, which she developed after a visit to the South of France, working with vintners in the region. Resveratrol, part of a group of compounds called polyphenols, is thought to act like an antioxidant, with sources including the skin of grapes.
She also brought collagen into the market from Southeast Asia, where “they were drinking collagen tea,” she said of the local inspiration. “They were having all sorts of different forms of collagen, like bird’s nest.”
After the sale, she had a five-year non-compete, and in that time, she was chief executive officer of Twinlab Consolidated Holdings, manufacturer and distributor of wellness goods. She also wrote “Glow 15,” a New York Times bestseller centered on the science of autophagy (the natural process through which cells break down and remove damaged or dysfunctional components). Whittel gathered her learnings, offering tools and recipes while collaborating with physicians, dermatologists, nutritionists and fitness physiologists for the release.
“I thought, ‘What do I want to do next?’” she went on.
The answer came four-and-a-half years ago in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a fishing town on the North coast of France. “I discovered these elastin peptides,” she said. Then, a year later, she came across keratin peptides in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“Collagen peptide, elastin peptide and keratin peptides, those are our beauty peptides,” she continued. “And when you have a good number of them, your whole body just responds beautifully.”
After clinical trials, products utilizing elastin-derived peptides have been in the works and coming this year, but first, Whittel introduces Omi’s the Hair Growth Peptides. It offers the brand’s patented, clinically proven complex, IFP Hair Growth Peptide (with 60 capsules, two a day), made to support thicker and stronger hair by “anchoring follicles, replenishing root systems, reducing loss and breakage and stimulating new growth.” It’s priced at $237, or $79 a month with subscription. There’s also a gummy version; both are free of synthetics and gluten-free, which became available on Saturday at omiwellbeauty.com and on Amazon.
Industry sources estimate the new line will generate $38 million in first-year sales.
Whittel worked alongside Dr. Rob Kelly, a biomedical scientist and pioneer in bioavailable hair growth peptides, as well as Dr. Mike Hoaglin, chief medical adviser of Omi. Cunningham joined to lend expertise in real-world concerns of hair health.
“By strengthening hair at its source, they create the perfect foundation for more growth, less loss and long-lasting beautiful color,” Cunningham said of Omi in an exclusive statement. “When hair is healthier, it holds color better, shines brighter, and looks more radiant. I want all of my clients to have their best hair, and follicle fortifying peptides make that a reality.”
For Whittel, her love of wellness started young, after suffering from eczema as a newborn, then growing up in Switzerland on a biodynamic farm, she explained.
“I was born covered in eczema, and that’s autoimmune, so everything I had to do was from the inside,” she said. “So, the food that I ate, the nutrients that I took. And the clothing that I wore, I couldn’t wear synthetics because my skin couldn’t breathe. And I learned and fell in love with this industry, with beauty from the inside out.”
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