SHOWER CAP
Like many women, Jacquelyn De Jesu does not wash her hair every day. She’d throw it into a topknot and dance around when she was in the shower to avoid getting it wet. But after growing weary of this faulty routine, she decided to search for a shower cap online and was dismayed by what she found. “It wasn’t that there was nothing,” recalls De Jesu, who lives in New York. “It was what the Internet told me was available.” And that was an array of cheesy prints and always the same outdated granny-image-conjuring shape. She recognized the opportunity to evolve the bathing accessory and got to work.
After calling a patent attorney to confirm nothing else similar existed, De Jesu sourced a material that would be a massive upgrade from the cheap, noisy plastic traditionally used: a nanotech fabric used in the activewear world for raincoats and windbreakers. “At a molecular level, there’s built-in functionality,” she says. “It’s able to repel water, but it’s also antimicrobial.” Then came design: She wanted it to look stylish, but she had to ensure that it would allow her to do away with the reviled mushroom shape—which also causes the annoying forehead indent— and still fit as much hair; the answer was creating a bigger pocket in the back. And she worked with a textile designer to create stylish patterns like delicate birds, leopard spots and tropical leaves.
Launched online in 2015, Shhhowercap quickly exceeded expectations and sold out. A year later, Violet Grey picked it up, with Bloomingdale’s and Sephora following suit. Though it was immediately embraced by the blowout faithful, De Jesu is especially motivated about converting non-users. “It’s more exciting from a brand perspective to be able to introduce this utility item to people who have pooh-poohed it for years.” The design is so appealing to women that it’s now being worn out of the shower, appearing at the pool, the beach, during a deep condition that coincides with a makeup application and even in the rain under an umbrella.
As the company grows, De Jesu is focused on continuing to serve her fashion-hungry customers. The company staged a runway show last November to introduce its second collection of prints, and, ideally, she’d love to collaborate with a major fashion brand. Number one on the wish list? “I mean, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang.”