May 11, 2026
Bask & Lather has become one of TikTok Shop’s breakout beauty successes.
The bootstrapped textured haircare brand ranked No. 8 on e-commerce intelligence platform Charm.io’s list of top beauty brands on the platform during the first quarter, above Color Wow and below Tarte, with an estimated $8.2 million in sales. Bask & Lather reportedly will generate $100 million to $125 million in revenue this year.
The brand launched in 2020 with a focus on hair growth and length retention. Its debut and bestselling product is the $19.99 Scalp Stimulator, which helped founder Shaina Rainford and her sister regrow their hair after battling separate health issues. The brand has 16 products in its lineup today, with plans to double its assortment count by the end of the year.
Bask & Lather joined TikTok Shop in 2023, and it experienced a viral moment that year when Rainford’s then 14-year-old son posted a video “complaining” about how well the Scalp Stimulator oil made his hair grow. It garnered 1 million views within 24 hours. Rainford credits him for the brand’s sales accelerating fourfold from 2024 to 2025. Now 17, he leads growth and integrated marketing initiatives at Bask & Lather.
Since its first viral moment, the brand has had TikTok videos that have received tens of millions of views, and it’s registered more than 1,000% year-over-year growth. The brand’s Edge Control has become the No. 1 edge control product on Amazon and TikTok Shop, and its hair growth oil along with its scalp and hair balm have ranked consistently among the top five textured haircare products on TikTok Shop.
Bask & Lather’s breakthrough is happening as TikTok Shop has become the fourth largest online health and beauty retailer in the United States, according to NielsenIQ, with about 81% of sales coming from those categories. In the first quarter, Charm.io estimates that TikTok Shop racked up $928.5 million in beauty sales, a 96% jump from $473.6 million last year. NIQ approximates that 10% of U.S. households have purchased products through TikTok Shop, spending an average of $118 annually and shopping three to four times a year.
Ahead, Rainford breaks down the content, creator and live-selling strategies that helped Bask & Lather become a TikTok Shop standout.
Post Consistently
Bask & Lather posts one to two times a day, and it’s looking to ramp that up in the coming months. Rainford recommends brands identify the content that performs best and continuously rework it into new formats. There are times when a video Bask & Lather created three years ago resurfaces among the week’s top-five gross market value (GMV) drivers.
“We still have clips of content from years ago that we can repurpose into recent videos, and those still perform really, really well,” says Rainford. “All content matters.”
Ironic and humorous videos, like Bask & Lather’s first viral video from 2023, perform particularly well for the brand. Customer testimonials and before-and-afters featuring Bask & Lather’s edge control are popular, too, but the video that made the product go viral was a seven-second clip showing someone using the edge control to stick the jar to the wall of the brand’s warehouse. It has garnered 35 million organic views on TikTok.
Bask & Lather often scales popular content with paid media to extend what is already working. “The goal isn’t just reach,” says Rainford. “It’s to give proven content more runway and better efficiency.”
Bask & Lather founder and CEO Shaina Rainford (folajimi famosaya)
Use Every Part Of The Platform
Rainford views TikTok and TikTok Shop content as part of the same ecosystem. She first tests content organically on TikTok to determine what resonates, then turns winning posts into TikTok Shop content, live-selling segments and paid media support.
Live-selling is an important and active part of Bask & Lather’s TikTok Shop strategy, with the brand going live 10 to 12 hours a day. Consistency and a conversational tone are key during live-streaming. “We keep it product-led, answer questions in real time and make sure it feels natural rather than overly scripted,” says Rainford.
Creators are another major growth lever for the brand. Bask & Lather seeds more than 10,000 creators a month depending on launches and priority products. Its creator network is made up of affiliates, long-term partners and organic fans. “Seeding helps us stay visible, build trust and keep a steady stream of UGC and organic mentions,” says Rainford.
Know Your Margins
TikTok Shop economics can make profitability difficult for many brands. After platform fees, creator commissions, fulfillment, promotional spend and returns are factored in, net margins on TikTok Shop generally range between 20% and 30% before the cost of goods. While margin pressure has been a factor for Bask & Lather, Rainford says the platform still makes sense because it drives both discovery and sales.
Given those pressures, Rainford stresses that founders should understand their margins, pricing and promotional strategy from the get-go. Bask & Lather leans on discounting often, but Rainford describes it as a tool rather than a strategy. The brand keeps discounts selective and time-bound, usually aligning them with launches, live-selling sessions and specific conversion windows or campaigns.
“Consider the referral fees, the campaign fees and really understand it’s not a barrier,” says Rainford. “We monitor performance closely and pull back quickly if the economics aren’t there.”
Rainford also emphasizes TikTok’s halo effect and says it should be considered when brands assess the platform’s overall return on investment. “People discover you on TikTok, they’re going to retail, they’re going to Amazon, and they’re going to your website,” she says.
Think Beyond Virality To Long-Term Growth
Success on TikTok Shop can become a catalyst for broader omnichannel growth, which Rainford hopes will be the case for Bask & Lather. Up until now, the brand has sold through its direct-to-consumer platform, Amazon and independent beauty retailers, but it plans to enter larger retail partnerships once it has enough cash flow to support them.
“You can scale, you can collect the funding that you’ll need to support retail, but do that for a few years, build up that demand, understand who your customer is, understand your margins,” says Rainford. “Use that time to learn your business inside and out and build a strong team before jumping into retail just because the opportunity is there.”
At the same time, Rainford stresses that founders should treat TikTok Shop like a true sales channel rather than an experiment. She says, “It takes strong content, creator support, consistency and patience.”