We were lucky to catch up with Robert + Robin Sanzi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Robert + Robin , appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Robin: “So I noticed how Rob knew every product that we sold—what was in it, what wasn’t in it, what he would add, what he would take away. And I said, ‘Honey, you need to create your own product line.’
So that’s how it started. You know, Rob was the type of kid that whenever he was eating cereal, he would be reading the label and looking at all of the ingredients. His mom had breast cancer, and he always had in his mind that he wanted to create something that had healthier ingredients. Whenever we started formulating, we wanted a hair care line that was made with healthier ingredients, so that’s how it started.”
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Rob: “I actually started out in my second year of college studying engineering. I realized I needed a semester off and told my father about my plans. He asked what I was going to do, and I told him I didn’t know—maybe work at McDonald’s or play baseball. He looked at me and said, ‘No, you’re going to do something. What about your uncle’s beauty school?’ I told him I didn’t really know the first thing about being a hairdresser, but he reminded me of our roots. As it turns out, my great-grandfather was a barber, and my grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my mother were all in the beauty and fashion industry in some capacity.
So, I gave it a shot. It didn’t come to me overnight; for the first couple of years in the salon, it felt like I wasn’t cut out for it. But then everything started to click. I went on to win the Pennsylvania State Grand Champion haircutting competition for both male and female styles three years in a row. That was the moment I realized, ‘Okay, maybe I am cut out for this as a profession.’ From there, my career took off. I became affiliated with Paul Mitchell products, doing platform and educational work for them, before transitioning over to ABBA Products and working with Jim Markham. Eventually, I stepped in to run the salon here in Morgantown, West Virginia, that my mom started. We’ve been incredibly busy providing high-quality hair salon services to our local community ever since.
Today, I’m a fourth-generation hairstylist on my dad’s side of the family and a third-generation stylist on my mom’s side, with 38 proud years of experience behind the chair.”
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Rob: “When we started Zi Sanzi Performance Organics back in 2007, Robin and I always felt that the salon industry needed a cleaner, healthier product line—something better for the hair and better for the individual. Initially, we envisioned distributing our brand through the traditional beauty supply chain system. We tried that route for years, but we only saw minimal success. It was nothing to write home about.
Our true turning point came during COVID-19. When the pandemic hit, the majority of salons across the country were forced to shut their doors. We realized very quickly that we needed to pivot. We had to get our product line into businesses and locations that were actually permitted to stay open during a lockdown. That’s when we started looking into regional, independently owned grocery chains.
Today, we’ve completely pivoted away from the traditional model that built the beauty industry—the manufacturer-to-distributor-to-salon pipeline. Instead, we are now in over 10 regional grocery stores and independent markets. It allows everyday consumers to access high-performance, organic hair care right alongside their weekly grocery runs. It was a massive shift, but it fundamentally transformed our business.”
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Rob: “When we first started formulating, we partnered with a lab we believed was highly reputable. We invested about $20,000 of our own money to develop a high-lather, sulfate-free, and paraben-free shampoo, ordering it in multiple sizes alongside our original branding and packaging.
Finally, production finished, and multiple pallets were delivered to our salon. My wife, Robin, was putting them out on the retail floor when a client walked up and said, ‘I want one of each.’ Robin asked what she meant, and the client said, ‘Well, I want one of those shampoos and one of those conditioners.’ Robin replied, ‘Oh, we only ran production on the shampoo, what do you mean?’ When Robin went over to look, her heart sank. Because of a massive failure in the lab’s manufacturing and mixing process, the product wasn’t uniform. We had four completely different consistencies and textures of the exact same shampoo sitting on our pallets. It was a disaster. We had to get attorneys involved just to claw back a fraction of our investment, but we lost a devastating amount of time and capital.
Most people would have quit right there. But Robin and I hunkered down. We dug deep into the manufacturing side of the industry to ensure we would never be vulnerable like that again. Fortunately, I was already working with a world-class, INCI-certified, Health Canada-certified lab on another project. I sent the bad product to them, and their chemists reverse-engineered it to figure out exactly what went wrong.
Not only did they fix the formula, but they perfected it. That formula became our signature Sanzi Color True Shampoo, which has been a fan favorite ever since.
There’s a silver lining, too. The fact that we didn’t back down caught the attention of a silent investor. Impressed by our resilience and how we handled the crisis, they came on board to provide the working capital we needed to continue building and eventually rebranding. It took several years to navigate that dark phase, but by refusing to give up, we came out the other side with a flawless product line, a world-class manufacturing partner, and the backing to scale.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sanzibeauty.com
- Instagram: Zisanziperformanceorganics
- Facebook: Zisanziperformanceorganics
