Here's What Went Down With The Sleep Styler After Shark Tank

Waking up with a head of smooth, luscious tresses almost sounds like an impossible dream, but Tara Brown's hectic, working-mom lifestyle needed it to become reality. The ophthalmologist was tired of putting up her hair in a ponytail every day and none of the styling products in the market were satisfactory, practical, or safe enough for daily use. Thus, she thought of creating a tool that would cut the hairstyling process down to 5 minutes and wouldn't require heat, which often leaves hair strands fried and fragile. After observing how her daughter's hair, which she'd braided the night before, retained its soft waves the next day, Brown developed The Sleep Styler. A roller made of yoga-towel material and padded with memory foam, it can be used on damp hair at night after a shower and worn overnight. Come morning, the user removes the rollers to unveil soft, uniform waves.

Through a Kickstarter campaign that raised $47,000 within a month, Brown launched her business. As it turned out, many people shared her hairstyling woes since The Sleep Styler sold $6,000 worth of products in just three weeks. Because of this initial success, she joined Season 8, Episode 19 of "Shark Tank"  to ask the investors for $75,000 in exchange for a 20% share in her company.

Aside from her product's practicality, the Sharks were impressed with Brown's self-starting spirit. Lori Greiner, in particular, described The Sleep Styler as "genius" and jumped at the chance to be a stockholder in the company.

Brown's pitch focused on how hairstyling can take as much as an hour on average — precious time for anyone juggling multiple responsibilities. In comparison, "The Sleep Styler girl has time to actually enjoy her morning and is already out the door while [others would still be] styling," she told the investors. She also explained how the shape of her rollers maximizes air flow so a user can choose to wake up with either wavy or smooth and straight hair. Since heat isn't required, hair strands are left healthier.

The Sharks admired Brown's ingenuity and the quickness with which she'd acted upon her business idea. (She revealed that she went to fashion school to know enough about fabrics, measurement, and sewing to be able to talk to a manufacturer.) Brown, however, was taking her time to scale her company despite receiving inquiries from Amazon, QVC, and major international buyers. She admitted, "I need a business ninja in my corner."

Greiner expressed how much she loved The Sleep Styler and how she could imagine it being sold on QVC. She offered $75,000 for 30% equity and wanted Brown to immediately say yes. She also blocked Kevin O'Leary's attempt at making an offer, pointing out how his baldness wouldn't make him a credible representative for The Sleep Styler. At Robert Herjavec's encouragement, Brown countered Greiner's offer with a 25% company share, which the latter accepted. No other investor was able to make an offer.

After the episode aired in March 2017, The Sleep Styler made $1.5 million in sales within 24 hours. True to her word, Greiner worked to make The Sleep Styler available on QVC as well as in Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond. This was done by the investor's company taking over the manufacturing aspect of the business (per Shark Tank Recap). Because of the nationwide rollout that was accompanied by an advertisement featuring Greiner herself, The Sleep Styler reached the $100 million mark in sales by 2019 and was hailed by USA Today as one of the most successful products to come out of "Shark Tank."

Six years after its appearance on "Shark Tank," The Sleep Styler is still very much in business with its products available on Amazon and QVC, coming in 3-inch and 6-inch variants. Due to its popularity, numerous content creators have uploaded YouTube videos where they try out The Sleep Styler. Buzzfeed also came out with its own review, with the contributors saying the product helped turn their fine locks into voluminous curls. However, they found the process of wearing the rollers in their hair and keeping all of them secured all night difficult. Reflecting this mixed reaction is the product's 3.2 rating on Amazon and a 2-star rating on QVC.

Retail purchase is no longer an option on The Sleep Styler website, although it provides an email address for interested wholesalers. On Instagram, the brand has 17,000 followers but its last post was back in May 2022.

Although Brown is still listed as The Sleep Styler's CEO per her LinkedIn profile, she seems more involved with her medical practice nowadays. From ophthalmology, she has branched out to cosmetic surgery and her Instagram page mentions neither her hairstyling company nor "Shark Tank." Another clue to her reduced involvement with The Sleep Styler is how its product is now branded as Allstar Innovations Sleep Styler on Amazon. (The company also carries Greiner's touchscreen purse.)

Brown has retained her go-getter spirit in her new career, though. In an Instagram post, she described herself as "a type A personality" who does her due research and legwork before investing in something that would be worthy of her patients' time and money. That attitude had helped her launch a hairstyling business and turn it into a "Shark Tank" success story. It would undoubtedly serve her well in her latest endeavor too.