- 12 hours ago
Shop Essence Live Episode 17 highlights Bask & Bloom and Eumelanin.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00hello this is episode 7 of shop essence live um if you have never been here before this is where
00:25we bring you some amazing female business owners we let you know what their stories are you get to
00:32get to know them and then you also get to shop so if you are here on facebook you'll be able to shop
00:39right here on the platform just go over to the shops tab um and check out the products there
00:45if you are on twitter you can go to shop.essence.com to support today's business women i'm
00:52so excited let's meet the ladies so we have kandira from baskin gloom and deirdre from you melanin
01:00i'm so excited how are you ladies doing good how are you guys the curls are popping you guys look
01:08amazing melanin and curls that's what today is all about all right so deirdre i'm going to talk to you
01:13in a second kandira how are you i'm good how are you well i'm amazing because number one and we're
01:21going to get to it i tried out your whole curly system on my 12 year old little boy last night
01:26and can i tell you just absolutely incredible so amazing i can't wait to get to these products
01:33thanks but before we do that why don't you tell everyone a little bit about your story um how you
01:39got started in your business okay well hi everyone again i'm kandira um i got started in the beauty
01:45industry when i had my first daughter um she's now 10 so i've been doing this for quite a while
01:52but i experienced postpartum shedding really severe um my hair was falling out and crazy clumps and
02:00i was just looking for a way to bounce back because i knew that's normal after childbirth so
02:06wasn't looking to like stop it or anything but mainly after it subsided move on to getting my hair
02:12back healthy so i was in a bunch of facebook group natural hair facebook groups and we were talking
02:19about you know different remedies herbal remedies to help um with shedding and i tried this herbal tea
02:27rinse recipe that i was playing around with and like within about 30 days i noticed the the shedding
02:33was slowing down and the light bulb just went off like after doing some research i wanted to
02:40use these same herbs to infuse into products and create a line um so and um i started with my first
02:48very first two products and we've just launched into a full line that focuses on um intense moisture
02:56they're all infused with different herbs um to help with breakage and shedding absolutely incredible and
03:04i want to remind everyone if you have any questions for kandira or deirdre make sure you're dropping
03:09them in the comments um what i love and this is like a running theme for shop essence live black
03:15women like we need something for ourselves we see a need and it's not out there we make it that is
03:21absolutely incredible that you were able to do that what was your first step like you had that idea
03:26you did your research but now you're on shop essence live with like a full-blown product line
03:31what was your first step to get to it being like a legitimate business well you know with product
03:38development and research it can be very very expensive as far as you know funding so for me a lot was
03:45self-taught and i didn't start it right away with the products that i had i started like going to show
03:52selling body butters and oils and stuff to try to get some you know income to really launch the line
03:58that i wanted and to be able to you know pay to to get the help um to formulate the products that i needed
04:05so the very first step was just trying to generate some type of income you know we don't we don't have
04:10thousands of dollars out there to really focus on um creating the product and then also learning how to
04:18properly market to the audience that i found out was out there experiencing the same thing that i was
04:24going through
04:24right incredible and i think what you said was key you didn't start out with the line that you had
04:32now so sometimes we start something and it doesn't work and you know some you know this portion will
04:38give up and the other portion will keep pushing you're definitely a part of the the portion that
04:43keeps pushing which is absolutely inspirational um so let's get to the product i'm so excited to talk
04:50about it because i got to try everything last night um so what do you have first for us and remember
04:55everyone as she's going through these products you can buy them um if you're on facebook go to the
05:00shops tab um and then you can purchase right on this platform if you're on twitter you can go to
05:04shop.essence.com and feel free to ask questions just drop them in the comments all right what do you
05:10have first start with first we have five products um that can give you a very great regimen for any style
05:17or situation your hair is going through um best seller is our razool and bentonite clay shampoo bar
05:24this is what it looks like um you can actually cut it into four pieces a lot of people like it because
05:29it's eco-friendly it's good easy to travel with you can cut it in pieces though it's easy to apply and
05:35it lasts a pretty long time too so this is we we go crazy people go crazy over this product here yeah
05:43and i gotta ask you too like before getting this i've never even heard of a shampoo bar like an
05:49actual bar to wash your hair and i asked my son you know getting 12 year olds and under a certain age
05:55to thoroughly wash their hair he actually really liked using the bar of soap to wash his hair so how
06:00did that decision come into play to make it a bar in the natural hair community a lot of naturals use
06:07razzle and bentonite clay in the actual powder form to um clarify their hair but that gets pretty
06:14messy and you waste a lot of money so um this is the reason why i wanted to put it in there and
06:19those two products alone can can be drying if you if you're not using it correctly so we've incorporated
06:26oils like shape butters like shea butter avocado oil and all that in it so to not only clarify your
06:33hair but to prevent it from drying out the natural moistures that your hair contains very important
06:39i love that what else do you have moving on to our second best seller this is our brahmi root hair
06:46mask very unique product a lot of people don't know about the herb brahmi but that's an herb that
06:52actually helps prevent um breakage and shedding it strengthens your hair so if length retention is
06:57something that's important to you this is a great deep conditioning to to use um again highly moisturizing
07:05strengthening and it's something that can be used weekly so when i started growing my hair back out
07:11after i had my third child i decided okay i'm just gonna go for the growth now um i cut out the five
07:18minute you know rinse out conditioner and i just deep conditioned that made a big change in um how my hair
07:26flourish so i always deep condition instead of just the regular rinse out conditioner this is great
07:31and two things i really love about this number one is the smell like i know y'all can't smell this right
07:36now but it literally smells like you can eat it it smells so good and then also brushing this through
07:43my son's hair he has 4c hair i really found that it was a really good detangling yes like it's got a good
07:50slip yeah yeah awesome love that and now we're moving into our styling products our more moisture
07:57cream which is what i have in my hair now for my twist out this does as a leave-in conditioner too so
08:03if you're one of those people that less is more than this is good for you it works great on color
08:09treated hair as well keep that moisture in so you can use this as a moisturizer as well as a
08:14leave-in conditioner and if you're going into other styles like you see our perm rod sets you can use
08:21this the more moisture cream first and then use our hydrating curl mousse to give you some hole on
08:29those different rods that styles that a lot of our naturals are are very they love to wear those
08:36yeah these are so great products have great slips so detangling won't be an issue um like i said they
08:43contain the herbs that really helps with applying and just getting you through that styling process
08:51okay and our last product we have is the stimulating herbal oil which was actually the second product i
08:57created again um herbal infused so you can use this it on your scalp for scalp massages i used it when
09:05i was losing my edges after i had my third child my baby boy he yeah he didn't like it
09:11you know every evening and also you can use this like i said i use the more moisture cream for my
09:19twist and after my hair was dry i just put a little bit on my ends to give it that additional signs
09:23um shine so you can use this multiple ways on your hair yeah and i love using it now i have my braids
09:30you know listen it's amazing and it smells like peppermint oh it smells so good too so absolutely incredible so
09:40again this is bask and bloom the hair products are so absolutely incredible you saw all the
09:47hairstyles um we have this picture here that shows you it's like every texture both of my kids have
09:54completely different texture hair but it the products work on both of them so it's really incredible
09:59smells great um and they have really great agents that help you in your hair the health of your hair so
10:06great so it's not too late if you have any questions for kendira i'm about to bring in
10:10deirdre but if you have any questions i'll bring her back later make sure that you drop those in the
10:15comments and if you are interested in buying these products you're on facebook remember you can go to
10:20the shop tab and shop there or if you're on twitter you can go to shop.essence.com okay thank you so much
10:27kendira i'll see you in a little bit all right so if you just tuned in this is shop essence live
10:34every thursday at 3 p.m eastern standard time we bring you two new business owners with amazing
10:41stories that will inspire you but then they also have these incredible products that were made for us
10:47and by us um so definitely tune in and support and share all right let's bring in deirdre
10:53hey girl hey how are you how are you great i'm good um so you melanin such an interesting concept
11:03i love to hear your story and just like what was your inspiration behind your brands
11:09so i'm a chemist as well so i wanted to merge both of my scientific and creative sides to address issues
11:16of colorism um so the name you melanin is not a made up word it's actually named after the specific
11:21type of melanin responsible for the black and brown color and skin and hair the line was created
11:26to celebrate and empower black and brown people around the world and to change the conversation
11:30around colorism and pretty much uplift those skin tones that are usually left out and um we're usually
11:36not being seen as those called beautiful so we want to position these deeper tones as a staple in
11:41fashion so that's kind of why the line was designed what i mean i didn't know i was talking to a
11:47real life chemist i feel like i need glasses on or something like that so incredible um and and the
11:54story behind it i absolutely love that and you're giving people some education with it too um so why
12:00don't you take us through the different things that are available on shop essence yeah so on shop
12:06essence i do explain our color palette too so you can actually see the color palette here it actually
12:11celebrates the different skin tones we start from dark chocolate and it goes all the way to butterscotch
12:16so all these t-shirts are available on essence as well um they're available in win sizes as well
12:22yeah so i just want to let you know um the women cut is a slim fit cut right that's the shirt you can
12:27wear with your blazers you can dress it up you can dress it down it's something you can actually um
12:33get a little more formal with if you want to and play around with it but if you want a looser cut
12:37feel free to wear the men's shirt or the unisex cut as i would like to say and they all
12:42come in the same color pattern palette of shades and we see those awesome guys right there um so
12:49they're actually wearing caramel and dark chocolate uh we also um for the men we also in women we have
12:55eumelanin hats as well um so the eumelanin hats are pretty cool because they have the chemical structure
13:00of melanin on the front and then on the back they actually have the word melanin stitched in back so if
13:05somebody asks you what's that you can just go ahead and turn your head around just let them know what
13:10it is um so the other thing that we offer as well that's available on shop s is our onesies
13:18right so black chocolate and also butterscotch yeah so you can snap one of those ones these those
13:25have been a hot seller for us um and then we're also have the tanks where you just went over but
13:32also a cool thing that we added on was our jewelry line right so all our jewelry uses chemical the
13:39chemical structure of melanin as a focal point in design right so we have everything that's actually made
13:45in silver and gold that value so all metals are silver and gold it's 18 karat over may overlay over
13:53silver and we have both earrings that we're both wearing today and then we also have the dog tags as
14:00well as the melanin necklace that you can see on our necks and it comes in silver and gold i just want
14:04to talk about the box too and how that was designed with intention to actually match my skin tone and it's
14:09actually designed in the hexagon as well and has eumelanin across the front so listen
14:16incredible i absolutely love that and you're making like our genetic makeup into art it's
14:24absolutely beautiful so incredible don't forget guys if you're watching now you can ask questions
14:31of deirdre and kendera make sure that you drop them in the comments these ladies are absolutely
14:37amazing and inspiring so if you have any questions do drop them there i do want to mention
14:42the cotton that you chose the material that you chose for these shirts are absolutely so luxurious
14:49and soft and amazing you guys have to definitely check them out so i'm gonna bring in kendera
14:55come back here all right so you guys it's not too late to drop your questions but until then
15:05we're gonna hit them with a positive word you guys um and i love your journeys i love your stories and
15:13how you got to where you are right now and i'm sure you've fallen down and gotten back up so a positive
15:21word is all about that like what is something that you tell yourself um when you feel like you've reached
15:27the end of the road if anybody's watching right now even if they're not a entrepreneur or business
15:32owner you know we go through the most especially now more than ever um what piece of advice or what
15:38something that you would say kendera i'll start with you well i've been on a journey like i said my
15:45daughter inspired this line and she's 10 so we've been through some things looking back um
15:53um on you know starting stopping getting frustrated i always tell myself i deserve to be successful
16:02and whatever i'm passionate about and this is something that i'm passionate about because you
16:06know being a mom and handling family life and trying to juggle being an entrepreneur um sometimes you
16:13it gets to become a lot and i did put it aside a few times but it kept coming back to me
16:19so my i tell myself this is what i deserve i deserve to be successful and that is my thing to keep going
16:29i absolutely love that you know we fight for what we deserve so this is all in belief
16:34so incredible and then dear joe what about you
16:39um so i think a lot of times we really just underestimate the journey of entrepreneur and
16:44entrepreneurship as a whole so it's really just hanging in there and being resilient so
16:48something that resonates with me um first of all i'm a huge jay-z fan right so i was watching him
16:53give a talk and one of the things he put out he was just like the most genius thing we did
16:58was not give up and i think i use that every day um to actually keep me motivated and that's i don't
17:05give up i'm resilient and i keep fighting and that's why my company is doing well and doing what
17:09it's doing today and actually changing the way we view ourselves oh man and that is so important and
17:15you guys are doing such important work um i'd love to ask you because we're in the time of a pandemic
17:22and i saw a statistic the other day about um many black businesses won't survive the pandemic how have
17:28you guys been adjusting your business model to still thrive um during covet 19 uh kendira i'll start with you
17:37well when when covet hit it's like everyone was at home and and sales were doubling tripling so we've
17:44literally just been preparing for increase we're not focused on the panic portion of it and i think
17:52that's important too once we saw the the potential to actually grow that's what we focus on yeah um
18:00things are changing all around us but what we do have control of is the fact that we're we're in a
18:06situation where we can grow and we're preparing for that throughout the rest of the year
18:09definitely deirdre what about you so yeah just sharing the same sentiments um so when covet happened
18:17sales actually increased by 400 percent also when the black uprising here yeah right with the black
18:25with the black lead uprising here in the states and people want to connect to who they are we've seen
18:29our sales continue to increase so since then i actually hired on a full-time staff and a part-time
18:34staff and actually expanded my manufacturing facility um to house more inventory so things have just been
18:40increasing and growing and we're just uh working on the next steps and growing out the business so yes
18:48we absolutely love to hear that um so incredible so now we do have some questions coming in
18:55this is for kendira um deanne wants to know i don't know how to take care and grow out my coarse kinky hair
19:02how do i moisturize it through the week what would you suggest for her for coarse kinky hair um
19:09most of our customers use what we call a lock method which is a leave-in a moisturizing cream
19:15and an oil so what we have and you can get these on shop essence as well is our ease leave-in conditioner
19:22it's a 12 ounce it's thick so for those coarse kinky hair kinky hair the products that we have are a little
19:28bit thicker so you won't have to keep moisturizing it day after day so we have the ease leave-in
19:35the mango castor twisting cream and if you're doing um styles like twist and stuff you can use it on damp
19:41hair and once that's done you follow up with an oil to lock in that moisture and usually with four to
19:47seven days they can go um without having to reapply these products so a good regimen for coarse kinky hair
19:53is very very important and just being consistent with it so once you start doing that moisture
19:59you'll definitely be able to tell like okay it's time to re-moisturize and don't you know get lazy
20:05keep it up so your hair can start to flourish and really adjust to the regimen that you're you're using
20:11now love that and then we also have another hair question um alana wants to know do you have any
20:19products that you can recommend for men that we have many haircuts with locks um we uh our everyday
20:29moisture bundle which consists of the shampoo bar to wash they love using the shampoo bar um deep
20:36condition for men they usually it depends on the length of their hair but i would say twice a month
20:41and uh more moisture cream which again this doubles as a leave-in and then you can apply some hair oil
20:47if they're not a fan of oil like if they want the 360 waves we do have the pomade just tell them
20:53they're going to smell a little tropical so if they don't mind hey what's wrong with that
20:59this to um you know brush your hair and get those waves coming in and lay it down too
21:05so dope all right and then uh michelle i see you here so you're asking why you purchase products that
21:14means you're ready to buy which i love so if you're watching on facebook which you are you
21:18can go over to the shops tab um and all these products are featured there you can shop right
21:23here on facebook or if you're watching on twitter go to shop.essence.com if you're watching this later
21:28on essence.com you can go to shop.essence.com all right i'd love to ask each of you um because your
21:34products are incredible and inspiring where do you see your business growing like what is next for you
21:42what do you want to see with your business 10 years down the line deirdre i'll start with you
21:49um so my athletic referral line was designed to introduce everybody to what exactly you melanin is
21:55so the future of you melanin is a full fashion house when you're going to see the logo actually
21:59go um go away from the front of the clothing and you're actually going to see high fashion pieces
22:04centered around dark chocolates coming down runways um so in integrating the science and technology
22:10into the fabrics using my stem bag as well um so have a whole plan for the next 20 years
22:17or for the company and growing slowly and we're going to be doing dope designs very soon
22:23so dope and that's it's such an interesting story of you using your stem background to create
22:29something beautiful but then also to bring proud pride to our people inspiring ladies um this has been such
22:37an incredible episode you guys not only are you supporting black businesses but these products
22:43have been looked into curated by essence has our stamp of approval so they're incredible you don't
22:49have to take my word for it you can try it shop.essence.com um there is a discount code that you can text
22:56and get 10 if you go to shop essence shop.essence.com and then you can also shop right here on facebook
23:04facebook shops i did do a little behind the scenes video last night um trying this out on my son so
23:11you can follow me on ig to see how that goes listen it's hard for me to run my hands through my fingers
23:18through his hair but with this this hair mask it's life-saving life-changing i tell you um so do uh follow
23:26me on ig and tune in here every thursday 3 pm facebook and twitter uh for more amazing products and
23:35inspiring beautiful melanated black women all right thank you guys and thank you ladies for joining us
23:42today thank you everyone bye thank you for having us
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