- 9 hours ago
In our first Shop Essence Live episode we're talking to the founder of Wonder Curl about her products and answering questions about hair care that all black women should know!
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00:00hello and thank you so much for joining us i am noni from essence coming to you from my basement
00:11um and we're so excited to bring you guys this new series shop essence live so um we all know
00:20that covid19 has hit the black community in disproportionate numbers and small business
00:26owners and entrepreneurs have not escaped that so here at essence we're doing our part with this
00:32weekly series every single thursday we're going to bring you a new vendor we're going to be hearing
00:38their stories and then we're also going to be showing you their products giving you the you
00:43guys the opportunity um to go to shop essence.com and support and i'm very excited about today's
00:50vendor i actually just coincidentally already use her products on myself on my kids we're talking
00:57to the creator and founder of wonder curl scarlet row cord hello see here we are perfect how are you
01:05so i'm very very excited to be joined by you we have a live audience tuning in right now listen
01:13before we get into this um if you are a small business owner or if you're an entrepreneur
01:19definitely share this tag tag your friends that are small business owners as well if you want to
01:26hear about her products and you have a natural hair struggles at home if your crochet is like
01:32growing out and you got to take out those braids and you don't know what to do with it after
01:35like that's about to happen to me you can also ask carlet your question she is a hair expert so
01:42share this with your friends that are dealing with their natural hair for the first time while
01:46we're all in self-isolation this is for you guys so scarlet before we get into your product why don't
01:52you talk to me about your journey about your company how you got started basically like most
01:59people i just couldn't find the products that were giving me my the look that i wanted with my hair
02:05you know i think a lot of us curlies we tend to say you know when our hair is wet with the conditioner
02:10we're like oh my god if only my hair can stay like this and unfortunately there just weren't any
02:17products on the market that were giving me that you know fresh out the shower with the conditioner
02:24look after my hair dried and you know i was using like four or five different products just to get my
02:31hair to look a certain way and the problem was that it never lasted like i would probably maybe if i was
02:38lucky one good day and it took me hours hours to do my hair and i said you know what i was living in
02:44florida at the time and i was like i am going to create the perfect hair gel and that gel is gonna
02:49have to be humidity proof it's gonna have to keep my hair frizz free it's gonna have to dry weightless
02:55it can't be crunchy no flaking you know and it just had to be this perfect gel and literally i was in
03:02the kitchen just mixing and trying different formulations and once i finally came up with
03:08that formula i was like i'm on to something and that's the get set hair jelly and it's been my
03:14best selling product ever since and women from type 2b to 4c love love love this product and it's so
03:28funny like since you know everything has happened i'm like people are buying this like it's toilet
03:34paper and i'm like you guys there'll be more oh wow that's really interesting so i was gonna ask you
03:41that next like how have you been dealing with this global pandemic business wise um and then what sort
03:48of adjustments have you had to make um you know i i had like like a whole plan um to really start
03:58marketing and working with more salons and stylists and of course as soon as this happened we had to
04:05push back and kind of re-evaluate how we're going to be working with stylists um and what we decided
04:13was to start doing more of our own live stream so we're on um instagram once or twice a week working
04:22with other stylists helping women with their education um educating their hair i'm saying
04:26hair education i recently last weekend
04:30how we hear some experts helping people learn about their hair um learning about the misinformation
04:42out there and how they can create their own hair regimen and also eating healthy for healthy hair
04:50so you know just like like with essence we're doing a lot more live streams a lot of education
04:55um because to me i'm like my products can only maintain the hair that you grow and i want your hair to grow
05:03healthy and i want it to flourish and i want my products to be what keeps that going and if your goal
05:09is length moisture is what you want and my products help to deliver that type of moisture into your hair
05:15i love that so you see scarlet can give you a hair education is that how you said it
05:22scarlet can give you a more education so send your questions as you can see i'm looking in the comments
05:29i'm bringing you guys up here um we have a question already for hair but before we do that
05:35you guys keep sending your hair questions why don't you take us through your products i would
05:40love for people to see and they're amazing guys i'm not i tried it myself and all my kids i got two
05:45curly-headed natural kids at home um and the i'm not gonna let me not waste it scarlet you take it
05:51away tell us about your products got it um laid it all the products myself so i i don't have a chemist
06:00um and i am not a chemist but i felt like i had a vision of what i wanted products to do and behave
06:08so sometimes people will say well butters don't work well for me and i'm like well my product isn't
06:14like your average butter because i didn't go to a chemist and say make me a hair butter in my head i was
06:19like this is what i want a hair butter to do and this is probably i'm going to start with my favorite
06:24product which is the sealing hair butter and i'm going to show you like it is really a thick
06:32thick product it's very thick i have this in my hair and what it's going to do is that if you find
06:38that you have color treated hair damaged hair or if your hair just doesn't retain moisture if your hair
06:44is high porosity and high porosity means like your hair gets wet quickly and it dries quickly
06:51um the sealing hair butter is going to help to seal that moisture into your hair and this is
06:56actually one of my favorite products to use because it really keeps my hair um moisturized for for
07:02several days without having to refresh my hair my hair is very thick so i like heavier thicker products
07:09in my hair um the get set hair jelly which is the first one that i mentioned
07:15and this is my best seller and you can see again it's a very thick product i like thick products for
07:23my hair um and i think when my density hair um density meaning like a lot of strands and your strands
07:32with thick using thicker product that's going to um help to give it a little bit more weight um that's
07:39what i need volume is not an issue for me some women who have thinner hair they might want
07:45something that's lighter and for them we have the curl control styling lotion this is a great product
07:52if your hair is thin if it's fine if you want volume you want that third day look on your first day
07:59you're gonna love this this is the curl control styling lotion so the ingredients are the same as the
08:05get set hair jelly it's just the formula is slightly different and so i'm saying you know if it's a great
08:13product why break it but really it's about giving people more options and that's what these two
08:19products that get set hair jelly and the curl control styling lotion is giving you a couple of different
08:23options for your hair and then um these are my cleanser wait a minute all right this camera is like
08:37you know so this is my detoxifying clay cleanser this is a three in one so this is going to detangle
08:46cleanse and condition your hair all in one the beauty about this is that if you tend to have hair that
08:52tangles very quickly if your hair is dry dry hair tangles easily as well this is going to just to melt
09:00those tangles away when i formulated this it was taking me over an hour in the shower um you know and i
09:07was from shampoo condition detangle rinse the whole process and that was just in the shower that does
09:13not include applying products it took me over an hour with this it cut it down to half an hour and
09:20this is what it looks like and this has clay in it it's hard to tell with the lighting but um it's very
09:27conditioning it's not your average clay cleanser you know when you think of clay cleanser you sometimes
09:33think of like messiness it's not messy it glides on the hair and it keeps the hair soft um and it
09:40helps those tangles and you don't need to follow up with a conditioner if you don't want to if your hair
09:46is normal it's not damaged um i usually use the clay cleanser on its own but every once in a while it is
09:54good to have a deep conditioning so this is what i use this is the restoring hair treatment
09:59is my deep conditioner this has olive oil shea butter um tamanu which is an ayurvedic medicinal oil
10:07um all in here so it's going to help to penetrate the hair um to get that moisture back into it but
10:14also with the shea butter that helps to seal it so as you can see there's kind of like a theme going on
10:20which is about moisture i say moisturized hair is protected hair um and then the last product i want
10:28to tell you guys about is the moisturizing hair pudding um this is like a one size fits most product
10:36um this is another bestseller people tend to buy the pudding with the jelly together because you're
10:42almost guaranteed gonna have a good hair um wash wash and go twist that whatever styles you're doing
10:48those two products together works really well across the board on most hair types and textures
10:55again this is another kind of thick and creamy product um it has a consistency of pudding and
11:02thus the name moisturizing hair pudding i like this on its own in the winter when the air is a little bit
11:08drier you can get a nice fluffy twist out with it if you want big um wash and go you can use this on its
11:14own but if you want your curls to be super defined i say use the get set hair jelly if you want fluffier
11:21use the curl control styling lotion so the products are also designed to be versatile you can mix and
11:27match them for any look that you want so there's no like twisting butter or curling cream like they all
11:36work in concert with each other to help you achieve whatever look that you want and um those are those
11:44are the products right there and i would love love love to answer um any questions i love getting as many
11:52questions as possible especially if you um are confused about what your hair type is you want to know what
11:57product would work best for your hair please share them if you're catching up i'm live from my basement
12:06scarlett is the owner and founder of a wonder curl i see the questions are coming in like crazy
12:12um so we're gonna go ahead and start reading some of these questions all right so sab jackson wants to
12:21know does it weigh one's hair down your products well no no and this is um this is my day hair
12:32um so all the products dry weightless of course if you overuse it because there are oils and butters
12:39um in the sealing hair butter and the moisturizing hair cleaning so it is possible but um they're not
12:46designed to wake your hair feel oily or greasy or weighed down when your hair dries it doesn't feel like
12:53you have like it's just it just dries light like you don't have any products in your hair
12:58um you know and again it depends on your hair um how much hair you have on your hair because
13:04obviously thicker hair can tolerate more product but if you find that your hair is fine and it's thin
13:10then you want to use more water and less product and that's just a great rule of thumb all around but
13:15the products are not i can't do greasy yeah no we like the pillows of curls all right so anthony
13:23wants to know do you make anything you would recommend using for beards good question for the fellas out
13:30there oh my you know so many people have asked me about um beard products and unfortunately like i i just
13:39know about hair right but it is something that i would look into because i wonder if like beard hair
13:46is the same just a little bit coarser right right than regular hair um but right now the products are
13:55designed to use on um the hair on your head so but if you buy it and use it on your beard let me know how
14:02it goes right all right so this is a really good one because a lot of us have experienced this right
14:09from marita i took my braids out and now i have no curl pattern at all whereas i used to have 4c here
14:17hair i have no curls it's just straight how do i get my curl back interesting so it was probably that
14:26because your hair was embraced for so long that it kind of just like got used to that um and if you
14:33didn't use any heat during that period it should take some time to bounce back like i know when um the
14:38few times that i've blow dry my hair straight it took my hair oh like a couple of washes to get
14:44it back to its natural curl but i would say um definitely you want to use a lot of moisture in
14:51your hair you want to do deep conditioning treatments because your hair is probably dry and that's why
14:57it's not getting that um curl back that snap back that we want so you i think you really want to work on
15:04doing a lot of deconditioning treatments um using the restoring hair treatment a fun little fact had
15:10completely damaged my hair from coloring it too many times oh wow yeah i came up with the products out of
15:20um right deep conditioning treatments and then keep your hair health moisturized using a product like
15:28the moisturizing hair pudding and then just leaving it alone don't don't touch it no twist outs just do
15:35like a nice wash and go keep the buns to a minimum um i think that's one thing that we don't realize is
15:42that the styles that we could be causing our hair to break off so um definitely you see my hair down
15:51most of the time because i found that when my hair was up in a bun that so loosened the hair so just keep
15:57that in mind especially with protective styles got it and then uh merex wants to know please do you
16:05have a cream to enhance hair growth i know i see a lot of how do i grow my hair questions what would
16:13you recommend for that so i'm going to be as honest with you as anybody will ever be there are no products
16:22that's going to make your hair grow if someone says that they have a hair growth problem product
16:27it's not gonna there's no hair from the inside of your body so you have to make sure that you're
16:35eating a proper diet um and that's why like i had the healthy hair summit and it was it was free and you
16:41can still check out the um replays at healthy hair summit com um where we discussed at length with my
16:49sister who is a plant-based um doctor how your diet affects your hair growth um and if you want to
16:57grow your hair faster uh you have to start from within so i i would not recommend i i wouldn't feel
17:05right telling someone like yeah try this it's going to make your hair grow faster but what products are
17:10going to do is going to help you to retain that length so as you're growing your hair out you want
17:15to keep the hair moisturize is a theme that you're going to hear me say a lot because if your hair
17:21is moisturized protected um my hair grows it doesn't break off that much because i keep it hydrated all
17:30the time and when my hair starts to feel dry that it starts the process over again so basically you want
17:36to make sure that you're maintaining that um the length of your hair your hair is growing no matter what
17:43um unless you have a medical condition but hair grows it all grows at a different pace but you might
17:49not see that retention because your ends are breaking off so you want to maintain that hair right using
17:56hydrating moisturizer got it questions are rolling in um ebony wants to know do the products help with
18:04shrinkage specifically for 4b and 4c hair yes absolutely um the combo for like 4b 4c hair i would
18:15recommend are the sealing hair butter and it gets the hair jelly um because they coat the hair and they
18:23help to elongate the curls a little bit more so that you do get more of that hang time but you still
18:29right to have your curl pattern um because the gel um it's thicker it's a little bit not tacky um it
18:39creates curls and that's what you know some products with gels they don't give you that curl definition
18:48right that's what you're looking for is that definition because you you know do different
18:54things with your hair like with a blow dryer you can braid it at night to help elongate it but you
19:00want to make sure that you have that curl and then you can work on um elongating them but if you have
19:07frizz there's you we got to make sure we get that frizz out of the way and then get that elongation and
19:14that's with moisture and products that's going to help define the curls totally makes sense all right
19:21right we're gonna get through these questions here we go cassandra wants to know any thoughts
19:26i know right hey our hair is a big deal for us right um cassandra wants to know any thoughts on what
19:33best to use for twist steps for twist that's like what's the best wonder curl product yes um i would
19:44recommend um definitely these two products and also it depends on how how the thickness of your hair
19:55but i like moisture hair pudding with the curl control styling lotion because that's just going
20:00to give you a softer defined look and if you want to pick it and fluff it out and get that bigger hair
20:07you can achieve that right and it's also if you live it's warmer and humid the curl control styling
20:15lotion is going to keep that your definition intact so that all that hard work that you put because we
20:22know twist outs are not easy and they know right so you want to make sure it lasts and so that's what the
20:33curl control styling lotion is going to do and the pudding is going to have a soft hold but it's
20:38going to keep the hair hydrated and moisturized and again you hear say moisture i say moisture
20:45is like the glue if your hair is healthy it's moisturized you're going to see you're going to
20:50have way more curls more definition than if your hair is dry dry hair does not play well together
20:57moisturized hair you know they're like we're together but separate kind of like we are right
21:03right so we're gonna move on to some more questions but if you are just joining us this is shop essence
21:10live um this is our new entrepreneur focus series where we talk to entrepreneurs they get to tell us their
21:17stories they go through their products and you can also have the opportunity to buy them at shopessence.com
21:24we know right now more than ever um covet 19 is hitting small businesses very hard so essence
21:31is doing everything they can to support so tune in every thursday for a new vendor all right and we
21:38have wonder curl here today she's giving us a hair education that's what you said right we're gonna
21:44i'm getting a hair education myself i'm taking notes over here this is so amazing so we have a question
21:49from tiffany she wants to know my hair is 4a but also very fine so it's hard to define my curl any
21:57advice um so advice for fine hair well with type 4 hair um your hair is the most fragile of all the
22:08different hair textures so you always want to be more um careful with it you want to be gentle with your
22:15hair and i find that when the coarser the tighter the curls we tend to manipulate and do the most with
22:21it so you want very gentle with your hair again um you want to do a lot of deep conditioning treatments
22:29you might find that your hair is on the drier side as well um but just keeping it moisturized like the
22:36same advice i would give someone with type 4 i would give someone with type 3 hair because one thing with
22:44curly hair is that our hair tends to be drier than than the other like straight hair sisters so
22:50definitely you want to keep your hair moisturized using like the moisturizing hair pudding um that's
22:55a favorite for people that have finer thinner hair because it's not so heavy on the hair that it's going to weigh
23:04it down um and i would also recommend just like with the twit like if you want to use that i said a great
23:10one and done product especially now um we have to stay indoors more we're not going out we're not
23:17being seen my goal with my hair is just to keep it moisturized um and so i've just been using the
23:24moisturizing hair putting in the ceiling hair butter most of the time on my hair because i was coming to
23:30see you guys we appreciate it girl i haven't put a full face of makeup on in forever so i feel you
23:39you gave me reason to look cute and wear this new shirt right why not but right so i would say you
23:48know these products i recommended for the twist that i recommend for um hair that is for a fine and
23:57low density because it's going to attain that moisture but also um not weigh the hair down
24:04and that you can look like you have a little bit more volume to your right so so great all right so
24:12uh let's see we have kwan is there any validity to use to the use of rice water solutions to enhance
24:20your hair strength or length i have seen this rice water thing uh diy thing all over the place
24:27so please put us on and let me know i you know i i i have not tried it i've read it and i was just
24:34like i i mean i've never tried it so i can't say if it works one way or the other it's just one of
24:41those fads that i think it sounds good but right there's if there is no search behind it there's no
24:49science to say that rice water actually works um i can't i couldn't believe it i wouldn't know why
24:57doing a rice water rinse would um enhance the strength and length of your hair especially if
25:03you think about it your hair grows out of your head so once your hair pushes out of your head it is
25:08considered dead so it's kind of an oxymoron when we say healthy hair because something that is dead
25:14can't be healthy but when we say healthy we mean like you know having a shine to it um you know not
25:21breaking off so that's when i say healthy that's what i'm thinking um like i can't say one word
25:28or the other about rice water if it works or not um i'm one of those people where i'm like i'd rather
25:34eat the rice we can't waste no food right now on your hair ladies um no but and i love what you
25:44said earlier um thank you danita we'll take that she said beautiful black women uh thank you um no i
25:55think that uh i love what you said earlier about hair growing from within and taking care of yourself
26:01and being healthy i think that's something that a lot of us skip over and a lot of the times you
26:06just want you love the fat and if there's a miracle pill you could take to lose weight and uh grow your
26:11hair why not that's why that industry is so booming right now but you know taking care of yourself from
26:17the inside out i think that's really really solid advice so we are coming to a close um but before we
26:25do uh if somebody's watching right now and they're sitting on this amazing idea you have this mom at
26:32home and she has this solution she thought of and she wants to turn it into a business what's the biggest
26:38piece of advice that you would give her um one just do it if you have a nagging dream a nagging idea
26:49that just won't let go i say that is the universe speaking to you then you should go for it uh when
26:56i started wonder girl i was unemployed you know and i was living in my sister's house and what i i was just
27:03doing what i could with the resources that i had and i started with a free website right and now
27:10there are so many different opportunities there are so many websites free devices free apps that you
27:16can start taking advantage of you know a lot of other um female entrepreneurs they started out with
27:23a youtube channel right youtube is free so there's like social media out there i say go for it um do your
27:33research of course block that's what i did before i started i was you know and i have a marketing
27:38background so i had some ideas of business but i graduated a long time ago everything i learned
27:45in business school is now obsolete so i have to constantly keep myself up to date about what the
27:50trends are especially what's happening in the natural hair industry it's always changing so right stay
27:55educated understand your industry uh advice but if you're going to seek out advice don't just walk
28:05up to a inboxes me and they're like where'd you get your labels from probably not not going to respond
28:13but if you have a very specific need question um you know we've built up a relationship and i'm
28:22going to want to give you that information as much as possible um and the best advice a lawyer told me
28:30before i started selling my products was get liability insurance so wow really really great advice and then
28:39finally um i know that you've you're still in business and doing well during this time like we
28:45need to take care of our hair now more than ever because we can't rely on our beauticians but what do you
28:51think is something um like some word of encouragement or advice for entrepreneurs that are having a hard time
28:59right now adjusting um to this global pandemic
29:04um well i i practice kundalini at home um which is a spiritual part of yoga and having that community
29:13so we're doing zoom events and whenever i can tune in i do and it just always refreshes my soul when i see other
29:20like-minded people um and that has helped me and you know i ain't gonna lie i had my three-day meltdown
29:27when this first started right yeah i was just like how am i going to do this um and then you know after
29:34that i had a good night's sleep i picked myself up and the ideas started coming and you you know you're
29:42onto something when there are people that comes your way and they want to help you they want to see you
29:48succeed um again if you want to start suddenly there are folks locked up that know would know something
29:56that you need it then that's you you that means just doing go for it um being in contact i was such a
30:07shut-in before this happened i was like i was such an introvert i work from home um you know i i enjoyed my
30:15freedom like if i needed to go out i could but now it's just being in contact with friends checking
30:23in on each other um and just being there whichever way we can yeah i think that's such amazing advice
30:30and it's really important for everyone even if you're not a small business owner and dealing with
30:35covet 19 right now in the global pandemic we have to take care of ourselves right because it's a very
30:41very stressful time um scarlett you're so amazing thank you so much for being a part of the very
30:49first shop essence live this has been really great you were so gracious with all of your education i can
30:57only say it like that because um but thank you so why don't you let everyone know where they can find
31:03you on social media yes uh well first of all i want to say thank you for for allowing me the
31:12opportunity and the platform to you know share with your audience about wonder curl um it is a labor of
31:20love for me it literally comes from art um and so every product is all batches so you're still
31:28getting that homemade quality with each product that you're getting so sometimes you see a lump or
31:35two in it but that's that because it's still made by hands um and you can find me throughout social
31:41media as wonder curl um instagram.com um slash slash curl twitter it's wonder curl and then in facebook and
31:51youtube are our wonder curl com com um but really you go to the website and all the links are there
32:00wonder curl.com got it thank you so much so if you guys are loving this you're loving scarlett's hair
32:07education that she just put us all on to um and you want to try out her products support support support
32:13black business and black entrepreneurs and i will say support black people and have great hair
32:26so as you can see essence we're here every thursday from now on talking to new entrepreneurs
32:33now i do see people in the comments asking how do i get my business on here i have somebody with a
32:39business we're paying attention to the comments guys so if you know someone tag them here they can
32:45be featured on a future episode of shop essence live we want to support black entrepreneurs here so
32:51you'll have the opportunity to talk about your products um talk about your story and then also reach
32:57the audience as well so thank you so much for tuning in if you are a small business owner as well
33:04we want to encourage you to watch the webinar we did on monday on the cares act now it is a stimulus
33:11package from the government on how you can get a bailout for your small business it is a lot of
33:17information there so make sure it is there free 99 on essence.com and if you're also someone that is
33:24dealing with covet 19 and you want to take care of your wellness we did an amazing wellness summit um
33:32last week that's on essence studios.com so definitely make sure that you check that out recommend your
33:38vendors and support on shop essence.com thank you guys so much for tuning in today um
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