That’s what we’re known for, formulating with the ingredients that haven’t been overused before or used at all that have a proven, scientific story behind the support of the hair follicle, whether it be growth, strengthening, repair, whatever it may be. Ingredient stories are also key for our brand. Filling white space is important and making sure that it’s something that hasn’t been done before. How do you think about expanding the product assortment?įirst things first, we have to make sure it’s always important that we deliver something the consumer wants and needs, not throw something out that I think they need. Over 200 products, about 10 collections, and accessories and tools. How many products and collections do you have today? After we grew and got into retail, we started adding different collections. We grew to have 10 in the adult line, and we kept expanding. I remember that day we had eight orders total, and I was super happy with that. When I flipped the switch on our website on August 2nd, we had four products in each collection, so four for adults and four for children. How many products did you launch Curls with? Curls’ Blueberry Bliss collection is the brand’s hero collection. It’s all around making sure that we are where she is. For Hair Under There, for example, we do OTC, so that’s beauty supply stores, that’s a heavy market for us. We distribute where we see based on numbers that consumer goes. She’s now tapping into Ulta Beauty, so we just launched there last year, but she’s also in CVS, Walmart, Sally Beauty on occasion. So, our consumer is primarily at Target, that’s the No. Then, three-digit growth happened when we launched in retail, and the trajectory kept increasing from there moving forward as we got into more retail outlets. It was slow, but year over year we had double-digit growth. Were you mostly selling direct-to-consumer on your website prior?Ĭorrect, 100% e-commerce. The timing, the opportunity and the right products created the success. There was a movement happening, so we launched at the cusp of that return back to natural. It was fresh, new, different, organic, natural and wholesome products for natural hair. She gave us and three other brands a test of 105 doors because she figured something was shifting and moving. We were what some back then considered underground because we were really just touching the consumer where she was versus mainstream in stores. What else is going on in this market?” She found us. She went out and said, “Well, there must be something else going on. The buyer Linda Solomon, who actually still works for Target, but is not buying for ethnic hair anymore, saw a gap in her consumer offering and saw a decline in relaxers. Launching it was slow going, but the kickoff really for the brand was when we launched in Target. Was there an element of the brand in the beginning that helped to jump-start the business? I had $30,000 in my personal savings, and it took about nine months to get from research and development to launch. How much money did it take you to launch your brand, and how long did it take you to develop it? I did my due diligence and hired a cosmetic chemist-and the rest is history At that time when I launched there weren’t options for us, so I looked to see if there was, one, a sustainable business that others were looking for and, two, what products were needed, what were the misses, what were the gaps. I was no longer interested in relaxers because of the chemicals and didn’t want to introduce those to my baby or my bloodstream. I was a newly natural mother that was looking for organic and natural products for my hair. Beauty Independent spoke with Dellinger about the early days of Curls, retail woes, product disappointments, her approach to funding, and what’s next on the brand’s docket. The brand is also available at Target, CVS, Walmart and Sally Beauty. Curls entered Ulta in April of last year. To celebrate the brand’s 20th anniversary and look to its future, it held a July event at the Black Hair Museum in Los Angeles, followed by a pop-up at Ulta Beauty in Dellinger’s hometown of Sacramento as part of what it called the Your Curls Can tour. Being heavily involved with my team is super important and making sure they get my vision and that we are aligned.” Self-funded to start, Curls partnered with Ouidad and Bio Ionic owner Beauty By Imagination in 2021 to accelerate growth. “When you step away as a founder, you can lose some of the personality that you started the company with. “Being hands-on has been important,” she says. Founder Mahisha Dellinger lists staying true to herself and the brand’s DNA as well as her continued control over Curls as factors in its staying power. The brand launched as the natural hair movement was picking up steam. Some might attribute its longevity to good timing. The curly hair brand Curls has remained relevant for 20 years in a crowded market, no easy feat.
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