We recently connected with Aramide Dada and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Aramide, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I started to experience low-self esteem by the age of 4, when I was violated by a family member. I dealt with physical, emotional and verbal abuse from family members that were supposed to protect me. I started to hate myself because they made me feel like I caused and deserved the abuse. At school, I was bullied for my accent, body and hair. I hated myself even more and woke up each day wishing I was someone else.

I went to YouTube to learn how to take care of my hair, but I mainly saw women with wavy to loosely curled hair. I thought that type of hair was more beautiful than my own. And when I realized my hair would never look like that, I began to hate my hair. This added the most damaging layer of self-hate because I started to talk down on myself and told myself that I was not beautiful and didn’t deserve to be loved.

God led me through a journey of self-love by first teaching me to love and accept my hair. I focused on doing styles that flatters my texture and I loved how they looked on me. I fell in love with my hair and started to love myself.

Over the years, I learned to pour my love, energy and attention into myself, as much as I was pouring into others. I fell in love with myself and realized how wonderfully God made me. I realized my worth and gained the courage to walk away from unhealthy relationships, especially romantic ones.

Self-hate tried to set me back at such a young age, but I overcome it through loving my hair and falling in love with myself. Now, my goal is to help other women, with all textures, do the same.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I discovered my passion for hair around the age of seven. While growing up in Nigeria, I watched the women in my household braid other women’s hair. I was fascinated by their ability to transform an Afro to an elaborate hairstyle that enhanced each woman’s beauty.

When I returned to the US, I had the opportunity to explore my passion. With the help of YouTube tutorials and family and friends that wanted their hair braided, I developed my braiding skills and learned how to take care of natural hair.

My business started sophomore year of college when I braided a friend’s hair for a trip. There were few to no braiders on campus, so students had to travel out of town to get their hair done. When other students knew I can braid, so many reach out to me that I decided to organize myself into a business.

Along my journey as a hair braider and natural hair stylist, I noticed some gaps in the natural hair industry. I noticed that there are not a lot of hair products that cater to kinkier hair textures. And a lot of products also contain harmful, cancer-causing ingredients. This is why I created my hair care line to have high quality ingredients, free of harmful, cancer- causing ingredients. We should not have to compromise our health for beauty.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I moved from Wisconsin, I continued to brand myself as a braider. I had a challenging time building clientele despite offering discounts and charging less than most braiders. I believe this was because there are so many people providing braiding services. So there is not a lack of braider’s compared to my college campus. During this time, I also realized that braiding was taking a toll on my body. So I decided to focus on promoting my hair product and providing natural hair services.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Yes, I manufacture my product myself. While I was researching and formulating my product, I also learned how to manufacture it. I was not interested in buying from a vendor because I could not ensure the quality of their product or make sure the formula and ingredient source are consistent. So I took matters into my own hands and I enjoy manufacturing my product.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.curlzofglory.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curlzofglory/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100063655326358/
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCbriPK7ao-y2Xoo6OcNxT1w

Image Credits
Melonie Wright, MizzMedia Productions