We recently connected with Carly Asare and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Carly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Many customers who are just meeting and hear the business name, may see the banner or my t-shirt first thinking that I am Lillian! Lillie Bell Thomas my late Nana passed in December of 2020, she is one of the people who taught me to pride myself on hair care. The way she viewed it was that our hair is our crown, this is one of the first things that people see when they see you along with your face. Lillian’s Lush Organics was a business idea before I even knew it! In 2020, I had done a big chop due to my hair falling out during the height of the pandemic. I remember sitting in the chair at the hairdresser I was seeing at the time and told her to just cut it all off! Prior to my big chop though I had never dealt with my natural curl pattern EVER! I can recall the next day after my big chop me just taking the steps to figure it out because I had no other choice but a hat or a wig in the middle of July! A couple weeks after my big hair cut I can remember seeing huge flakes on my scalp, I had never been actually diagnosed so it was me just trying to cover up the flakes. I finally went to get diagnosed because the conditions that I didn’t know I had at the time was getting worse and worse. I finally was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis which is a common skin condition that mainly affects your scalp. It causes scaly patches, inflamed skin and stubborn dandruff. After being diagnosed I was given 3 different prescriptions at the time. All of these prescriptions worked for a short period of time and I was right back at the dermatologist. These visits after diagnosis were now about every 3 months, the prescriptions weren’t expensive but they also were not cheap for someone who was still in college. After a couple more visits I then started to do some natural remedy research because again this was becoming very costly. I came across a couple different oils, herbs and essential oils and made my first batch of product for myself in my parents kitchen on the stove in my childhood home! I used the formula that I created for a while but still was having flare ups more frequent then I would have liked to, I then went back to the drawing board to find more oils, herbs and essential oils; this is when the current formula for my best seller The Healthy Hair Growth Serum was born! With this product I was using it but not as frequently as I should have but I saw major hair growth and a change in my scalp health. Fast forward to 2022 I can remember the weekend of my birthday my older sister Barb had asked me for a bottle to try, I gave her some of the product in a bottle from an entirely different hair brand because that’s all I had (she still has the bottle to this day). After she tried the product she said to me “you need to sell this to people it’s hair crack…” in my head I was like “who would buy this?” That same weekend, which was a holiday weekend, I remember just taking the leap by the time Labor Day came, I had purchased 30 bottles from Amazon, made a logo and posted the product along with some before and after pictures on my social media platforms. The name of the business came from my late Nana who I miss immensely. That same weekend all 30 bottles were sold! I then went back to buy more bottles because of the demand. I literally took my last $50-$100 from another business I had owned previously and flipped it into the revenue that I have made today which is close to $40,000!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
For me I look at myself as a regular girl who is from a small neighborhood in West Philadelphia. I come from two parents in which one is an immigrant from Ghana. I went to my neighborhood elementary school/middle School and I graduated from The Philadelphia High School for Girls which is where looking back some of my most life changing things started to happen. After I graduated from Girls High I went and attended Clark Atlanta University for 2 years and majored in Biology. For the longest I thought I wanted to be a doctor then moved onto the idea of being a physician assistant. While at Clark Atlanta I was known as the girl who had a hair crate under her twin XL in her dorm; right here is where my hair care journey started. For people who know me or even knew me at one they all can say that I have a thing with my hair, hair health means a lot to me. After the 2 years that I attended CAU I then came back home to Philadelphia to attend Arcadia University, I found that after a while this was not a good fit for me. Fast forward I then went on to attend West Chester University where I finished out my undergrad career and finished with a Bachelors of Science in Cell Molecular Biology! Again I always had a thing for haircare and science but never knew that I would one day merge the two things which would then be my full time career. My goal for Lillian’s Lush Organics is for women, men and children to understand that all hair is good hair. In society today we have moved away from relaxers and perms onto the natural era for hair but social media and society defines how good someone’s hair is by a number and a letter (3A, 3B, 3C) which this shouldn’t be. The other goal that I have for Lillian’s Lush Organics is for people to really learn their hair, learn their scalp as well as learn any of the hair/scalp conditions they may have; because when they know better they do better! With my background in science as well as a background in loving haircare I was able to create a multi-purpose hair care product that allows people to soothe the scalp issues they may have as well as help to grow their hair in the process. The Healthy Hair Growth Serum also helps with a wide range of other things like moisture retention, adding shine into the hair as well as strengthening the hair. What I think sets me apart from others is having a strong background in science; with me doing 5 years of undergrad I have an understanding of the science behind hair care, hair growth as well as the physiology behind hair growth and hair health. What I am most proud of in this business is that I am able to help people daily, what I pride myself on is seeing people smile. Most of my customers may have not had edges in a while and we were able to grow them back with some patience and consistency. I also have some customers who have been at a plateau with hair growth and we were able to start a difference in their hair growth over time. The main thing that I want potential customers, followers etc to know is that at Lillian’s Lush Organics we are growing together. I AM A PRODUCT OF MY PRODUCT! Over the last year of business I actively do hair growth challenges, edge growth challenges etc with the customers because this is a journey that takes consistency and patiences which I enjoy taking the ride with my customers.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I AM A PRODUCT OF MY PRODUCT! For me I want my customers to know that I am in this with them as well! I have had times where I had thin or missing edges. I have also had times in my hair care journey where my hair growth was stagnant. For me it’s not just about selling a product to people, I like to provide resources etc. Most people do not understand that there is so much that can be going on within the body that can cause hair loss and this is where the science and healthcare worker in me steps in. I like to also teach my customers to advocate for themselves when they are speaking with healthcare professionals about hair loss they may be experiencing. On social media I also show up and show my customers the real! For example, I speak highly of the fact that your blood works/labs quantities can play a role in hair loss; if I am getting blood work due to a change I may be feeling in my body I come back with the results to share with my community. I also think that me doing heavy reading and research often has helped with building a community who do not just buy from me but also trust my judgement when it comes to certain things.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
A time I had to pivot in business was when I owned a yoga business, at the time the business was started due to my liking at the time. I was going to yoga often. I even got a yoga teacher certification, but this was not who I was! As I have been going to therapy more and learning myself the time period of me owning my yoga brand I was living in someone else’s truth. Don’t get me wrong I still love yoga to this day but it was not something that I could sustain and something that came natural; it felt forced. At the time that business wasn’t even open a full year but it brought on immediate burn out. During the time of me teaching yoga here and there as well as selling yoga apparel, haircare still always came up! Again at the time I was living in someone else’s truth so I thought that the road bumps in my yoga brand were just natural. I slowly allowed the business to fade out, I can remember having about $230 left from this business in my Square Account. I took $50 of that to purchase supplies for sample bottles and then I took the rest to purchase launch items to start my website etc. I say that this yoga business was the catalyst to what I have built today with Lillian’s Lush Organics.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lillianslushorgnaics.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lillianslushorganics
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lillianslushorgnaics
Image Credits
Professional Photos By ABRI Celebrity Photographer