We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cortney Ewing a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cortney, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

As a young girl, I always had a love for hair. In fact, during middle and high school I was the go-to person for friends and family when it came to hair care. During high school, I began to get paid for styling friends’ and family’s hair. Hair loss unfortunately has impacted every generation in my family so it was something I was always seeing. As I branched out styling friends-of-family hair and friends-of-friends hair, I realized more people than just my family struggled with hair loss. Hearing the stories of how much hair they used to have and how they miss feeling beautiful hit home for me. I thought hair loss was a part of life and that everyone will go through it as we age.

In 2015, my hair began to fall out in clumps at the same time my second daughter was pulling her hair out as a soothing mechanism. At this point, I started my research, finding out what causes hair to fall out and what causes hair to grow. During my studies, I came across the Trichology industry. Learning that trichologists study the hair, scalp, and scalp disorders. Finding a holistic solution to combat the harsh reality of alopecia/hair loss struck a light bulb moment for me. This is when I knew I found my calling in life. Now, I serve those dealing with alopecia to help them regain their hair and regain their confidence and beauty.

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?

My name is Cortney Ewing. I am a wife and mother of six beautiful children. I opened Arukah Hair Loss Center because I love to create and discover products that are not only healthy to use but aid in combating alopecia. I also offer services and treatments to find the root cause of hair loss and formulate a solution to reverse alopecia. Arukah is Hebrew for healing and restoring. Instead of using medication, we take a more natural approach. Because hair growth starts from within the body when hair loss occurs something is happening inside the body such as hormonal imbalances or autoimmune issues. Going through hair issues myself I understand firsthand what it’s like dealing with hair loss and the joy and happiness felt when overcoming the loss of hair.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

To get the capital needed to open Arukah Hair Loss Center, I started working as a janitor in the evenings. I put funds aside to make sure I had enough to get me through a few months after opening. Once I hit my goal I was able to sign a lease and receive the keys to what would be Arukah Hair Loss Center. I continued to work after opening to ensure I could afford rent and other overhead expenses while gaining clients. This was one of the more challenging parts I had to get through. Not only was I a mom during the day, keeping the house together, and studying. I worked during the evening cleaning. When you want something bad enough you will do what needs to be done to achieve your goals.

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

Before I opened Arukah Hair Loss Center I was manufacturing products. In 2015, when I started my research on why hair falls out and what makes hair grow. I developed a hair cream that worked wonders for both myself and my daughter. So much so that folks would ask me what I was using and that they wanted to use it as well. This is when I knew I was on to something great and that I had a gift. Losing over $300 in my first month helped me learn a lot of lessons about how important it is to know your numbers and margins. I still manufacture this cream in my kitchen along with other hair oils and sprays I’ve added to the hair cream.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.arukahhairloss.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/arukahhairloss
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/arukahhairloss