Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jameelah Baker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jameelah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I always loved to do hair, since a little girl I knew that I wanted to be a hairstylist, and I pursued that dream. I went to cosmetology school in 2014, graduated in February 2015, passed the state board exam a few weeks later, received my license and immediately begin working in a salon in March of 2015. All of those things literally happened back to back and I just knew it was meant to be. But after a few years of working in the salon I begin to get discouraged, I felt like I was being taken advantage of because not only was I taking clients, I also was running the salon as a receptionist/salon manager and I felt like it was only right to ask for a increase in pay. After getting the run around about the increase in pay I decided to leave in March of 2017 and get a regular 9-5 job for better pay. A couple of months later I begin to notice a lot of dandruff on my shirt, and I was really embarrassed. Although people may have not noticed it, I did and I tried every drug store hair product you can think of to get rid of it, but nothing was working. I figured I had to keep trying the products for it to work but it never did, not only did it not work, it actually made my dandruff worse and damaged my hair. My hair begin to feel extremely dry and brittle after a few months of using the products. So, I begin to do research on natural oils and herbs that help with dandruff, then in 2019 I found out I was pregnant and then the hair loss began around my edges. I was now more determined than ever to create a hair product that not only help get rid of dandruff but minimize hair loss, and grow the hair back thicker. I knew I wasn’t the only one in the world experiencing hair loss and dandruff, and I knew if I could create a hair product that is all natural, and show before and after results, showing that the product really works it will be a game changer not only for myself as the person who created but for the people who tried multiple hair products that promised results but didn’t deliver. After a year of research and testing out products on myself and others, seeing the results, and getting great reviews I launched my first product, “Eternal Hair & Scalp Oil” in May of 2020. The most unique thing about my product is that it is 100% natural and handcrafted, a lot of companies who make hair products claim to be 100% natural but when you actually read the ingredients there are many things on there that are not natural at all, many of them being the names we cannot pronounce. The most exciting thing about launching my product line was knowing that I will change people’s lives, and every time I get a review it’s confirmation that creating hair products was my true calling.

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

I’m from Richmond, Ca, although I moved almost every 2 years to different cities, I was raised in Richmond. Growing up I always knew that whatever I did I wanted to love it and be successful at it, and when I say love it I mean I wanted to do something I was passionate about because too often people my age get into a career for all the wrong reasons and are unhappy with their life. For me, it all started with a barbie doll, surprisingly, ’til this day I remember it was a black barbie doll, with a blue space like suit, and she had really long hair. I was so determined to get a braid done in her hair, I remember it taking me forever to get it, and I would get so frustrated when I didn’t get it right but I kept trying, I never gave up. It’s so crazy that I can remember the moment because I couldn’t be no older than like 5 or 6, and I vividly remember I was in the back seat of the car and it was dark outside my mom was driving and we we’re getting off the freeway and I remember the street light glaring into the car, and I could see I finally got the braid right! After multiple tries, I got it! I remember being so excited! I knew at the moment I wanted to do hair when I grew up. Growing up, my mom took me to the salon to get my hair done and I loved every moment of it because I knew one day I would be in a salon doing hair. I just loved the whole experience from getting my hair washed, to blow dried, then styling. I loved the way I felt after getting my hair done! I always felt so beautiful, I stayed in the mirror! I just wanted to make others feel like I did, just by simply doing their hair.

One day though, I almost allowed my high school teacher to get into my head. I was going to be graduating in a few months, I was an assistant in her class, and I told her I planned on going to cosmetology school and opening a salon, I had shared my dream with her and she told me that I had so much more potential than, “just being a hairstylist” and that I should go to college instead. I honestly thought she knew best so I enrolled into Cal State East Bay in Hayward, California. I went on a tour but I just didn’t feel passionate about it, I didn’t even know what I wanted to major in but I figured I’ll still just go and figure it out later. However, the day before the semester started I really thought about it and said to myself “I’m not going” I wasn’t passionate about it, I didn’t feel the fire inside of me like I did when talking about hair, and looking for cosmetology schools to enroll into. Although my high school teacher couldn’t see my dream, I could, my family could, and that’s all that really matter. From that point on I told myself that I have to be careful on who I share my goals and dreams with and if I do decide to share it that I won’t allow their opinion to change how I feel sometimes only you can see your dream, and you can’t expect others to see it too.

I graduated high school in 2012 and started working a retail job to save some money, before I knew it 2 years had went by and I finally enrolled in cosmetology school in 2014. Cosmetology school was very challenging due to the different personalities under one roof however I knew what my end goal was and that’s all I focused on. I remember always counting up my hours to see when I would graduate, then you had to have 1600 hours to graduate. I finally graduated in February of 2015, everything to seem to fall into place perfectly because after graduation I had my state board exam a few weeks later, had a interview for a salon 2 weeks after passing my state board, I was hired for the position and began working in a salon in March of 2015. I loved every moment of my experience in the salon because it was ran exactly how I planned on running my own. I gained experience as a salon assistant, stylist, receptionist and salon manager. I left the salon in 2017 for a regular 9-5 job but still did clients on the side. In 2018 I opened my own salon suite, it was definitely a learning lesson because I closed up shop months later. I didn’t have enough clientele at the time to open my own shop, but I was so excited at the opportunity I jumped at it and didn’t think realistically about having a consistent clientele. Although I was sad, and disappointed I never gave up. At that point, I was still very determined to be successful in the hair industry, even if it wasn’t being a hairstylist.

Once I began to have issues with dandruff, and hair loss and the drug store products I was using weren’t helping, in fact they were making my dandruff worse and damaging my hair, causing my hair to be extremely dry and brittle I then knew what I needed to do. In 2019 I started to do a lot of research on natural oils and herbs, that reduced dandruff, grew the hair, thicken the hair, and soothe itchy scalp. After 1 year of researching and testing my formula I launched my hair & scalp oil in 2020, after perfecting the oil I knew I wanted to have a full product line. I immediately began researching ingredients for my shampoo, conditioner, and deep conditioner. 10 months after launching my first product I had a full product line. As of 2022 I have a shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, oil and scalp scrub and will continue to add onto the product line.

What I am most proud of is not giving up, although my dream was a little altered I am still in the hair industry and that’s all I really wanted. My customers have told me in their reviews from using my hair products they feel more confident in wearing their real hair now and that’s all I wanted, for my customers to feel and look beautiful and embrace their natural beauty. Wether customers are looking to grow their hair, have more moisture, thicken their hair, or have a dandruff free scalp, I provide that for them with my products, and all of these products are handcrafted by me. From the formula, to the labeling, to distributing the products in their bottles, it’s all done by me. My products are not only made with love but with the customer in mind.

I feel like what separates me from others is being licensed, educating my customers on hair, and being more in front of my brand, meaning I am the face of my brand, so I spend time engaging with my customers and getting to know them and allowing them to get to know me. Being licensed is important because it’s too many “Youtube Hairstylist” who are not licensed and think they are educating clients but a lot of what they teach is incorrect. I will never forget I had a client sit in my chair for a hair cut, she had so much breakage, when I asked her about it she told me she had did a hair mask on her hair that she learned on YouTube! That is when I begin to not care for YouTube hairstylists, it’s one thing to show a client how to do a certain hairstyle, and even with that you have to be careful, but when it comes to a formulation of a hair product that is where a line needs to be drawn. Not too many stylist are licensed today and it shows by the change in the hair industry with “stylist” saying you have to come to the salon washed and blow dried. It’s really absurd, and I hope that one day I can make my way back into the salon and give clients the experience of coming into the salon and being able to relax giving them a 5 star experience of shampooing, blow drying and styling their hair.

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

I had to pivot twice before I found my true calling in product making. In 2017 I quit working in a hair salon and became a bus driver. Never did I think, once I was in a salon that I would leave it to make better money, especially doing something outside of the hair industry. I was discouraged because of the change, and I would be lying if I said I seen myself back in the industry at that time, because I truly didn’t, things weren’t going according to plan. But I knew the change was necessary in order for me to take care of the bills I had. I was only a bus driver for a couple of months, then I was hired at another job with even better pay. Although the money was good at these jobs, I told myself to not get so caught up in making money doing what I didn’t love. So, when there was down time at work, I made sure to write down my goals, and work towards them everyday when I got off work and on my off days from my 9-5. Fast forward to 2018, I opened my salon suite, I was so excited! But I did this with the thought of being able to build my clientele instead of already having a clientele. Big mistake, I ended up having to close up shop months later because I couldn’t afford it. Now that I had to pivot a second time, I started doubting if being in the hair industry was really my calling, but I wasn’t looking at how I wasn’t being patient and kept trying to rush things to fall into place. Those two pivots taught me how things don’t always go according to plan, not to jump at an opportunity without weighing the pros and cons, and to have patience. With those two things happening I made sure to take my time in launching my product line.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The social media platform I mainly focus on is instagram, because that’s where most of my audience is. What I did to gain those followers is posting content that they want to see. I focus more so on educating vs selling, a lot of the educational content my followers don’t know and are shocked to learn. I also noticed when I stop being behind my brand, meaning I wasn’t showing my face, just more so posting content vs showing my face, going live, and engaging with my followers my social media grew a lot. Also using instagram features, especially new ones that they release has really helped grow my audience.

What I strongly suggest is to be yourself, always, don’t allow “social media coaches” to overwhelm you by telling you what you have to do to grow your platform. Most importantly you have to get uncomfortable to grow. The moment I started doing things I wasn’t comfortable with (going live, showing my face in content), was when I noticed a change in my audience, it started to grow really fast.

This is what I would suggest for those who are starting to build their social media presence.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nudginity.com
• Instagram: nudignityhairco
• Facebook: Nu Dignity
• Twitter: nudignityhairco

Image Credits
Deangelo Wilson