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

Kimberly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Growing up, I was bullied because my hair was short, stiff, and dry. I chemically relaxed my hair at the time, and I decided to stop the chemical relaxers and cut off all my hair to start fresh. I did so in order to truly embrace my natural hair. When searching for good products to use to grow my hair after I cut it all off, many of the “organic” products were extremely expensive and I could not afford them. The cheaper products were filled with harmful chemicals or ingredients I’ve never heard of. I started thinking about the possibility of creating hair care products that are organic and affordable so that everyone, no matter their financial status, can take care of their hair without breaking the bank. I majored in chemical engineering at Virginia Tech in order to gain the necessary knowledge to be able to create my own hair products from scratch. Now, my hair has grown exponentially due to using only my products for the past 3 years, and many of my customers have shared their hair growth stories as well. With my mission, I dream of being able to impact millions with my products so that everyone can reach their hair care goals affordably and organically.

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 Kimberly Ikediobi and I am from Houston, Texas with a Nigerian background. I am a college graduate in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech. After I went natural back in 2014, I gained more knowledge about how to take care of my hair and wanted to share my knowledge with others. I knew I wanted to be a natural hair guru for all those starting their natural hair journey, so I began making YouTube videos about Natural Hair and how to take care of it. To title my YouTube channel, since my name is Kimberly and it starts with a “K”, I switched out the “G” in “Guru” and replaced it with a “K”, hence Natural Kuru is born! Then when starting my business, I named it after my YouTube channel. My products are handmade by myself using all organic ingredients and focus on those trying to grow their hair, strengthen, restore, or improve overall health of hair. My products are also affordable and extremely competitive when compared to other organic products out in the market. I am most proud of my customer success stories! There’s no other feeling like having customers come and tell me how much my products have worked for their hair and then see before & after pictures! Besides that, my TV appearance on ABC’s WDBJ-7 news station was a monumental moment for my business. I am my only employee with the help of both my parents. I create my products from scratch, package them, create the product labels, ship out orders, etc all by myself. I am also behind all of my social media. While it’s hard work, it is all worth it when I get to truly change lives and help people reach their hair care goals. My products truly work and I dream of being able to reach more people who will take a chance on a small business. I started off making my products in my tiny dorm room on campus my sophomore year of college, and now I produce my products in bulk when I am home for the holidays in Houston.
In addition, I want my customers to know exactly what are in our products, so my website features detailed descriptions on each ingredient and its’ benefits for your hair.
Each of my orders includes personalized thank you letters to show my appreciation for each order, because as a small business, every single order matters a lot to me.

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

I make all my products myself from scratch! When I had the idea for Natural Kuru, I did not know the first thing about making hair products. I didn’t understand how oil and water mixed, different pH’s for products, etc. I majored in chemical engineering at Virginia Tech to learn more about chemistry and manufacturing. In my first two chemistry classes, I learned what I needed to be able to begin formulating. During the formulation process, I learned to not rush. You have to give it some time to make sure the product does not separate or mold, as well as testing out the products to see if the result is as desired. I would always test out the products on myself because If I did not like it, there was no way I’d put it for sale. I did extensive research on each ingredient to make sure that I was satisfied with the benefits it can do to the scalp and hair strands, as well as making sure it was safe for all hair types and textures to use.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Recently, I have been active on TikTok and Instagram by posting every day and responding to all the comments that I receive. There are times people would ask for specific recommendations based on certain problems they are facing with their hair at the moment and I would tailor my response to help with their hair care need. I also focus on the customer experience as well. When a customer orders, I do my best to fulfill and ship out the products immediately so that they can have their order as soon as possible. I also like to give back to my community. At Virginia Tech, I was able to create a Black Hair Showcase event where I gave out 60 products to students and faculty for free.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thenaturalkuru.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naturalkuru/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naturalkuru/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/natural-kuru/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/naturalkuru
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@naturalkuru

Image Credits
Image Credits: Kimberly Ikediobi