Roots-Deep: Tackling Hair Identity

According to a 2018 study by Statista on the U.S. Hair Care Market, the industry is evaluated to be worth an estimated 87.9 billion dollars. From this staggering figure alone, it is apparent that Americans care about their hair. Upon further examination of this booming industry, one can find that Black women not only make up 86% of the ethnic hair care market, but also outspend their counterparts by over 9 times in the hair-care category. This investment is due to the fact that within the Black community, hair is fundamentally bound to identity. Hair has been used as a form of self-expression, a symbol of resistance, and a way to pay homage to one’s heritage and foster a larger sense of community. From speaking to founders of Remane, D’azhane Cook and Ariel Lee, it was clear to see that there is still work to be done around re-framing the conversation we are having around afro-hair textures.

UT alumnae (Class of 2020), D'azhane Cook, and Ariel Lee, partnered together to launch their data-driven hair care business, Remane, to tackle the challenge of helping individuals with kinky and curly hair types. Remane not only helps people with curly hair find the best techniques and products, but also works to empower them to embrace their identity.

“We hope that young women and men [can] feel empowered [from our service] to express themselves without the fear of judgment and act on every opportunity [the can] to reclaim agency over their identities and their hair,” D’azhane said.

Institutional hair discrimination is (unfortunately) nothing new. Hair-based discrimination, a type of social injustice that deems curly, coily, and kinky hair as undesirable and unprofessional, has long existed in media and policy. From Gabrielle Union experiencing hair discrimination on America’s Got Talent to Kat Graham of the Vampire Diaries wishing she had been able to represent women that looked more like her, many black actors and actresses have experienced this bias.

These Eurocentric beauty standards have even extended into the public school systems. In August, a federal judge blocked the suspension of two Texan teens, Kaden Bradford and De'Andre Arnold, who faced suspension because of their locs. These “modern” dress code policies penalize students for embracing their natural hair texture and culture.

With such demotivating media representations and stifling “standards,'' it is understandable that many people with curly hair types must re-discover their relationship with their hair. Ariel noted that with Remane, she wants people to find joy in their unique hair texture and cultivate a positive relationship with their hair wherever they are on that journey.

“[I hope that] they see the beauty in their hair, even if it is different, and know that they can find joy in being different and having different hair,” Ariel says.

D’azhane and Ariel have taken a different approach to founding their start-up. These founders have placed their community at the center of their company and created their service through the lens of social entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, it is clear to see the role that this Black hair community has had on Remane. Initially, Ariel conceived the idea of a protective styling subscription box and how all that changed when D’azhane and she spoke to the men and women they were creating their company for. She noted that after conversing with curly haired men and women on UT Austin’s campus, and around the U.S. about their experience caring for their hair, the pair realized there was more demand for an end-to-end hair care service.

“Through those conversations, we found patterns, similarities, and commonalities amongst these women’s experiences caring for their hair. And that's kind of how the stepping stones of building Remane came about,” D’azhane said.

Listening to the feedback from their target demographic, Ariel and D’azhane shifted gears and set to work pivoting away from a traditional consumer-packaged good to a data-based service. These are just a few of the hurdles these founders have faced on their journey.

“The most challenging thing [we face] is figuring out how to work in ambiguity,” D’azhane said.“Figuring out how to navigate a space where there are no rules is sometimes difficult and there isn’t a standard guideline to follow because everyone's journey is different.”

Her co-founder, Ariel agreed. “I think that working within ambiguity is oftentimes difficult because you have to manage yourself, your fears, and your ego.”

The founding duo shared that building a business as students in college posed a unique challenge, and while launching Remane was new territory, their confidence in the process was bolstered by working with others.

“We've definitely gotten better at operating in this kind of space, and have built up our entrepreneurial confidence in what we're doing,” Ariel said.

While there are great opportunities in niches, highlighting the niche, opportunity, and getting “outsiders” energized can pose an unexpected challenge. Neither Ariel nor D’azhane were fully aware of the difficulty that pitching their niche product to investors would offer them. Most of the investors they met while pitching simply did not understand the challenges or logistics of curly hair.

“I soon realized, ‘Oh, I'm not pitching all the time to the people who I'm solving this problem for,’” D’azhane shared.

The co-founders faced a two-fold challenge. The first challenge being that in 2020 entrepreneurship remains a largely white, male-dominated space. The second challenge was that the duo sat within an enormous hair care industry filled with hundreds of products and pieces of information. Educating investors on natural hair care, an issue they were completely oblivious to, while also showcasing the business side of their product, was a daunting task. The business duo had to prove the presence of a pain point while also validating the viability of their existence.

“The fact that what we're doing is just largely unprecedented is exciting. We're seeing the vision and we're laser-focused, but it's kind of difficult whenever we pitch our service for a niche market and demographic,” Ariel disclosed.

A majority of mainstream products are not designed with curly, kinky, or coily hair in mind. Black hair care products only account for 2.51 billion dollars of an 87.9 billion dollar industry, less than 3% of the market.

“There's no real roadmap for us to follow behind someone else who has successfully done what we're doing. However there are people who are running alongside us, and we're able to get valuable nuggets of information here and there. So that's exciting. I think that's one of our biggest challenges,” Ariel shared.

Despite the challenges, the buzz surrounding Remane has grown. After attending an entrepreneurship conference in NYC, a budding interest in Remane blossomed after a meeting with the Target Accelerators programming team.

During one of their earliest growth spurts, Ariel and D’azhane spoke about how their mentor described Remane as growing so fast that their armor “had not caught up with them yet.”

“I remember when we even submitted that application [ for Target Incubator ] thinking, ‘are we even ready for a company like Target?’”Ariel shared.“We had to play a lot of catch-ups and grow into ourselves and mentally become settled in who we were becoming,”

As Remane grew, so did the development of their values. Their first value, Creativity and Innovation, strives to put a new spin on traditional styles, tools, and techniques. Their second value is Integrity, which prioritizes the right way to do business over what may appear to be the easiest or most profitable way. In the hair care industry, this can mean moving away from using unethical ingredients, unscrupulous sourcing, and cheap production methods that compromise health.

“Black people are very attuned to supporting Black businesses, so we want to make sure when they support us, they're supporting something of quality that’s well done,” D’azhane said.

Remane’s third value is “Hair Neutrality,” a term created and coined by its founders, which promotes agency in how one style their hair as long as it is healthy. Remane’s goal is not to promote one hairstyle or method of care over another, but rather to provide accurate knowledge about hair care so people can style their hair most healthily.

“[Hair Neutrality] is about how you want to express yourself, how that feeds into your lifestyle, and your spirit, and how we can help you do that?” D’azhane said. “We want to cultivate a free space where people can learn information and apply it themselves however they feel necessary.”

From an idea to a data-driven hair care company mentored by Target’s Accelerator program, Ariel and D’azhane voiced that they both learned much about themselves in the process of building Remane.

“I can do more than I think I can and must truly dream big, because if you dream small, you may limit yourself from things that you never thought you could do,” Ariel said.

To learn more about Remane, visit remane.co !