Today we’d like to introduce you to Cora Miller.
Cora, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a first-time mom to a beautiful brown baby boy named Kade who had a head full of hair, I was surprised to discover that there were no products specifically designed for curly-headed boys. When Kade turned one, his hair changed into its natural, curly kinky texture, so I begin searching for products and resources to help me better care for it.
I spent a good amount of time looking for natural hair products that weren’t female scented and designed, and to my surprise, those simply didn’t exist.
The beauty and specifically the hair care industry is laser-focused on catering to young girls and older women. While this is not that shocking given women spend so much time, energy and money into maintaining their hair, I realized that there was an unfulfilled need and opportunity to reshape the industry by creating a unique offering made intentionally for young boys. I believe it’s time to shine a light on our boys and ensure they have the products, tools and support they need to present their best selves each and every day.
With this in mind and inspired by Kade, in early 2018, my husband and I started working to create products that felt made for any boy with textured hair. After months of researching, developing and testing products, while balancing our full-time jobs, parenthood and our personal lives, we officially launched Young King Hair Care in November 2019 – and the response so far has been incredible! Whenever we have shared our vision for Young King Hair Care with both consumers and potential retail buyers, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
People have rallied behind us and encouraged us in ways we could never imagine, and for that, we are eternally grateful. We hope that others will join us on our journey of changing the narrative for male grooming and self-care for our boys by providing them the confidence they need as they grow into their crowns.
Has it been a smooth road?
There have been more than enough bumps in the road to get from the initial concept of Young King Hair Care to make it a reality. Prior to launching, we spent over a year conducting market research, identifying the right manufacturing company and testing products with parents of young boys to ensure that our product formulation aligned with our vision. From the ingredients to the scent to the packaging design, we wanted to be thoughtful about formulating, sourcing and finalizing our initial product offerings in order to uniquely meet the needs of boys with textured hair.
We invested a lot of our personal savings into this business because my husband and I were so passionate about the mission and vision of Young King Hair Care, but there were times we doubted if this would become a reality. We had setbacks with sourcing, with product manufacturing, with brand design elements, and the list goes on and on.
Through it all, however, we remained prayerful and relied on each other to weather any set-backs and remained laser-focused on our end goal – creating something special for our son and other black and brown boys.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Founded in 2019, Young King Hair Care products are intentionally made and uniquely designed for young boys. To fill a void in the beauty and hair care industry, each of our products were created with boys ages 0-12 in mind – from the ingredients to the scent and overall packaging design – with the goal of redefining male grooming and self-care. Our mission is to inspire parents and encourage boys with textured hair to celebrate and love their crowns.
We launched with three initial products: a leave-in conditioner, an essential oils blend, and a curling cream, all which will help moisturize, strengthen and enhance natural curls. All three products were crafted with natural ingredients and are 100% vegan, with no sulfates, parabens, mineral oil or other harmful ingredients.
We are most proud of being able to uniquely craft a solution that not only solves a need for our son Kade, but for black and brown boys across the globe. We believe our business can be used as a platform to showcase more of what the world needs – shining a positive light on our boys.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Absolutely! Atlanta is a great city for African-American entrepreneurs to thrive. The amount of resources, networks and general support available in this city is unparalleled to most places around the country. And specifically for our business, Atlanta is a bedrock for the beauty industry, especially when it comes to natural hair care. This is the perfect market to test our products and get real feedback from both your everyday mom to tenured, beauty expert leaders.
Pricing:
- Young King Essentials Gift Set (all three products plus kid swag) = $75
- Kids Leave-In Conditioner = $14
- Kids Curling Cream = $14
- Kids Essential Oils = $14
- The Royal Treatment (all three products) = $38
Contact Info:
- Website: https://youngkinghaircare.com/
- Email: info@youngkinghaircare.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngkinghaircare
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youngkinghaircare/
Image Credit:
Brittany Ingram
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