For many, one’s mane is a source of pride, a part of you that can make or break your entire look.
Beyond appearances, a healthy head of hair is essential, as this doesn’t just contribute to your confidence levels, but is an important area of self-care and overall health.
While there are numerous haircare products in the market, several haircare entrepreneurs realised that a gap exists when it comes to those with textured or curly hair, and those with sensitives scalps that don’t respond to well to readily-available drugstore products.
Throughout childhood, teenage years and early adulthood, Nalika Ventures Sdn Bhd director Anusha Nair Gangadaran found it hard to appreciate her curly hair as she would get teased often for having a different hair type.
“My hair was as short as it could be or tied up so tightly all the time because I had no idea what to do with it,” says Anusha, a mother of three and a doctor who also has a medical practice.
“After my first year in university I went to visit my sister in the United States and I had a haircut which made me finally appreciate my hair in all its curly glory,” she recalls. “I couldn’t believe how curly it actually was.”
At that time, Anusha used several staple products for her hair but realised after a while that they were filled with chemicals and she wanted something more natural with no parabens, silicones, alcohols or sulphates.
“There was absolutely nothing on the shelves and the products that were available were so costly as well as had to be shipped from overseas. I was resorting to a lot of heat styling to straighten my hair after the trip as I couldn’t find the products that I needed locally. That’s when I decided to create my own curly hair care,” explains Anusha, who went on to establish Noosh Naturals.
Similarly, Flexicurls founder Flexicurls found it difficult to get her hands on hair care products with quality ingredients for naturally curly hair.
“Having straight and shiny hair was also the beauty standard, and I tried to fit into that standard at the time. However, it backfired, and with all the hot irons and chemical straighteners, my hair started to fall out and become thin.”
She decided to embrace her hair in its natural state, but it took years for it to recover its original lustre and volume.
“I was sure my struggles resonated with others, especially those with textured hair,” says Chandima, who began buying products from abroad. “This whole journey of discovering ways of taking care of my hair while recovering made me realise that I have a deep desire to craft products for an overlooked market and inspire them to wear their natural curls.”
“The results were less than stellar, but this inspired me to begin experimenting with other ingredients to enhance the formula and preserve it for a longer duration.”
A year later, she launched her haircare brand in 2020, after tons of research and experimentation, testing on friends and educating herself on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
For Glorious Wave founder and CEO Amritpal Kaur, a receding hairline and bald patches drove her to figure out a solution to her hair loss issue, which began after she gave birth to her children.
“I tried everything on the market as well as established centres but there were no lasting results, and every time I went for a treatment session I was asked to sign up for more sessions that cost a bomb,” explained Amritpal.
Desperate to find a solution to her condition, she began researching ingredients and created a shampoo after nine tries in getting the perfect concoction.
“After using if for two months I saw a tremendous change, my hair stopped falling and the growth was immense,” she says, adding that her family started encouraging her to consider selling her products.
Scissor Paper Stone Hair Studio director Evian Teh says one of the main challenges with curly hair is keeping frizziness at bay as it is a completely different texture from straight hair.
“I wouldn’t recommend using any hair straightening products on curly hair to control it. It’s better to let curly hair air dry or dry naturally.”
“To reduce frizziness, everyday, one should apply curl cream products, and apply hair mask treatment two or three times a week depending on the level of frizziness,” says Teh.
A good haircut is also essential to maintain a well-groomed look.
“As curly hair has a tendency to frizz, find a stylist who can work with your type of hair and stick with them.”
An involved process
“At the moment everything from Noosh Naturals is handmade personally by me in my lab,” says Anusha. “I have converted the upstairs of my clinic into a lab that I do all my R&D and processing there.”
When sourcing for ingredients, pinpointing reputable suppliers is of utmost importance.
“It’s important to get them from reputable suppliers that can give you the origin of the raw materials. Also, the methods used in processing them, along with documents that state the chemical analysis and to ensure that there are no contaminants. There are many local suppliers but I do import a lot of ingredients from overseas as well.”
Chandima uses products from well-known American, European or Australian brands as a reference, studying reviews of these products and the ingredients they use.
This helps her outline which of these ingredients are available locally, and the next step is coming up with formulations and experimenting with them.
“The entire process can take up to a year for only one product type,” explains Chandima. “At the same time, I constantly update myself with research papers to ensure that I can make fact-based claims. I always keep myself abreast with upcoming trends and new ingredients or formulations introduced in the market.”
“I usually run the tests by myself, such as testing pH levels, stability of the product, and preservative efficacy with a microbial test kit. It’s not 100% accurate, but it does help to know that the product is not in a bad state,” she adds.
The ingredients that she uses come with an MSDS certificate to ensure that they are safe.
Chandima subscribes to Good Manufacturing Practice, otherwise known as GMP, which is basic common sense that involves getting into a routine of cleaning and disinfecting equipment, one’s workspace and containers, as well as washing hands and using lab gloves.
“I’m currently working on getting them lab tested since I’ve managed to make enough to cover the cost. The next step is to get KKM approval to sell it to the mass market. Currently, I’m producing in small batches to maintain the quality and freshness of the formulations.”
Amritpal’s range of products are formulated with raw materials that she has shipped in every other week in the interest of retaining their freshness.
“For handmade products, it’s vital to exclusively handpick the ingredients and raw materials. My products are lab tested, SSM-registered and I have a KKM certificate for food handling and am typhoid jabbed to ensure my products are safe. Even though I don’t prepare food to sell but I prepare all my products from scratch.”
Providing much-needed options
Since the launch of their brands, these entrepreneurs have been heartened by the response they have received.
Of all the products Anusha created, which also include a variety of handmade skincare solutions, the curly haircare range is the top seller.
“This is thanks to the ‘curly girl movement’ and people finally appreciating their curls,” she opines.
“Products at Noosh Naturals were mostly developed because either myself or my family needed them,” she adds. “It was interesting to learn so much about the curly girl movement and that I wasn’t the only one looking for better natural alternatives.”
“Curls are very different from straight hair as this hair type needs more oils and hydration to look their best. I am so glad curls are making a comeback and now we don’t have hide our hair by changing it, instead we can flaunt it in its natural form.”
Chandima’s hair gels for styling curly hair, oils for styling and treatment, and deep conditioning hair masks for treatment as among her most popular items.
Getting the word out
Like many businesses, these brands rely heavily on a strong online presence and word-of-mouth to thrive.
“Marketing for Noosh Naturals is all on social media,” relates Anusha. “These are good platforms where people can familiarise and get to know a brand in a more personal setting. I haven’t done any marketing campaigns as yet but I do have some consignment to a few stores like The Hive and KitaKita as well as Cinta shop and Babydash, which are both online retailers.”
Many of her customers are long-term ones, who in turn recommend her products to family and friends.
Chandima uses Instagram as a marketing tool and also engages local influencers to talk about her products.
“We have amazing customers and curl communities that have helped us share our products,” says Chandima.
To Amritpal, a handcrafted product possesses a certain value that customers appreciate.
“I personally choose and pick my packaging, ingredients and ensure they are bottled to perfection,” she says. “It’s not just about sales, the after sales service is important as well – I guide and monitor my customers to ensure they get the best results from my products.”
In terms of pricing, Anusha wanted to ensure she got her hands on ingredients that were on par with those of big organic brands in quality, but at a fraction of the price.
“Things are generally priced between RM20 and RM60, which makes it affordable for most people,” says Anusha. “I don’t take a big profit at all as I still do this for the love of it so profit is a secondary matter.”
While some amount of hesitation is normal when it comes to handmade products, in general these brands have experienced positive feedback thus far, and continue to research and innovate better products for their customer base.
“It’s human nature to be skeptical about new products, which is why it’s important I take the time to respond to queries, explain in detail and more importantly, avoid pushing people to buy,” explains Amritpal. “My role is to explain and let customers understand the product, the benefits. They will come on their own.”
“Having textured hair comes with its unique characteristics – your hair could be curly or wavy, coarse or fine,” says Chandima. “Textured hair often struggles with dryness due to its intrinsic curl pattern, uplifted cuticles, less sebum secretion, and limited spreading along the hair shaft. We need more options with specially formulated solutions to treat and nourish textured hair.”
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