Today I am celebrating the milestone of 3 years as a natural hair product line owner! Time surely flies but it feels like it was not too long ago when I was making the finishing touches of my first product. I was so nervous to publish my posts online about my new journey but equally excited. It was February 2020 and years before I had started this blog site and YouTube channel where I’d documented my natural hair journey since I did the big chop in 2015. I loved learning about all of the ingredients best for natural hair, figuring out which products worked best, trying out DIY concoctions and everything that had to do with natural hair. Even as a kid I loved reading the ingredients of products and was curious as to why it worked the way they did. After trying out so many products, it dawned on me that what I wanted for my hair was something I could actually create. I had figured out the best ingredients that worked for me and wanted to get to the basics to solve the dryness I still faced. That’s where the Hydrating Buttercream came in. I got such a supportive response from my community and was so excited to add to the product family just a year after launching.
I am proud of myself for sticking to this great idea through a lot of changes in life. Just two weeks after launching, an entire pandemic shut the entire world down, so you really never know what’s next. What’s been important for me is to assess what’s going on, what I can control, and move forward. Starting off, it was challenging figuring out how to balance a new business while also working full-time and wanting to find time to rest as well. I think as the years have gone by, I have offered myself more grace when it comes to time and how much I am expecting myself to get done. With this comes celebrating the small wins, and big wins such as running a business for 3 years.
Here are some highlights over the years:
First batches of Hydrating Buttercream and my first orders!
I was so excited to ship off my first orders. I hadn’t yet settled on the gold packaging quite yet and was making it work with the brown and then purple packaging. But hey, that’s the thing when you’re first starting. You may not have all the answers or the complete end result, but starting puts you one step closer to that.
Vendor events give me so much energy
Vendor events are so much fun and give me the chance to really talk to customers face to face. I can’t wait for my next vendor event in March called Seattles Natural Curls with an Enchanted Sea theme.
Experiencing My Own Products in a Salon
It was definitely an inspiring experience to go to a black owned salon and have my own deep conditioner apart of my service. It was incredibly knowing that my idea really came to life and is in a whole salon. You can find my products in the Central District of Seattle at a salon called Soul Collective.
Creative Photography
I am proud of how my product photography has turned out for Launch Dai and content on my social channels. It takes time and practice to put the tips and tricks to use. Over the years I’ve learned so much and can’t wait to continue to evolve.
For anyone thinking about starting a business, my advice is to not wait until everything is perfect to start. The hardest part is starting and once you’ve done that, you can take small steps to continue to improve and build off of that starting part. It’s all about taking that first step.
As always,
Take it step by step and DaibyDai