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Curly Hair + Indie Hackers???

Hey guys,

Excited to be a part of this community and learn from everyone here.

After walking down the "ethnic hair " aisle, (yes, it's still called that) I was underwhelmed with the brands that catered to people with curly hair. None of them resonated with me or spoke to my values as a gen-z. On top of that, these products are 4x more expensive than products marketed towards people with straight hair.

So I'm building a community for people with wavy to curly hair who feel that they are not represented in the media or brands they buy. If you're one of those people let's chat and share our curly hair journey!

  1. 4

    Awesome!

    It's definitely a need as someone with an east african heritage, I see this problem with all my sisters!

    For customer interviews, you need to read The Mom Test (literally plugging this everywhere haha!). It's the perfect book for someone at your stage.

    1. 2

      I actually just ordered the book :) Thanks for the rec. I'd love to talk to your sister if possible and hear about her hair routine and frustrations she has

      1. 3

        Cool!

        I'll try to my best . I'll get her to drop you an email or something

  2. 3

    I had a very similar experience, as a black man I have always found it very difficult to find hair products that worked well for myself. Everytime I would ask a friend or family about products I would get suggestions that simply did not work for me. After getting my starter locs I started wondering what could possibly do to help people find that work products, quicker. I hit some blockers then decided to move on to another project. I'd be happy to share what I learned and where I think some value may be found.

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      I'd love to hear your experience :) I've been interviewing people but mostly women. I would love to hear your experience

      1. 2

        Cool, shoot me an email at [email protected] and we can set something up.

  3. 3

    My partner is a big proponent of the "Curly Girl" movement. Yes - such a thing exists! She buys the books and products so there's definitely some activity in that space as a point of validation.

    I suggest you do some googling around Curly Girl that and try and tap into that market as a starting point. Plenty of Facebook groups (I've been told!). It isn't specifically 'ethnic hair' (really?) but there may be overlap.

    1. 2

      I'm part of the curly hair groups on fb :)I love it. There is also a 300k+ subreddit with ppl with curly hair.

      Oh and I agree curly hair isn't tied to ethnicity but they literally title the aisle "ethnic hair" aisle lol, which just shows how outdated this category is.

  4. 3

    So excited to for you to be here! I'm looking forward to see what you build!

  5. 2

    Just tried your website, Very nice idea.

    1. 1

      Thanks for trying it out! If you're free I'd love to learn more about your hair routine. I've only talked to 2 men so far so I would love to hear your story and frustrations. My email is [email protected]

  6. 2

    You will see in my profile pic that I am, indeed, a curly-haired indie hacker.

    Folllowing!

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      Yasss! I'd love to learn more about your hair routine and some frustrations you face. Are you free sometime this week or next?

  7. 2

    Love it, what's your plan? What do you think will work?

    1. 4

      Doing a ton of customer discover interviews right now and trying to really understand problems people have :) Will keep you updated!

  8. 1

    I'm so glad! It's really hard to take care of curly hair, especially if you're a student. I can't afford to buy expensive products.
    When I had anxiety and ate severely, the condition of my hair was critical. I was struggling with hair loss. Good thing I went to the doctor, and they helped me. Also, I've used some products that I found on https://www.owlratings.com/best-hair-loss-treatment-products/ to help me deal with it.
    I hope in this community I will make new friends and will learn more about affordable products.

  9. 1

    Hi @fullreign,
    Sorry for jumping into the discussion so late, just saw this following your more recent post :)
    Have you heard this podcast?
    https://mastersofscale.com/tristan-walker-beauty-of-a-bad-idea/
    An inspirational story for all of us and definitely for your journey.
    Cheers
    Jonathan

    1. 2

      Ohh I didn't. I've seen an interview on how I built this but will def listen to this interview. Thanks!

  10. 1

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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