Business Owner Interviews

Here’s another online entrepreneur to provide you with some awesome natural hair inspired gear. Visit her Etsy Store to see more of her great merchandise! These designs are unique and oh-so-cute.  You can also visit her fotki and blog for more pictures and info!

The Lady:

Kcurly: When did you go natural and what inspired you to do so?

I was actually natural for most of my life. I only wore a perm for about 2 and a half years of my whole life. I am 31 now so I guess I can say I have been natural for 28 and a half years!

My mother never allowed me to get a perm when I was young. I just HAD to get a perm when I graduated high school. I wanted to fit in with all of the kids on campus. Wrong move! My hair thinned out really bad as well as left my scalp damaged from degree burns from the lye. I had eczema really bad at the time and I was getting perms on my irritated scalp, so you can imagine what that was like. The final straw, as if that wasn’t enough, was when I got a haircut that I hated. After that and the urging of one of my natural friends to come back home to the natural side, I decided to stop perming my hair.

Kcurly: Have you faced opposition from your peers and/or family about your hair?

In high school, I had one high school boyfriend ask me why I wouldn’t get a perm and cut like Halle Berry. I think that planted the seed of doubt in my mind about my natural hair and look. All of this time before my family was (and still is) cool with natural hair. My brother wore locs and my mom rocked a press and curl and twa since I can remember.

The summer before I started college I worked in a daycare center. I decided to gel my natural hair back into a pony tail and not do the press-n-curl thing for a little while. One of my coworkers stayed on my case all day about my hair. She kept jeering me and saying, “Girl you need to stop tryin’ to slick that nappy stuff back and get a perm!.” After a whole day of that, I decided finally to get a perm because I didn’t want the people in college to see me in a ‘negative light.’ I am sorry I listened to that ignorant girl!

Kcurly: If so, what has been your method of handling it?

Since going back natural, I still get the, “you should get a texturizer from time to time, but I ignore them or sometimes I will say, “you should go natural” and after they get defensive, they shut up! Ha ha

Kcurly: What is your current regimen to keep your tresses healthy?

I am wearing my hair really short right now, so I basically wash it with Adiva Coconut cream and Avocado hair smoothie and moisturize with a mixture of shea butter and coconut oil. Daily I use Almond oil and JoJoba oil. That’s it. I really don’t comb my hair because it is really short. I do brush it from time to time.

Kcurly: What do you love most about your hair?

It is really short and soft so it does really cool things like coil up on its own or when I add some gel to it. That gives it a cool look

Kcurly: What has been the hardest part of your natural hair journey?

Styling my own hair (when it was longer). Once I came up from under the micro braids umbrella, I was forced to style my own hair. Wow what a task! I at first tried to find stylists in my area to style my hair, but that quickly got costly, it didn’t last, and they didn’t do a good job so I started trying to do my own hair. I looked on different Fotki sites and other online sources for tips. Finding the right style for longer hair that lasted for more than a day and that was not twists was quite the task. Also finding a product that did not leave residue on my hair or dry out my scalp was pretty hard.

Kcurly: What advice do you have for the newly natural ladies?

Hang in there! There will be rough patches on your journey, but it will pay off in the end health wise, emotionally, and socially. Remember to use as many natural products as you can. Those ingredients will benefit you most. Oh and eat a well balanced diet and drink plenty of water. Healthy hair starts from the inside!

The “Bidness”:

Kcurly: What prompted you to start your own online business?

I have wanted to start a business of some sort for the longest time. I sold products for other companies that ranged from beauty products to educational toys for children. I took a look at how much I was pushing other people’s ideas and I sat back and said I can do this myself! At that point I came up with a concept, brainstormed with a friend and let my dreams fly from there!

S–ophisticated
W–itty
A–rtsy
R–eal
T–rue
H–onest
Y–oung at heart

Swarthy Daisy is an online company that basically focuses on empowering women (and men who love women) on a real organic/casual level. I wanted to have a brand that focused back on people like me, a little bit of urban flavor, with a pinch of country, thus the Swarthy Daisy woman was formed. The word swarthy is taken from a Bible translation in the Song of Solomon 1: 5, 6 where a Black female is addressed. To explain exactly what I mean, look the word Swarthy up in a dictionary. Also The word Swarthy is found in some translations of the Bible such as here in The Song of Solomon 1:5, 6 which says: “I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me…”

From there I added the daisy because it made it even more personal because I like Daises. They are such a beautiful flower, thus comes the concept for Swarthy Daisy. The sun gives humans and flowers energy, so I wanted to create an image of a woman that is natural and organic looking that is energized and ready to take on the world!

My blog is informative and entertaining. It has various topics to help people, not only women. It really has topics that I find interesting, yet that helps people learn something new.
Kcurly: What plans do you have for your site in the future?

Adding men’s and children’s clothing. Also doing some more cool things for the hair. Stay tuned!

Kcurly: Your designs are very unique. What inspired you?

Piggybacking off of my answer above, Nature and life inspires me!

Kcurly: Is there anything else you’d like my readers to know about “SwarthyDaisy”?

That I am a really fun person that enjoys life and the blessings that God has given me! I enjoy learning and sharing gifts of knowledge and entertainment with others!

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This is a bit of a combo post. Candace  has been kind enough to be featured and introduce us to her site, Goddess Zuri, a place full of wonderful accessories and natural hair t-shirts. Her accessories range from chic to funky and the t-shirts are to die for. Thanks for sharing with us Candace!

The Lady:

Kcurly: When did you go natural and what inspired you to do so?

Candace: I’ve always have beautiful long hair, and I loved it…up until I was about a junior in college. Around this time, I developed strong feelings that a short natural crop would express the sassiness and flyness in me so much accurately. I thought about it for quite some time, but I messed up when I started sharing this idea with friends and family members. After talking to many of them, I was convinced to keep my long hair. Then my senior year hit and I was about to turn 21. Natural hair was still on my mind, so I decided that as a present to myself for my 21^st birthday, I would chop all of my hair off. And I did!

Kcurly: Have you faced opposition from your peers and/or family about your hair?

Candace:Before I even cut it, I had a bunch of people in my ear telling me not to do it. My friends told me I would surely miss my hair. My brother told me I would look like a boy and my parents’ feared that I wouldn’t be able to get a good job after college. I went along with them for a little while but made a decision about two years later to cut it off. A short time after I did, the very people who told me not to do it ended up digging it.

Kcurly: If so, what has been your method of handling it?

Candace: After cutting my hair, my sassiness and confidence grew. It didn’t matter what people thought about my hair because I loved it. And after people started seeing that I loved it and didn’t care about what anyone else thought, they started to love it on me too.

Kcurly: Your hair is beautiful! What is your current regimen to keep your tresses healthy?

Candace: Thanks lady! I use Cantu products (shampoo, conditioner and oil moisturizer). I’ve tried a million products, as most natural bellas do, and this is the product that works well with my hair. I wear my hair wild and free, so I braid it at night and take the braids out in the morning to give it a free, crinkly look. I wash my hair once a week and moisturize it every other day.

Kcurly: What do you love most about your hair?

Candace: Everything! I love that my hair gives me a unique look. I love that nobody can ever tell when I’m having a bad hair day. And I love the versatility of my hair. I can wear it wild and sassy or tamed and elegant.

Kcurly: What has been the hardest part of your natural hair journey?

Candace: Deciding whether I wanted to keep it short or grow it out. I absolutely loved my short crop because it looked great in the summer time with big hoop earrings and a tank top. I loved it because it was easy to maintain. But I have a friend who went natural around the same time I did, and she never cut her hair. Now hers is long and beautiful. I got a little jealous, so I decided to grow mine out.

Kcurly: What advice do you have for the newly natural ladies?

Candace: Love it and embrace it. People can sense when you’re not satisfied with yourself; any part of yourself. So, if you’re not 100% confident in your new do and you ask yourself daily, “why did I do this?” fake your confidence until you develop it. Or find a little bit of confidence from somewhere. The number 1 accessory that you MUST have with natural hair is confidence.

The Website:

Kcurly: What prompted you to start your own online business?

Candace: I had just gone natural, and I was confident about my natural hairdo, but still had a few reservations in the beginning. So, I wanted to outwardly express the confidence that I was building in the inside. I wanted a few tees that glorified natural hair. I diligently searched online to find some unique, funky tees that matched my new natural beauty identity, but couldn’t find one that I wanted to wear. So, I decided to design my own.

Now, the number 2 accessory that you MUST have with natural hair, in my opinion, is a pair of bold earrings. So, I decide to design some of those too.

Kcurly: What plans do you have for your site in the future?

Candace: I want to expand the site offerings to long sleeve tees and hoodies. I’ve also had numerous requests to make the tees in bigger sizes.

Kcurly: Where did the name “Goddess Zuri” originate?

Candace: I’ve been referring to myself as a goddess for a while, and I think all women are goddesses. So, I definitely wanted that word to be included in the name of my business. Zuri means beautiful in Swahili. So, I decided to create Goddess Zuri, goddess of natural beauty, to be the ambassador of my site. The woman in my logo is Goddess Zuri.

Kcurly: Is there anything else you’d like my readers to know about “Goddess Zuri”?

Candace: Of course I want them to check out www.goddesszuri.com and tell ten friends about the site. I also recently started a blog www.freethegoddess.com that (hopefully) encourages women to release their inner goddess.

And the last thing I want to share is, when you decided to go natural and cut your hair, you instantaneously became fly. Embrace the flyness.

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