Hair Tools/Other

Celestial Comforters contacted me about  their shower caps for those ladies with “plus sized hair”, as I like to call it Check this action out:

"What kind of duck are you"

"Peace N Love"

"Celestial Souls"

The designs look super cute! There’s a lot to choose from including solid colors.

The following is an excerpt from the message the owner of Celestial Comforter, Margie, sent to me. This lady has a wonderful personality that really shines through. And I’m not just saying that because she’s sending me some caps to try out! I’ll be reviewing them once I’ve fully experimented with them.

In the meantime, you can check out the Celestial Crowns Facebook page.

From Margie:

I originally developed my “Shower Crowns” for an underserved, loced hair community, of which I am a proud card carrying member. My locs were approaching shoulder-length, yet I was having difficulty placing this hair I adore in any shower cap currently available in the market. Not only were they too small, they lacked durability and were totally devoid of any aesthetic appeal.

I wondered what in the world would I do as my hair grew to its zenith? So, I conducted an independent survey of my peer demographic with longer, heavier locs and I was shocked and dismayed by the responses given. Here, were the descendents of Kings and Queens, using garbage bags, dry cleaners plastic, multiple unreliable shower caps, playing dodge the shower nozzle and other innovative methods, in an attempt to avoid getting their treasured locs wet.

I researched in stores and on-line sites for oversized shower caps and was thoroughly underwhelmed! What existed, lacked knowledge of, or an affinity for this particular community of potential customers…. quite simply lacked LOVE.

I decided to design a better mousetrap, making a shower cap that would be sturdier, more attractive and mindful of price. My optimum goal is to have everyone in the natural hair community world-wide owning at least one “Celestial Crowns Shower Cap”, never again donning a garbage bag. I debuted my Crowns at the Transcendence Hair Show in New York in October. They were extremely well received, with responses like “God Bless you Sister”, “This cain’t be what I think it is”, “You made a shower cap for us, Awww”, and my favorite “I thought of making an oversized shower cap (correction my sister CROWN), but I was too lazy and asked God to direct me to someone that had created one”…(prayers are answered YES sometimes My Love).

As you can see from the pictures attached, my Crowns come in 3 different sizes, XL, L, and Mini-Crowns. Mini-Crowns, were created by popular demand, born out of the “envy” of friends and family without natural hair wanting a durable, funkier shower cap. My friends said, “Marg, I want to shower in a CROWN TOO!”, LoL.

As an added feature to the Shower Crown, a 15mm nickel snap has been attached on the X-Large to serve dual purposes, 1) to hold heavier, lengthier hair, which sometimes falls out the back of the Crown, or 2) for use by people with permed, braids, weaves, or silky straight hair.

When individuals with relaxed hair use the snap they pull the Crown back and their hair cascades into the fullness of the Crown, no need to wrap their hair prior to getting in the shower. Crowns are attractively packaged in 6×9 clear frosted plastic, die cut handle bags with “Celestial Crowns” in gold script lettering. Furthermore, the bags are heat-sealed for shipping.

So again, this might be the PJ in me but I’m pretty excited. I haven’t had a shower cap fit me since my hair was 4 inches long. And even that was a struggle! I will of course post a review once my caps arrive and I’ve had a chance to fully try them out.

Here’s a little more from my interview with Margie:

What are your future plans? 

I’m gradually expanding my product line.  Many customers have asked me to design a sleeping bonnet patterned after my shower crowns. So next month I’m rolling out “Celestial Crowns Slumber Bonnets”. Not to leave brothers out of the equation I’ll offer a choice between the bonnet style and the Slumber Cap without the ruffle. I have so many ideas in my folder labelled “We Needs”.

What I’d like is to have more creative control over my pattern choices. Now I’m locked  into selecting  available plastic fabric motifs. The objective is to appeal to customers ranging from those who simply want a solid colored, no frills Shower Crown to those wanting a more whimsical design like “What Kinda Ducky Are You??”. I can’t wait for the day when I’ll have the opportunity to sit with a textiles designer and just let my creative juices flow.

My ultimate goal is to have Celestial Comforter products easily available at stores like Walmart, beauty supply and drug stores outlets . The natural hair community has been overwhelmingly supportive. However, much to my amazement I have many customers who simply want a more functional shower cap. These customers have either relaxed or Caucasian type hair texture.

I have customers from as far away  as Tasmania, London, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany and all across the United States.  I named my product Celestial Crowns Shower Caps in order to elevate the shower cap to it’s rightful place of hierarchy in our beauty arsenal. If our hair gets wet it can alter plans substantially. So I want  Shower Crowns very easy to purchase.

Do you have any tips for ladies out there toying with the idea of starting their own business?

DON’T DO IT!!

Ok joking aside,  If you have an idea and try as hard as you may you just can’t put it to rest. In other words, the idea haunts you, then you’ll have no choice but to forge ahead. Perform your due diligence.  Who’s your competition, or in my case do you even have any competition? How does your product differ from what’s in the marketplace? Does your product satisfy a need for a particular demographic or has universal appeal?

Your chances are better if you’re improving upon something that’s already been invented. But if you’ve developed the next Snuggie… Fantastic!!!!  Finances? Unless you are independently wealthy, or have access to venture capital, then you’ll have a great deal of out of pocket expenses, especially during these times of government cutbacks.  Even if you answer NO to all these questions. If you really want to see this dream materialize… Find a way to DO IT!  You want to live a life with few regrets.

Celestial Crowns Shower Caps was not the first born in my product line. The original idea was  to embellish quality flipflops with beautiful ornaments like flowers, buttons, glass and other trinkets. I was selling by word of mouth. Then I experienced my epiphany moment in the shower last summer.  My locs kept falling out of the 99 cent store shower cap. I decided to develop something better. Truthfully, had I not been laid off from my job of almost 25 yrs. I’d probably still be all talk and no action because I was scared.   However, when I lost my job it was virtually impossible for me to find another because 1) my age (54) and 2) I’d allowed circumstances to prevent me from concentrating on completing my college education.  In this market resume killers! So this was my opportunity to realize a dream deferred.

I took a class once and the speaker said  ” If you can sell your product to 10 people that aren’t friends or family, you can sell to 50, to 50 then 100, 100 then 1,000. Well I’ve sold at least 500 Shower Crowns and approx. 200 pair of Celestial Soul FlipFlops. Keeping that idea in mind, I guess there’s no where for me to go but up!!! So my advice is this if you have want to start a business find a way to realize the dream and if you fall flat on your face at the very least you won’t be stuck for the rest of your life pondering what would have happened IF?

It has not been easy, at time very challenging … STILL. I’ve asked GOD “Why in the world did you bring me to this place. Why couldn’t I be like the majority of dreamers, think it and let it go.”  But, I’ve had the great pleasure of connecting with some wonderful people worldwide. The letters I receive from satisfied customers and words of encouragement from people I meet at events help during the dark days.  And I actually have products that people really want to purchase. WoW!!!!

I’m eternally grateful to the YouTube/ Blogging community who provided me a platform through their reviews.

 What’s your hair care regimen?

Favorite product lines:

• CurlPrep -  Candace Kelley, Owner
• Gidore Hair Care and Beauty of London -  Lukwesa Barnes,Owner

I’ve had my hair loced since July, 2005. Before I was laid off, I went to the loctician twice monthly.  I learned a valuable lesson from a dear friend many many years ago when my marriage went south and I had 3 sons to raise. I’d been accustomed to going to the hairdresser whenever I wanted having whatever I wanted done. She told me, “Always know how to care for your own hair, give yourself home facials, manicures and pedicures. Furthermore she  said,  ”No it won’t be as polished as a professional job, but no one has to know your circumstances because you look all tore up”.  Her advice was to pay attention to the products used, what works and doesn’t work for your hair.  So I when I monies poured into sustaining my home and my business, going to the loctician was a luxury. Not only did I learn  how properly to wash my own hair, I learned to palm roll and I taught my “like my daughter”  how to do so for those times I just wasn’t up the task.

The great thing about YouTube is that one has access to tutorials on how do most anything..  Soon I expect to treat myself to those wonderful salon amenities. Right now I’m laser focused on making Celestial Comforter a familiar name in the haircare industry.  Even if notoriety is limited to the Black community I’ll beam with a great deal of Pride.

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