It’s that time again—this weekend will be jam-packed with holiday purchases for ourselves and others, but we want to ensure all brands get some well-deserved attention. If the term “Small Business Saturday” is new to you, think Black Friday, but with an emphasis on raising awareness around small businesses doing incredible work. Every Saturday after the frenzy of Black Friday sales, people across the United States take the opportunity to make a conscious effort to find and support local entrepreneurs and less-familiar brands, both online and in-person.
In the spirit of highlighting splurge-worthy brands you may not be familiar with, ahead we have a list of 10 small curly brands that you’ll want to bookmark for this Saturday and beyond.
1.Young King Hair Care
Cora and Stefan Miller’s products are celebrating the presence of young Black and Brown men in the male-grooming and curly hair care space. They’ve created their own unique product options out of the need for proper representation for their curly son and other young boys like him. All of the products are full of plant-based ingredients, and the hair care line includes all the must-haves: a leave-in conditioner, curling cream, shampoo. The brand even has a full skin care line.
2. Shaz and Kiks
Treat your hair and scalp to some nourishing products that have a history as rich as their ingredient list. Inspired by their grandmother’s homemade beauty products in their childhood, brand founders Shaz and Kika have created scalp and hair product options based on tried and true Indian Ayurvedic practices. The core products are a cleanser, conditioner, refresh spray, and pre-wash—one of their bestsellers with 20+ Ayurvedic herbs, flowers, and oils like morninga, sweet almond, and Bhringraj oil.
3. Pink Root
Because this brand was created to improve the transition from chemically treated and heat damaged hair to natural hair, its products’ ingredients have something for all textures, from wavy to curly to kinks and coils. Mariel Mejia first had the idea to make transition-friendly products when dealing with heat and relaxer damage as a college student in 2015. The formulations focus on fortifying damaged ends while encouraging new growth with nutrient-rich and organic ingredients. The lineup includes a curl enhancing lotion, leave-in, and styling paste—all of which will be 25% off all weekend.
4. Ooli
Ooli is your one stop shop for loc-related needs. In 2018, Jessica Pritchett created products for her locs that catered to the unique hair care process that comes with having them. Fortunately for the rest of the natural community, she decided to share her creations! Ooli products are made with ingredients you can trust. The ingredient lists avoid parabens, petrolatum, and sulfates, and are full of nourishers like aloe vera, baobab seed oil, and amino acids.
Ooli’s current product list includes a cleanser, two hair and scalp oils, and a hair fragrance spray. You’ll also want to keep an eye on the upcoming non-flaking, no build up loc gel.
5. Canviiy
Interested in getting serious about scalp care? After being disappointed with market-standard products, Sherrel Sampson’s solution to soothe her itchy scalp became the basis for Canviiy. Sherrel and her team of experts came up with the Scalp Bliss Collection with an itch-calming serum (now a bestseller”> infused with aloe vera, lavender, witch hazel, manuka honey, jojoba and peppermint oil. In addition to the itch-calming serum, the collection itself features a growth serum, scalp purifying foam treatment, organic-based shampoo and conditioner, scalp balm, and a cleansing bar.
6. NaturAll Club
Sticklers for clean ingredients will feel right at home with this brand.
Naturall Club is committed to elevating clean haircare and beauty standards by offering freshly-made products that don’t compromise you or your hair. Some of them (like the frozen deep conditioners”> are made with such natural ingredients that you’ll have to refrigerate/freeze them to keep them fresh.
After dissatisfaction with her dry, damaged, and dull hair, brand founder Muhga Eltigani did a big chop and started over using only natural ingredients on her hair. For six months, she experimented with foods from her fridge and the grocery store like avocados, olive oil, coconut, baking soda, and even eggs. Having experienced how healthy and moisturized her hair was and seeing a need for fresh products, Mugha decided to share her findings.
NaturAll Club has a whopping 40+ products, including bestsellers like a hydrating leave-in and conditioner, a frozen avocado and kiwi treatment, strengthening growth serum, and much more.
Here are 15 More Curly Brands to Support on Small Business Saturday.
7. Alaffia
In addition to helping you care for your curls, Alaffia’s mission is to alleviate poverty and to advance gender equality in West Africa through fair trade of the ingredients used in their products. Founders Olowoa-N’djo Tchala and Prairie Rose Hyde have created silicone-free, plant-based formulas for all curl patterns.
Each curl pattern has a dedicated set of products. For wavy hair, there’s the curl enhance collection, for curly hair, there’s the curl define collection, and for coily hair, the coil sculpt collection.
8. 4C ONLY
As you can probably infer from the name, this brand is proud to promote and cater specifically to 4C hair, a texture which is often underrepresented in hair care.
The central products in the line are a shampoo, leave-in, styling cream, and deep conditioner that are intended to make caring for coily or kinky hair simple and fuss-free.
9. Boucléme
No matter the curl pattern Boucléme has a comprehensive group of 11-13 product options for each texture, ranging from cleansers to conditioners to gels, and more. Founder Michele Scott-Lynch wants people with textured hair to fall in love with it. As someone who didn’t fully accept the beauty of their natural hair until her thirties when she had children, she started Boucléme to provide the product range she was struggling to find.
The brand prides itself on being powered by plant extracts and essential oils, with amazing scents, and a heart for others. Boucléme plants a tree for each standard size product you purchase, and gives a portion of earnings from each hair oil towards improving the lives of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
10. Verb
Verb is all about genuine, unfiltered healthy hair. Prepared to handle almost any hair concern for all textures, at a price of $20 per product. Yes, you read that correctly, you’ll never pay more than $20 for any single product. Every product is the same price.
You can shop by product or hair concern, and even make your own custom kit to get 20% off, if the other kits aren’t a fit for your hair needs. Among the bestsellers are a curl cream, a curl shampoo, an exfoliating scalp nectar, a purple mask for blonde or grey hair tones, and tons more.
Read next: 10 Favorite Curly Products by Small Businesses
Give your favorite small business a shout out in the comments!
