Entrepreneur and content creator Chloe Homan revolves her creativity around curly hair, as she was the only family member with spiraled strands. She confessed her mother had a “light wavy” texture, but she couldn’t maintain Homan’s mane. Homan reminisces about being an early aughts adolescent and seeing her peers rock slick-back ponytails. She applauds her mom for embracing Homan to wear her curls. Growing up in a supportive family helped Homan to negate the straight-hair era.
Image Source: @naturallycurly
During her mid-20s, Homan took the initiative by researching curly hair techniques. She implemented her research into her curly hair regimen, making fans stop her in public and compliment her strands. Homan started her viral, natural hair platform, “Frizz and Frillzz.” She built a large following using her blog and social media with product reviews and hair education made for naturalistas. Now, the businesswoman chats with NaturallyCurly about her journey with curly hair, silk accessories, and her identity in the hair industry.
What makes your scrunchies and hair accessories unique to curly girls?
I designed our original XL silk scrunchies to be large enough and stretchy enough for our hair and not feel like it got strangled. I wanted enough fabric, so we weren’t worried about cutting costs in the amount of silk we were using.
Every time I would deal with our manufacturer. I’d be like, no—we’re not trying to save here. We want it to be a quality product meant to be shown within the curls. So, we opted for extra length so that when it’s stretched around all our hair, it still looks like a scrunchie. Also, we have our silk pillowcases and silk scarves that are made to complement the curls.
Silk and satin are highly-rated fabrics for those with textured and coily hair. How did you come up with the various designs on your products?
I studied graphic design and advertising in college. I’ve always been a creative. I used to paint all the time. I’ve always loved the creative process. With this, I wanted to take all the designs I had in my head and bring them to life. Everything starts with inspiration from my life, basically like a Pinterest board. I typically work with a watercolor artist, and she creates the art. We go back and forth and create a repetitive design that can be printed onto the fabric. And then that’s what turns into the scrunchies.
Why watercolors?
I’ve always been very inspired by watercolors. I’ve painted. I’ve drawn. I’ve done all the fine in college. Watercolor was something I could never quite get. I have always found it very interesting because it’s very specific, but not specific at all. I’ve always had a very deep respect for people who could master watercolor. I wanted to find a few small artists that we can support and bring that vision to life.
What were your favorite products to use growing up?
When I was growing up, the one in high school I would use was Catwalk Curls Rock, but it was like 20-something dollars a bottle. My parents said, ‘Okay, you’re going through this too fast. You need to start using less.’ I would, but it still wasn’t enough. I need to use more than that to care for these curls. I was using Head and Shoulders, which was drying on my hair and probably exacerbated my flaky, dry scalp.
I was washing my hair almost every single day. Oh my god… my poor curls. Over time, more products came out. It became easier with social media. Hi F3licia was the first curly girl I followed, and she had a similar curl pattern. I finally got to meet her at the CurlyCon event in LA.
What products do you recommend for curly and coily girls?
A few of my favorite products right now include Briogeo Curl Charisma Chia and Flax Seed Coil Custard. It’s so good. It is very oily and emollient-rich, so it is a dream for somebody who has a thicker texture. You don’t need to use a lot of it. It’s a very potent formula. I appreciate that a lot. That’s one of my favorite products.
Image Source: @frizzandfrill
I also really love the AG Care Mousse Gel. It has a nice cast that’s very easily scrunched out and creates a nice, soft, beautiful texture but still has a lot of hold. It also doesn’t weigh them down too much. I find that works for a lot of different textures, densities, and thicknesses for curlies.
The Curl Smith Shine Gel is super strong for high-humidity vacation curls. It has the ingredient polyquaternium 69 in it. That ingredient creates a nice seal of your curls from the outside environment so humidity cannot get in, especially for high porosity curlies. That is a phenomenal one. A more affordable one that has that same active ingredient is Curl Talk in their newer high-hold gel.
Growing up, did you get any hair advice from friends?
No. I had no one who had curls like mine. I grew up in Tennessee before I moved to Wisconsin, and there was significantly more diversity in my school. When I moved to Wisconsin, the diversity was non-existent. In Tennessee, I grew up around a lot more hair textures, and I didn’t feel as alone.
In eighth grade, two Black girls came to me [and said,] ‘What are you?’ Laughs. Great question. I don’t know. I’m having a little bit of an identity crisis. Turns out, I’m very English. Very German. We still didn’t figure out where the curls came from. I remember that. I had no idea what to do. I just beat to my drum and tried to figure it out alone.
Have you ever thought about just creating your hair care products?
I have thought about that. However, the market has so many curl products out there. There are almost so many that it’s hard to choose. There are a lot of great products out there. If I was going to create a line, it had to be so innovative that I would need to spend the time in the lab to figure out how to make something incredibly different. The last thing I want to do is create something like a white-label product.
I saw your collaboration with influencer Biana Renee. How did social media shape you as a curly girl and Curlfriend Collective? Did you have anyone on YouTube that influenced you?
I started social media in 2018. As I was growing up, that community told me how many curlies are just trying to figure it out. When you’re siloed into your community and trying to find a stylist who can try to give you a good haircut and find a good curl routine, it is very difficult. Even with all the resources we have, people are still struggling.
I love creating a community that would help curlies who were just like me. I have a huge community of moms who don’t know how to do their kid’s hair because their kids have a similar texture as mine. By finding people who align with that same texture around the world, whether sometimes a bit looser or a little bit tighter, we can still help each other and make a community where we all feel comfortable.
Image Source: @frizzandfrillzz
That was one of the biggest things in building my community and Curlfriend Collective. I feel like everything we do has to do with our community. It stemmed from making sure everybody felt represented. One of our big initiatives this year is to bring in more photography to show more hair types.
As creators, that were a huge part of my routine. HiF3licia was the creator I followed from when I was in my early-mid 20s. I saw Bianca Renee and followed some of her videos, which is so funny seeing some of these girls who have been around for so long and paved the way; now, being friends with them is a full-circle moment.
I love the online curly communities. We are so supportive of each other. Most of us don’t see each other as competition. I felt we were on our little island for so long. It’s so beautiful to be supportive and to see each other succeed. This tight-knit community between the curly creators is beautiful versus other niche-type creators. I don’t think you always see that. We’ve all been through so much.
Curlfriend Collective provides various products. What’s your favorite accessory or creation?
Image Source: @curlfriend.collective
My Hair Match Collection was a labor of love. Probably the biggest labor of love because it was an idea that I had just randomly one night. The collection is a custom print of a curl pattern, and it’s done in various curls, hair tones, and colors. It’s made to just blend in seamlessly with your curls, or for day, night, workout, etc.
It’s a go-to scrunchie that’s good for your hair instead of using that cheap little hair tie. We started with patents and put them in for the design and trademarks because it takes years for patents. It took over a year for us to get it to market. Now it’s become our top seller almost immediately.
What’s your favorite part of your creative process?
I love asking the community what they’re looking for, taking that feedback, and turning it into reality. We pull directly from the community, which is what we were based on in the first place.
You always speak about your community. What impact do you want the Curlfriend Collective to have on your community?
I want them to feel like they have a place. I want them all to feel seen within our Curlfriend Collective community. Even long term, I want Curlfriend Collective to feel like a one-stop shop for our curlriends. I want them to feel like, ‘Hey, I’m starting my curly journey. I need all the curly accessories. I’m going to go to Curlfriend Collective because I know they got me covered.’ That’s where I see us going as we continue to bring out more products. We have so many new things in the works.
What upcoming collaborations do you have in store for the Curlfriend Collective?
We’re working on some collaborations that I can’t quite speak into, but we have some exciting new products that are not out yet.
One of the biggest difference makers I’m always working on for Curlfriend Collective is we want an eco-friendly product. We want a high-quality product, but we also want to make that high-quality product affordable to the average consumer. Natural materials are extremely important to me versus using a satin polyester that you’ll see at Target, Walmart, and Walgreens. Silk and cotton are biodegradable naturally and are not going to put that same kind of imprint.
Homan is an expert at accessorizing curly hair. Her expertise led her to establish her fashion-forward scrunchie line. With the surge of new tips and trends, Homan made her mark in the hair care industry. For more ways to revamp your curls, check out these floral hairstyles.
