NaturallyCurly is celebrating its 15th Anniversary this month, and we’re definitely feeling the love. This birthday message from Jess McGuinty of Jessicurl just about brought a tear to our eye!The curly world would look completely different without passionate curly business women like Jess and Michelle (pictured”>. Happy Curl Day to you. Happy Curl Day TOOOO YOUUUU!!! Happy CUUURRRLL day, NaturallyCurly.coooo-oooomm. Happy Currrrrl Day tooooo yoouuu.
Ohhhh, curlies, let me tell you how glad you are you didn’t have to hear me actually sing that. I don’t sing, m’kay? I dance, sure. I laugh a LOT. I can whip up a mean batch of conditioner. But singing? No.
I just wasn’t sure how else to open this big-giant-happy-birthday piece for our beloved NaturallyCurly.com.
NaturallyCurly.com is 15 y’all. Fifteen!! If it was a kid, we’d be all “Wow, they grow up so fast.”
When I found NaturallyCurly.com in 2001, I was struggling to accept my curls after a lifetime of hating them and had decided there had to be a better way. Fed up with hating my hair, and myself as an extension of it, I typed “curly hair” into Google hoping to find a magic bullet to make my hair behave and my confidence improve.
Um. Yeah. I found much more than that, didn’t I? I was so stoked to find a whole community of other curlies that had gone through the same struggles I had with their hair that I don’t think I looked up from my computer for a week. Seriously. I went out and bought every product recommended but still wasn’t loving what my hair was doing. One day I came across a recipe for hair gel made out of flax seeds and thought, “Well, hell, that’d be awesome!” I didn’t love the results but had become inspired. After more tweaking, adding a bit of this and a bit of that, one day I did my hair and LOVED what I saw. Perfect ringlets. With much exuberance, I went back to the NaturallyCurly.com message boards and excitedly shared the recipe with my newfound friends. (The thought of going into business hadn’t crossed my mind”>. After posting my recipe I was flooded with emails from curly headed members asking if they could just buy some of the magic potion from me, as they really didn’t feel like making it. The rest, as they say, is history! Rockin’ Ringlets Styling Potion was born.
So you see, if it weren’t for NaturallyCurly.com and the curlies on the discussion forums, there would be no Jessicurl. I can say that with complete honesty. Since then, we have remained friends, with Michelle and I joyfully meeting up at various curly gatherings over the years, sharing glasses of champagne and stories of how our businesses have grown. CurlMart carries Jessicurl and the CurlTalk members still rave about our products. I don’t participate in the forums anymore, but my roots are still there.
Truly, what would have happened if I my fingers hadn’t have stumbled upon NaturallyCurly.com that day in 2001? What would I be doing today? How would YOUR hair look today? These are questions I’m happy not to know the answer to.
And let’s not kid ourselves, NaturallyCurly.com has REALLY grown up in the last 15 years! Through the magic of the internet, I was able to find a screen shot of their website from January 1999, just a mere 4 months after their launch. Let’s have a look.
Then
Now
Let’s compare that to a screen shot of their current home page, just for fun.
What a difference 15 years makes, eh?
Happy 15th Anniversary, NaturallyCurly.com. My life, and the lives of so many curlies, are so much better because we have you in it. Our CURLS thank you too!!!
Love,
Jessicurl
