Kaylah Joseph, founder of LAID Hair Care, saw a gap in the market for quality hair care products that promote healthy hair. After discovering that the products she used caused clumps of her hair to fall out, finding a solution to healing her scalp and replenishing hair strands became her top priority.
LAID Hair Care was created in 2020 to combat hair loss, reverse alopecia, and provide customers with ingredients for hair health. The brand has grown from Joseph mixing ingredients in the kitchen to her products being distributed nationwide. At 28, the entrepreneur became the youngest CEO and founder to have shelf placement at Walmart and CVS.
Image Source: @laidhaircare
She is now taking LAID Hair Care to the next level and expanding the company into an affordable luxury beauty bar. The Alabama-based CEO will have her first beauty bar placed in a Huntsville Walmart. Along with including her products, Joseph plans to partner with other Black-owned hair care lines for shelf placement in her beauty bar. It will also feature wigs, weaves, extensions, products for men, and more.
NaturallyCurly spoke with Joseph about her early beginnings with LAID Hair Care, her partnership with retailers, and her new beauty bar ahead of its opening in March 2024
What was your relationship with your hair growing up, and how has it changed over the years?
When I was younger, I used to wear braided hair all the time. I loved my braids, beads, and hair. As I got older, I saw other girls wear their hair straight. When I was nine, I asked for a perm to put my hair into a ponytail and other styles…I didn’t have a bad relationship with my natural hair or perm. I always enjoyed the versatility.
LAID Hair Care sets itself apart as it can be used on natural and straight hair. Why did you think creating a product for both hair types was necessary?
LAID Hair Care is a hair health brand. You must ensure that you put good ingredients on your scalp and hair. Not only do Black women suffer from hair loss and alopecia, 41% of my customers are white and Spanish women…Everyone is suffering from hair loss, damage, and breakage.
What’s the significance behind creating that space and deciding to expand your business relationship with Walmart by having the beauty bar flagship be there and not anywhere else?
This is revolutionary. LAID Beauty Bar is something that I could not have dreamed of. Retail with a product line is extremely hard, expensive, and challenging. Within my first couple of months of being on retail shelves, another company tried to duplicate my formula.
When I realized that that’s how this world works and I didn’t see too much integrity in it, I said, ‘Let me do something that’s going to be a little bit different.’ I want something where I can say my impact is beyond this aisle placement.
With LAID Beauty Bar, I’m asking Walmart to include Black women in this space… They [Black women] are already coming into Walmart, but we don’t have the full braiding hair, wig, weaves, beads, or the cheap lip gloss we love from the beauty supply store. Then, we don’t see those who look like us for those conversations.
I want to give us [Black women] something that’s legacy and not something that will be sold to the highest bidder. It’s not about selling the company. It’s about making sure that that structure is intact so Black women can feel safe and are offered a wellness solution.
What made you want to document the progress of building the beauty bar publicly on social media?
Somebody needs to be inspired by seeing the steps. I hope that I am inspiring a generation that shifts from gatekeeping…It also adds another element of emotional connection, so people know who I am as an entrepreneur and what I stand on. I want LAID Hair Care always to represent what’s impossible becoming possible.
As the youngest person to have shelf placement at Walmart, how does it feel to make history in the hair care world and cement your impact in this business?
I’m honored and privileged to compete at this level. I welcome it and take it seriously. I can’t do what I sometimes want to do or say what I want to say because I have a community behind me who would be very disappointed if I didn’t approach this with the grace and honor they entrusted me with.
In what ways did your HBCU contribute to your go-getter, entrepreneurial spirit?
Going to an HBCU is being around the best of the best…If you graduated from an HBCU, you have that drive and hustle. Constantly being around people with that drive, hustle, and go-getter mentality inspired me for all four years…I was constantly surrounded by excellence, so I didn’t know anything else.
What comes to mind when you reflect on your business journey, what it took to get to where you are, and the soon-to-be opening of your first beauty bar?
It’s been a rollercoaster of very real highs and lows. It will be worth it because someone else will be inspired to pursue their dreams independently.
Have you tried LAID Hair Care? Let us know in the comments.
Does your wavy hair lack definition or look “poofy” at times?
A common problem among wavies is to have either poofy hair that has no distinction between waves or to have stringy waves that seem to not be cohesive at all. The key to fixing this problem is not only taking better care of your waves but it is also by encourage clumping.
What is clumping?
This is when strands of your hair work together and seem to become one wave or curl together rather than a lot of independent curls.
How to Squish to Condish
To achieve the best clumps of waves in your hair, the most important thing is to make sure you have well-moisturized hair. I found the best results from doing a method called “squish to condish”. For this, you:
1. Cleanse & condition
Shampoo or cowash followed by your rinse-out conditioner.
2. Squish in conditioner – upside down
Flip your head over while still in the shower and squish in additional conditioner. Essentially, this is scrunching, except you want to use a flat palm and try not to squeeze out all the water. What you are looking to achieve is the perfect water-to-conditioner ratio.
This is something that will take trial and error but you need to listen to what your hair is telling you by how slick or dry it feels. For squish to condish, I like to use either a thin conditioner like Yes to Coconut Ultra Moisture Conditioner, or you can use your favorite leave-in. After getting out of your shower, you will notice your hair starting to form into natural clumps.
3. Add your product to try to keep those clumps together!
4. Allow your hair to dry.
5. Scrunch out the crunch/cast
What NOT to do to keep your waves clumped
Never brush your hair when dry.
If you must use something more than your fingers to detangle, I recommend a wide-toothed comb. Do this while you are using your rinse-out conditioner.
Don’t comb while squishing
Once you’ve started doing the squish to condish method, a comb should not touch your hair.
Don’t manipulate your hair while it’s drying
Let your hair dry without manipulating it. I know it’s hard not to play with your hair when it’s still drying, but the more you touch it and move it around the more frizz and the less clumps you will have.
This article has been updated for grammar and clarity.
Have you ever been on vacation and gotten completely different results from your usual curly routine? It’s not until this happens that we realize the impact the water we use at home has on our hair. We put all of this effort into finding the right products to keep our curls bouncy and healthy, but our water may be working against us!
If you live in a hard water area, you’ve probably had to deal with limescale on your pipes or calcium build-up in your kettle. These mineral deposits can happen on hair too, resulting in dull, lifeless, brittle strands. It can even stop the moisturizing ingredients in your conditioner or deep treatment from being able to penetrate your hair.
If you’re battling with hard water, dry air, and extreme cold this winter, one thing you can at least attempt to improve is your water’s impact on your hair and skin.
What is hard water?
“Hard” or “soft” water refers to mineral content. Rain is soft when it falls from the sky, but if it passes over rocks like limestone or chalk, the minerals from these rocks dissolve into the water. This means hard water has a high mineral content, often including minerals like iron, calcium, and copper. The hardness level of the water in your area will be dependent on where your water comes from. All well water is considered hard, but local reservoir water could be hard water too. A quick Google search of “water hardness + (your area”>” should let you know what kind of water you’re dealing with.
There are two things you can do to combat your hard water: use products that will help reduce the water’s impact on your hair, or purchase a water softener.
Chelating Shampoos
Chelating shampoos and clarifying shampoos are not the same thing, though the words seem to be used interchangeably. Clarifying shampoos are designed to remove product residue. Chelating shampoos are specially formulated to deal with hard metals and minerals and the type of build-up caused by hard water. Some shampoos have the ingredients to be both clarifying and chelating.
Chelating products contain Disodium EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid”> and are harsher on your hair than a clarifying shampoo. It is important to ensure you are only using a chelating shampoo when you really need it, and that the rest of your routine helps balance the dryness a chelating shampoo may cause. My favourite deep conditioner to help restore moisture to my hair is the As I Am Hydration Elation, which is Curly Girl Method approved.
Chelating shampoos recommended for hard water build up:
- Ouidad Water Works Clarifying Shampoo
- Malibu C Hard Water Wellness Shampoo (Curly Girl Method approved”> Ion Hard Water Shampoo (Curly Girl Method approved”>
Apple Cider Vinegar Rinses
Vinegar has been shown to break down minerals like magnesium and calcium often found in hard water, allowing them to be rinsed off of your hair.
Mix one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into two cups of filtered water to create your own DIY rinse. Pour this solution over your hair after shampooing and massage gently into your scalp. After a few minutes, rinse the apple cider vinegar out of your hair. Repeat up to once per week to keep hair free of mineral build up. If you’re concerned about your hair smelling like vinegar, you can follow it with a bit of leave-in or rinse-out conditioner.
Alternatively, you can purchase products that contain apple cider vinegar, such as:
- dpHUE Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse
- Crème of Nature Apple Cider Vinegar Clarifying Rinse (Curly Girl Method approved”>
- Philip Adam ACV Shampoo (Curly Girl Method approved”>
- AG Hair Natural Balance Apple Cider Vinegar Sulfate-Free Shampoo (Curly Girl Method approved”>
- Hask Organic Apple Cider Vinegar Buildup Removing Rinse
- Txtr by Cantu Apple Cider Vinegar + Tea Tree Soothing Shampoo (Curly Girl Method approved”></li
Several of these products also contain Disodium EDTA – the ingredient used in chelating shampoos to break down mineral build up – as an ingredient.
Water Softeners
Water softeners are a common solution to hard water. There are two types: one that softens all of the water in your house as it enters, usually by adding salt, and smaller ones that attach to or replace your existing shower head or tap.
I recently purchased a Brondell VivaSpring filtered shower head. It claims to remove hard metals and chlorine from water. The filters inside the shower head have to be replaced every six months.
My results from using a shower filter aren’t that easy to see in photos, but I can feel a significant difference. I always thought having coarse, rough hair was just part of being curly. My hair is softer and shinier than it has ever been even after a short amount of time.
Another result from showering with softer water is that my products lather better. I’m able to use less product and it seems easier to distribute too.
One downside I’ve noticed since using this filter is a decrease in hair volume. Much of my volume came from frizz anyway so this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is one of the most obvious changes.
Same products used in both photos: SheaMoisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Kinky Curly Curling Custard. My hair looks smoother and more moisturized but looks less voluminous.
Final Thoughts
If you’re finding the products you used to love are no longer doing it for you or your hair is feeling dry and lifeless, check your water! For products to work on our hair, we need to provide them with a healthy base to work with. If your water is drying out your hair or leaving mineral build-up on your curls, try a chelating shampoo, apple cider vinegar rinse, or a water softener. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results!
