How To Restore Your Hairline & Edges - Episode #266 W/ Gillian & Johnathan Nelson

If you get nothing else from this episode, I want women, especially mothers, to get the fact that we have to be very mindful about how we talk to our daughters about their hair, in order for us to experience real change in order for us to claim to Be the the queens that we are and self-love and all of that stuff a woman's crown is one of the most it's important it's important and if you grow up feeling like you, don't like your hair, if you grew up with a negative stigma behind your hair, It'S going to be a problem that you're going to take and you're going to pass that on to your own children. So we need to break that here. We need to break that now, and I mean I want mothers, aunties grandmothers, everybody who you know taking care of these babies here to just talk, positive and just let them know like how beautiful their strands are and and just talk to them around that you know Positive affirmations, because it's really it's really it's really a big deal. You can ask any black woman out there they'll tell you foreign, welcome to another edition of the social proof podcast, where we find adult people that did dope stuff. Today'S no difference, uh y'all came bearing gifts. One of y'all gave me a cool shirt from another. I would assume black owned company. You can't see it, but I like this all just all black on companies plant trees. You can eat from so who's. This who's, Francis. The font he's out of uh New York City. What does this mean to you plant trees? You can eat from it's pretty much an idea or concept right. You plan it and it becomes fruitful. So if you run in a business you keep on planning until you bear fruit, that's real! I think, there's a lot of people who uh plant trees that eat them. I mean do like certain things or you know. We cultivate certain relationships and we pour poor poor into a relationship. That'S killing us. So it's like. I think this shirt is really really deep, because when you, when you see it, it's not like it automatically means one thing: it's like to the person that's reading it. So I thought that was really really cool, but we're not here to talk about a t-shirt brand. We just ain't, even your company uh but uh. Let'S start this um uh Jill and Jonathan. Let me get you to introduce yourself and what you do. Okay, so I'm Jillian Nelson I'm married to Jonathan Nelson together, we own and run a natural hair and skin care line, called Sunny, Demi sunny in Denver yeah sunny in Denver. What is Disney so I grew up yes, denby's a place. I grew up in Jamaica and I grew up in a Tiny Town in the Parish of Clarendon called Denby, so e-n-b-i-g-h-t-e-n-b-i-g-a so um. When our line started - and you know we were a bunching ideas as to you know what we needed to call it. I just wanted to pay homage to Demby, because that's where I spent my formative years and also you know it's always sunny in Denver. That means just an awesome place, so it was just a happy. You know vibrant Sunny, feel to it and that's the kind of vibe I wanted our brand to have so yeah. I, like it, okay, sunny in Denver whose idea was the business or the name business correct business is my idea. Is that so tell me about the the business the business so the business started totally by accident, like you know, I always say, like God, kind of fooled me into being a business owner, because my my background was corporate um. I spent 17 years as a college. Professor and that was really my life, that was really all I knew and um you know over the years us being together. Jonathan would always say, like you know, you make such good stuff like you know, people would really like the stuff, but I never considered myself a business owner. I never considered myself a seller or anything. You know I was just kind of happy with working a job being a mom being a wife, and that was it so um at the end of 2018. Like you know, I just kind of went into this like period of depression. I just started feeling sad. I just started feeling like there was something else I needed to be doing, and I didn't know what that was. So I went to him and why were you depressed? Why were you sad I felt like I wasn't living in my truth, I felt like um. I wasn't walking in my purpose like I really knew that, even though I was wife and mom and professional, I just felt like that. Wasn'T it, but let me ask you real, quick, I'm sorry, yeah yeah, when you say you weren't Walking In Your Truth. What does that mean exactly um? I was working a job, I was doing work, but it wasn't feeding my soul, hmm, okay, I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that. Yeah like I was making money. You know, but it wasn't about the money I felt like there was something else I needed to scratch on you know so um I mean I enjoyed the job, but it's a different feeling now like making our products, and you know I really feel like we're being Impactful, so I think that I was kind of feeling that void like I didn't have the feeling I have now. You know what I mean so yeah. That'S what I mean by that gotcha gotcha, so you're, just walking around the house trying to did you have a so you're already making products, though I was like for years like you know, I would make stuff for my daughters, like Jonathan, had really bad eczema and Yeah, it's like a pie, yeah, that's our cookie butter body butter. Our customers go crazy for that one! So yeah, that's yours! Yeah! I use Coco. No, I use shea butter whatever the Palmers is. I thought Palmer's was I'll. Put it to you this way. Every shea butter Inc, like our shea butter - I put it to you that way. She was making those products six years before she even birthed a company so to all your entrepreneurs out there. You probably already have the skill set for the business that you need to start. You just haven't realized it. Yet. Are you talking good going to introduce yourself because we ain't even we ain't starting, oh wait. Even though yeah he's talking good go ahead, my name is Jonathan Nelson. I run sunny and Danby with my wife, my kids, my mother-in-law, my mom, my brother-in-law. So always three generations running the same business and uh. It started as her goal her brand and we just all kind of like wrap our arms around her and uh. Just you know figure it out, but it's it's all based of a need that she felt in her life and then also based on a skill set. She already had so a lot of people are chasing skill sets they already don't have to start a business instead of just using what you already have to start a business. I really want to smell like this. I can't wait to put it on so that I can smell it. Your wife's gon na steal it, so you may want to hide it because yeah she's gon na love it. I already know me exactly that's the goal in a good way. Okay, all right! So you were, you were putting together this uh this. How did you, okay, the first Innovation? Is this cocoa butter, shea butter, cocoa butter? So let me just read the directions right I mean instruct the ingredients. Shea butter mango butter, cocoa, butter, castor oil, olive oil, coconut oil, olive oil, vitamin E - these are all the ingredients, natural ingredients, yeah, here's the thing. Why can't I just make this without the ingredients that you got you want Instagram. You want me to answer that because So my answer is gon na be you have to know what you're doing there are phases to different things like when you're mixing oils and Butters and herbs and all kinds of stuff you can't just throw it all in a Bucket and mix it up, you kind of, have to know what you're doing it's a lot of trial and error. I'M self-taught, like you know, I just think it's a gift that I've gotten from God like a lot of these um formulations. We have, for example, like even our oil like I'll take naps during the daytime and complete formulations will just come to me like I'll, just dream about certain things and I'll wake up and I'll make it and yeah that's how we got this one. This was a whole dream right here and um. This is like a bestseller for people who are balding alopecia all of that stuff, so hmm herbal Growth, Oil, okay. So what's the difference between the Intensive, so I mean we could start with the visual. You see that the herbal Growth Oil has herbs in it like when you shake it up and all those herbs we hand selected those herbs because they stimulate growth and they cause your um. You know your strands to grow. Intensive, scalp oil, it's a stronger! Well, you can't see the herbs in it. Super duper strong. We use this for like um, a lot of people who like are experiencing going through chemo alopecia balding. You know anywhere that you have like a bald spot. You'Ve been reading hold on hold on. I can rub that on my hairline, you that's why I write it for you David. Yes, no, no, shade anybody, but you can seriously like you can use it on your beard. You can use it on your um on your head. You know hold on hold on which one is the hairline, so it depends how aggressive you trying to go. You'Re trying to have. I haven't, had a hairline for a decade. Okay, I definitely recommend the Intensive, that's the strongest, so you mean to tell me if I rub this on my hairline: if your follicles Aren't Dead right, I don't think they're dead because well you probably need to go to dermatologist. But if I feel your head, it might be right here, dead, yeah, your um, your hairline is like receding, but the rest of this will definitely grow in well. I mean this is cool. I'M good up here. It'S just the fat is here it's here, so I want you to. I want you to start using it. Take a before and after picture - and let me know in about a month we'll take another one in about a month and we'll see if you had any um any progress, but this won't. This won't bring my hairline back if the follicles are dead. If the follicles are dead now nine times out of ten, when the follicles dies, because you've had like some kind of traumatic situation going on, maybe like extended high fevers or somebody like yanked, you know - maybe you had. You know cornrows back in the day and somebody yanked Yanks here on Roots out or something but nine times out of ten they're, just dormant they're not dead, so with stimulation and scalp massages and all of that stuff we can definitely see what happens so. Actually, I was thinking about, but you know the little graph joint. Don'T do it! No, why not try this first, my friend that it is I'm telling you I'm trying to save you a lot of a lot of trauma that you don't need. Try try this first. I mean you only need like a month or two just do it once in the morning. Okay, all right, so so I just take a little dab and you only want to put this in your problem area. So yes, and you just do like a nice, you know five minute massage morning, yeah or if you really want to get you know, if you really want to get into it, you can go to the bathroom and like put a washcloth under warm water and just Set that up there we want to get the blood flow going. We want to get your um, your follicles, you know active again. What about the beer? The beard is light work. I could already tell the beer is going to grow. What yes, the bear. Just like you putting that on too look, you go, have hair bud. You know like in certain parts of your beard. Oh that's lightwear yeah, that's light work. I could look at it and tell yes. I can get a full beer. You can get. You see Jonathan's beard, he was never patchy because, to be honest, I've been making this forever David. It'S not like this, isn't something that I just started doing like you know. Our business started, like you know three years ago, but to be honest, we've been making this for, like maybe what nine ten years now this is. This would be the fourth year of our business she's been making these products for 10 years and she's been making it for our daughters and in myself, everybody in the house, because Jonathan had a really bad eczema, so um, you know we have three children and he Was trying to tell me he couldn't watch bottles, he couldn't, you know, bathe the kids, he couldn't do anything involving water and I'm like. Well, that's not going to work. He had eczema. So bad, like you know, whenever he'd put his hand, underwater he'd break up between his fingers like under his ring and all of that stuff. So I made um our other body butter, which is our signature body. Butter made for people who have skin conditions and you could look at his hands and you could tell he hasn't - had a breakout in years, so my face isn't too shiny? Is it no you're dead, you're good you're good, keep using it, though for real. So I think what I'm having is eczema, what's this right here, those are liver spots, watches huh, they call them liver spots, liver spots. What is that um? It'S kind of like our vertiligo type situation, but not as bad. I don't think huh yeah yeah, but it's not as bad as um. It'S not as bad as that. You could um use a body butter on your hands like um, consistently. No, I'm seriously, you should see our testimonials like like they work work. You know when I know like we're not used to buying things that work, but they really really were you know um and they're super good and our customers love them. Your wife's gon na love, you David, that's why it's the luxury dessert right now, all right, so so your first concoction like what? What were you trying to accomplish when you first started? So I have two daughters. My daughters are 22 months apart and I had two little girls and they both have. I don't know if you're familiar with hair types, but they both have like Type 4 here which is like you know, of course, a coilia curls and types four one, two three four, you know: can you run through them? Real, quick, okay, so type one is like. Maybe Caucasian people with really bone straight hair right then you also within each hair type. It'S like type um. You have a b and c so that the a b and c determines the. How coily the strands are. Does that make sense, so there's type one there's type two um. That would be like maybe um Caucasian people that have like curlier type here right, not not bone straight right, then you have type three, which would be maybe I'd say. Maybe like some Hispanic people, you know they have a little like race. You got the curls yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, so he's three yeah. Is he black right or like her her? She has beautiful. Your hair is like amazing for real for real and then type four is like mine. Like tight. You know coily um curls, so my girls had my type of hair right. So um, I don't know you have a daughter, you're gon na experience this soon wash day for black women can be a very long and belaborous and in some cases they were arguing about it yesterday. So you already know right, so she doesn't want to take her hair. It'S just Embrace she's like I don't want to take it out, because I have to yeah in my mind and I'm like. I had praise boys, take it out you're watching no, but hers are different, it's different and then with little kids. You know it's hard to explain to them. They cry they expect it to be long and dry, not and traumatic. They don't want that. They want to go play, so I had these two daughters wash day they're crying, I'm crying he's holding the girls down over the sink. So I could, you know, get through the wash day process and I'm like this has got to get better because even before these girls are old enough to even recognize how beautiful they are they're already experiencing this trauma of wash day right. So it's off the break. It'S a negative connotation with their strands right that that's actually a deep point, because you don't know when kids are growing up like especially like black kids, and I don't know if you're in like a mixed school or whatever. But there's always this conversation. Oh yeah, oh yeah, right, that's! The whole thing almost starts from little like like little like your watch day. Experiences the way your your your mom or your grandmother or your auntie talks to you about your hair. Oh my God, you got all this hair. Oh, I can't you know your hair, your hair, your hair, nine times out of ten, it's not positive. I remember growing up and my mom telling me. Oh my God, your hair is so coarse. You know I never had long hair, but it was always very thick and rough, and that was just I hated my hair. You know, and it wasn't until I didn't embrace my natural hair until I was like well in my 30s. You know, and the only reason why I did was because I felt like such a hypocrite. I had these two daughters telling them how beautiful their curly claws were, and here I am with a floor lens weave right. So at some point I just felt like really hypocritical, and I remember I had some crochet braids in and I took those off for the last time. I'M like this is it after I take it out whatever is under there. I'M gon na have to deal with it. I'M gon na have to work with it. That'S what God gave me I'm gon na have to love it and find a way to deal with it and that's what I did you know, because I'm over here telling the girls you're beautiful, you're a black queen, you got nice hair and they never see my Hair well mommy. What does your hair look like? Mommy didn't even know what her hair looked like. I had never seen it. You know for my my earliest memories. I had a relaxer. You know prior to, like my mom telling me like. Oh, your hair was thick and you know my fingers would hurt comb in it. She put a relaxer in real, quick. She didn't have to deal with that. You know so. I had to relax at like 11 12., so you never got a chance to experience. I know and whatever it was my my um, my impression of it was it was terrible, so I didn't even want to see it. You know so we have to be very Mindful and it starts really young because I think black women in general we're just in the age where, for the first time in maybe history, we are forced in embracing our natural strands, all right! Listen every single week. Every episode you hear me talking about themorningmeetup.com, it's the community. Let me show you what's happening here. Every single morning, Monday, through Friday, there's 400 plus people on a zoom call right. We'Re learning we're talking we're growing together, and this is you, foreign people here. It'S all these people in the morning meet up hundreds of people reading books growing we get together quarterly, it's amazing and for some reason you just keep looking at just go to themorningmail.com and get in the circle and then you'll be like way happier just the morning. Meetup.Com, let's get back to the episode we had relaxers, we had Jerry curls, we do braids, we do wigs and it's like a whole. You know each era, we go through it's a different thing and I think we're finally in the space where we're taking that off. We'Re taking the Band-Aid off we're getting rid of the relaxers, we're getting rid of the um. You know extensions and the hot Combs and all of that stuff and we're now forced to look at this thing that you know God gave it to us. We can't change it right, you know, and we have to figure out, how do I? How do I deal with it? You know: how do I love these strands? How do I make it look good? How do I conform it to do what I wanted to do? I'M sorry, how long have you ever been married? We'Ve been married forever, it'll be 19 years in august 19 years, yeah, 19 years, and we've been together for 26 years. I was actually 18 when I met him. He was 19 and we've been rocking ever since. Okay, Jonathan, I need a honest answer. Yes, sir right, it's all honesty over here for real, so you you, you met her with the weave right. No, I had a shortcut when you met me, but it was relaxed. So you were how old were you man? 18.? I was 18 when I met him so for over a decade you don't know where hair likes looks like her. She don't know what her hair looks like. What was the transition in mindset or how did she change the person when she decided to go this other route that you say? Ah baby? Don'T you? No, you know what she was hesitant to um. She was hesitant to even I remember, to cut her hair. She was hesitant she was like man. I was like I've been going to my barber for like 20 years, like I know him from like high school right, so I was like nah. Let me just call my barber. Let him know my wife's gon na come through I'll, bring you over there. She was like yeah, I was short already and um. I was like just just embrace it man, I think uh as black men. We just we got ta like I'll, be honest with you. There'S a lot of black men who are with black women. They don't know what their hair look like. I mean I may start some trouble exactly. You may not know. You may not know right. She may not know right there. I don't want to start no trouble day, um and um, but it's very important because that's a huge part of confidence uh I mean she. We we get as a company, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of emails and DS. We got like thousands of testimonials DMs. Ask her beautiful black women they're, like I, don't like my hair on a daily basis, yeah. So our mission is it's not just a monetary Mission. Our mission is education. That'S why you see her going so deep into it. Our mission is to really educate people and get them to where they need to go. Let them be confident with their hair, because you know, if you don't feel good about your hair, you don't feel good about how you look, how you dress, how you gon na go out there in the world and project it. That'S true. You know and we're also raising a generation of black women. Black women are raising black women, so we got little daughters. Now, right, you got a daughter, I got two, they got two right, so I want my daughters to be confident enough. What is how they look? Their hair, all of that to go out there in the world to have to deal with all of everything that's going on in the world, for them to be confident. I don't want them to come back home and be like okay, I show the world. This is what I think confidence is, but now, when I'm in my own home, I'm really not confident. So what was your relationship with black women's hair before your wife went on this transformation or you just never thought about it? Like oh honey, yeah, I'm be honest with you, I'm probably speaking for and I can't speak for every black man, but I'm probably going to speak for every black man. We don't know it, we don't even address it. It doesn't. We don't think about it. So us we're like: oh, she got dressed up. She looked great. Oh, you got a new hair dude, oh you're, going to the hair salon. Okay, that looks good, that's it or we go with. I like your hair long or I like your head short. That'S just it do you have a preference at all um, not necessarily not necessarily unnecessarily, which means I mean, there's different things. No, I mean I see how different hairstyles and I'd be like. Oh that's, nice um. I like the hairstyle she got now. I bet foreign she's, like I'm doing, hair all the time. I'M running the business. This is my hairstyle, it's simple for me. I can go ahead and take care of my business. Our daughters got crazy, hair yeah. They got crazy like crazy, crazy here. So I mean by time you know when I first started on my journey um be natural. He actually helped me because I was so self-conscious, like I remember, taking that weave out of my hair and I had to go to work the next day and I stayed in my office the next day, because I just felt I didn't feel good about it right. The people that saw me were used to me having prior to that. I had like a weave right so when they saw me it took weeks they they didn't say I like it. They didn't say I didn't like it. They just looked at me like, oh okay. You know, and it wasn't like a good. Oh okay, you know what I mean and me already feeling insecure about it. I kind of just needed validation from somebody right and I remember was probably the second day I went to lunch and one of the guys that was an armed security guy. I was walking out the parking lot and he saw me come in and he said okay Queen, I see you I like it and that, even though my husband had told me that it looked nice and he liked it just hearing that from somebody else that gave Me the confidence that and as sad as that sound you know, I just wasn't confident with it and I mean I've been natural ever since sometimes I go low, sometimes I grow it out. I just do whatever I want to do with it. You know, but I mean I'm just always in a natural state and don't get me wrong. Our products work for people who have relaxers as well, and I have nothing um against people who choose to go that route. You know I mean everybody has a preference you're here, you wear it, how you want to wear it, you wear it, how you feel good. So you know our products are geared towards the natural girl, but we do have quite a few relaxed and um. You know. Color treated um people that use our um our products as well, so you know to each his own, I mean David. You may see me next week. I might have a relaxer, I mean you know I may feel like you know. I no longer want to be natural. I mean it's just a personal choice. Man had to be like, maybe eight ten years ago. Probably you ain't about to have it tomorrow, then not tomorrow, but I might feel good. No, no you're, not you already! You already went on the mission okay anyway, because I know the danger of it too, like the chemicals and stuff. I I know how that affects us, like you know our health and you know um black women, especially you know, wearing these weaves and these synthetic hairs and even human hair, like those things, are Laden with chemicals and toxins. You know - and this is where, like some of the Cancers and the endometriosis and the cyst and the infertility and all these things, that we experience as black women, this is where it comes from, so you know um, you know we just I'm just in a point In my life, where I just want to live a clean life and to me as much as I can possibly control everything that we use on our body from head to toe is going to be natural because I can make it you know so yeah you make You make your own soap too: oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, all right! So let me let me into the first like the first product. Are you saying yeah I'm about to take some of this mango oil and see if this works? What was the first? The first product I like to say it's the first product I perfected, because I feel like our hair butter is a perfect, perfect product. That'S right here, butter I didn't bring any today, but our hair butter is dope. Um, that's the first product I use on my daughters here where I saw a change within a few days. It looked more vibrant, their curls were coiling. It didn't like shrink up as much it just looked healthy like it. Even it's so good, like you can put it on your ends and it repairs like split ends. It repairs, um damage. You know you can use it like directly on your scalp. You can just use it on your strands. It'S an amazing product, and that was the first product now keep in mind David. I had been like going through this trial and error period. I didn't just land on it and made it the first time and it turned out perfect. Like you know, I had a bunch of different ones that I made, but this one in particular was really good and the thing that's good about it is: it has growth herbs in it. So it really grows your hair and makes your hair like thick and full. As well so that was the first first product I made my hairline more that one um wow, because you really just gave me a vision of a hairline. This is wow, I'm seriously like I'm telling you I'm telling you what did it happen? Give me the drama of the story like you're. Looking at your daughter's hair, saying you know what I think yo daddy, I might have a hairline. I wonder if canola oil work or whatever I don't know but like where did the idea start? You got to tell him about the mistake: social media posts. Okay, so this whole thing started with um. I told you about the depression and all of that I was trying to figure out. You know um what to do and all that so the top of 2019. I'M like all right um, I feel like I need to do something I went to him. I said babe. I think we need to have another kid right. I feel like I need to give birth to something he was like. A child is not it whatever. It is you need to give birth to. It is right exactly right. He was like. We have no more space in this house for anybody else. You know so no, that is not it. That'S off the table, so I'm like all right, so I started um looking at like um mentorship programs and, like you know, um things I could use to like grow my mindset or whatever and I ran into Neo back in like 2019, when Neo's program was a Thousand dollars, so you know this is back in the day right for sure for sure right, so you started this company in 18 now 2019. 2019.. So I was depressed in 18. This started the top of 19. signed up for um news program and you know Neil. We on a call that night right and everybody else in the group had a business. They had an established LLC. I didn't have anything because I was just kind of fishing for ideas and he's going around the room and he's like helping people troubleshoot their business and you know whatever and he gets to me and he was like. Oh so. What is your business? And I'm like? Well, I don't really have a business and he was like. Oh okay, he was like well, what do you have in your house that you could um make and like used to make some money or whatever I'm like? Well, I don't really have anything he was like. Well, like you know, what are you like doing your spare time and stuff and I'm like? Well, you know I have like shea butter and black soap like I make products for my husband and for my kids, he was like. Oh, you made natural products and I'm like yeah. I make it um for my family and he was like. Oh, you know my girl and my um, my daughter in natural, make some products and send them to me and he's like start giving your product away just make it and give it to people and I'm like all right. So I kind of thought a little bit because I was like scared, but anyway I did it and I sent it to him and he hit me up. He was like yo. These products are really good. He was like you know, my wife loves it. My daughter loves it. He was like. I really think you have something you should look into doing this, so I was like all right so as part of the mentorship program like they taught us how to like um, because I wasn't really big into social media. At that time they taught us how to connect our Instagram and our Facebook together. So when you post on one platform, you know it would publish on the other, so I thought I was posting on my Instagram, because my Instagram followers were people. I really didn't know too well, I'm like I don't care about them too much. My Facebook followers were like my friends that went to school with some family or whatever, and I didn't want them to know. I was having this. You know transition in my life. You know so, I'm you know it's kind of like maybe not embarrassed, but I don't know I didn't want them to know. So I went ahead and posted it on what I thought was Instagram and it posted on both platforms and I started. It was a video of me, whipping um, the um hair butter and they were like Jill. What are you making? Is that cake you making muffins like what are you making because it looked like it? Looked like cake mix right it looked like muffin mix. I was like, oh my God I was like um know. This is like hair butter. They'Re like hair butter. Is that what you've been using on the girls hair, like we've, been asking you all this time like how your girl's hair look like that, and you keep telling us like? I just I'll just tell them. I use shea butter right. I didn't really tell them. I was putting other stuff in it. I honestly didn't think, and it's not because I was trying to be Shady David. I honestly didn't think anybody wanted it. I thought, like anybody, could do this, like you know, so they were like we want it. How much is it like? It is not even for sale. What do you mean? How much is it this is just for me and the kids and the husband I'm not selling this. They were like we want it. Can you sell it? I'M, like? I don't have a price. What do I sell it for so I was just making up stuff. I was like okay. This look like ten dollars right here. Just look like five, you know, that's how I was doing it and my first order. We had eight orders. My friends, they got it, they used it. They was like, oh, my God, this stuff is so good. They started telling their mom, so our first set of customers were like my friends from Facebook and their mothers, and then the mother started selling their Church Sisters and then it was like. Oh my friend's going through chemo. You got anything for that and I tell them like this oil and that's kind of just how it started and before we knew it it just like. We didn't even have a website David. I did. I had uh, you know the note section of your phone. I was typing like hair butter, ten dollars shampoo 15 this and I would do a screenshot and DM it to people that was your menu. That was it that was it like. I didn't have a website I didn't have, because this wasn't supposed to be a thing. It really wasn't. It was just something that I did at home and, like I said God tricked me because that that's the only way that I would have done it. Otherwise, I'm not that person. Honestly, I'm really to my core, I'm like introverted, I'm very shy. I'M not that person so yeah, that's for one! That'S that's really inspirational to a lot of entrepreneurs because they think they got to have everything perfect. You know like yo, I'm just doing what I do yeah, but to my question: absolutely not okay, sir. How do you, how did you start like how did like what is the first concoction that oh, you tried on your girl's hair and did you try something and try something else and I went to the very beginning, so I started doing the research because I was Just sick and tired of spending my money on products that didn't work, so I I realized that shea butter was a good base, it was inexpensive and it worked so I started with um shea butter and then you know we started adding like other oils to it, And I'm all about the natural products, so so where'd you get the shea butter. Was it home? No, it was not Farmers, my mind yeah. No, we got to get you. We got to get you out of the we got to upgrade you guys. We need to upgrade you guys for real for real, so um. You know I was all about. I realized that ingredients mattered and all ingredients are not created equally right, so I didn't have a lot of money at the time, so I would go to like Amazon and like eBay and I try to find like cold press virgin, um olive oil and I'd buy. Like one pound, it's so funny, because I started out buying like one pound of shea butter and like now we're buying like 500 pounds. You know it's like so crazy, but I would and that one pound would last me forever, because I was just making it for us right. So you start with shea butter as the base. Then you add your oils to it, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, of course, if you're making something for skin, you want to use different oils than you use for hair, not everything that works for skin. You know, for example, coconut oil. A lot of people, especially a lot of people in the natural world. They swear by um coconut oil, unrefined coconut oil. It'S not about coconut oil. Okay, listen, coconut oil is amazing for your skin, but your skin is good, but do not let your wife use it on your daughter's hair because some people it Max up their hair. It makes your it acts as a protein right and it match up your hair. It makes your hair really Tangled when you comb it out, you're getting a lot of shedding and breaking and that's just free game for everybody out there and I'm gon na. I just helped the whole demographic of people. Okay, stop using coconut oil. You got ta go to the website. You got ta go to the website. Do you use coconut oil on your hair, yeah yeah? No, I know you're hearing your skin or your skin. Yes, honestly, yes, okay, your hair, okay, real quick! That'S all that you're here! Yeah! No, it's hold on. You have to go to a mic or something because they're not yeah it'll, be like a dance go to where Joe is real, quick um. My first experience with hair, like I guess, understanding that black women there's an issue here was India. I restart I'm not my. I never even thought about it before huh. What your hair looks like you know what your real hair looks like. Okay, so she said until she was like 30.. She never knew what a real hair looks like because she always use chemicals or I had relaxers or yeah. I always had um relaxers, and I mean it's just it just and, and I mean if, if you get nothing else from this episode, I want women, especially mothers, to get the fact that we have to be very mindful about how we talk to our daughters about Their hair, in order for us to experience real change in order for us to claim to be the the queens that we are and self-love and all of that stuff, a woman's crown is one of the most it's important it's important and if you grow up feeling Like you, don't like your hair, if you grow up with a negative stigma behind your hair, it's going to be a problem that you're going to take and you're going to pass that on to your own children. So we need to break that here. We need to break that now, and I mean I want mothers, aunties grandmothers, everybody who you know taking care of these babies here to just talk, positive and just let them know like how beautiful their strands are and and just talk to them around that you know Positive affirmations, because it's really it's really it's really a big deal. You can ask any black woman out there they'll tell you, but seriously it was not a positive conversation. Last night, my daughter's like I want to take my hair out. Yes, absolutely not not today, because I ain't got the times exactly. You know you got to take it out and she's like I got, ta watch it and then you know in court. I I'm probably gon na get in trouble so Corey she was like um yo. Just teach me how to wash it and she's like oh, my gosh, you ever heard about wash day a whole day to wash your hair if you're lucky. That'S for you! That'S for you. Okay, James, want to say something. Listen! If I was going to teach you how to make a million dollars, would you give me ten thousand like if I had a course teach you how to make a million dollars a year positive, you're gon na make a million dollars? Would you give me ten thousand? Of course you would it's no brainer right, so in a calendar year we make seven figures with the podcast, but there's 21 things that I extracted from that that you're going to need to launch a podcast. But I only got time to give you three right now. One is you need a distribution platform. The distribution platform is what you upload your podcast to that platform sends it to Spotify Apple Google play so it's your supporters can actually listen to your podcast you're. Also going to need a microphone, you need a really good microphone, so it's crispy audio and three. You need an income strategy. This is not necessarily a hobby unless you're gon na make a hobby, but I can teach you how I made the seven figures. With these 21 things now, the good news is, you don't have to give me ten thousand. My ebook is only 37 bucks. Okay, so listen go to podcast ebook.com and get the 21 things that you need, and I can explain it in detail all the things that you need: okay, podcast ebook.com. Let'S get to the episode, I wanted to say what you're saying is so helpful, because in my on my dad's side of the family um, I'm the only person with Type 4 hair, and so everybody else is like mixed. So it's always been like a joke. Like my dad will point it out like even it was one time at the dinner table with my little cousins, they were like, probably seven and ten, and they were like, isn't Jada the only person in the family with uh that type of hair or he'll say You got inward hair, all the time and he'll be like, isn't it the other way? Yeah like that's, always not thinking that it creates trauma, but now those conversations yeah. It really really does like. When I went natural um, I think in Middle School. My parents say you got them in that exactly exactly but uh. When I went natural I think I was in Middle School, but I did like a transition for like a year or so so I grew out all the perm and then after that I was not natural and I always had a lot of hair. So it was like it was acceptable that I had natural hair, even though it was like so thick and coarse said it was long. It was long, but then uh last year or two years ago, this girl burned all my hair out and I had to cut it all off and so it's like hold on I'm sorry. Can you explain that um yeah explain that what did she burn it with? Like um, she had saw a picture of how someone straightened my hair, and so then she was trying to be like him, and then she straightened my hair to the point to where it was fried. It was no more curls or nothing yeah, and so I was so hurt because I had got attached to my hair because it was like. Oh everyone left my hair, even though it was so like like type four and coarse. It'S like, oh, but she has big hair. She has long hair. So then, once I had to cut it off real, quick, real quick, can you explain the birth? So when you burn your hair, it's like you change the structure of your hair. So when you go back so you, you probably did like some kind of blow out of silk press or something right, usually when you add water back to it, verts back to your curls, when you burn your hair, when you change the structure of the Strand, it Can'T coil back it's just like you have some parts that will curl and some parts that are straight, so the only alternative you have is to cut it off and start over. You know and that's why heat is like that's another thing heat for black women's hair. We have to be so so very careful when adding heat to our hair. You know make sure that you're using like a good heat protectant, because that that's what happens you break it off it. You know, and I mean it changes the structure. You can't call anymore yeah, I didn't know this was such oh, it's a whole thing David, like it's real, it's a whole thing and it really affects our self-esteem. Honestly, I was going to say so now, like I don't even wear my real hair unless like well. Actually, I don't wear it at all anymore, like because I've in my head, it's like I'm only going to wear my real hair once it gets back to that same length, and it's been about a year and it's grown like a nice amount like it's in my Collarbone like here now, but my hair was way longer than that. So in my head, it's like. I don't want to show my real hair until it's long because it's like in my head that doesn't feel acceptable. You see what it is. Oh, your crown! That'S a huge part of it right: yeah, community and education, so we've built like a whole Community Based on the company and education um. It'S so crazy, she'll tell people, people will message her and if you're not confident with the information we're giving you we'll, let you know we don't have to even buy with us right now, because we're not trying to get most people are trying to get a one-time Sale our goal is to get lifetime customers. That'S the reason why you wear Air Jordans you've bought that same pair of Jordans, probably four different times: four different colorways, how many black and uh white, black and red Jordans. You got a bunch exactly because you're a lifetime customer. Why would I want you to buy from me one time and never come back? You know when you started out. I thought you was about to attack my blackness shoes, so we love the whole black thing. Okay, anyway, all right, so so you you're you're, mixing these these concoctions and you're just using them on your family for years yeah I mean I didn't feel confident enough to. I didn't knew anybody wanted them David, like I didn't know like. I didn't it's so funny, because now people fall in love with this company even more. Oh, thank you, but seriously like if I had known man do you know how rich I could have been a lot sooner yeah. So I just honestly thought: like everybody has access to shea butter, everybody can go research, oils and Butters and herbs. Why is this special, like you know so, and I was just so committed yo leave it come on. I'M trying I'm working on something yeah really uh. Come on it's my self-esteem, okay yeah! I was just so um committed to like my regular job. You know working a job and just taking care of the kids that you know it was nothing for me, so yeah all right, so it becomes a business. It becomes a business first off. What are y'all doing. Did I do this full-time right now now we do initially. I work my regular job for two years. While we were doing this, so I just left my job like what a year and a half almost two years ago, almost two years ago, and I'm about to retire, I'm I'm done you're still working yeah. Where are you working? I work. I work for the government. Yeah yeah, like the highest level of the government, a highest level yeah for the man yeah. What'S the bad, I don't even know all right. So what like? What was the uh the transition of leaving your job? When did it not make sense anymore, or did you set a goal or how's that process we could? I could have left a long time ago honestly, because I was working. We had made six figure, seven figures. I was still working my job yeah, because, okay, so a couple of reasons why seven figures will still work, I was I was going to work like. I have a penny, my account and nobody knew I am Jamaican. I am sure, y'all at work, though yeah. I am Jamaican so um I couldn't leave because we had outgrown, we lived in a two-bedroom townhouse and I'm sorry. Where were you working? What were you doing? Um I was uh. I was a counseling and professor at a community college. What make it? How much six figures? What um they paid that much yeah! You make a lot all right, so you're, making six figures there, which is even harder to leave. I worked at the Cheesecake Factory, making 30 000. It made no sense, I'm like all right, but I'm glad I was only making 30, because if I was making six figures, I'd probably stay yeah, you know. After a while it didn't make sense the money didn't make okay. So let me tell you why I leave before I didn't leave because we were living in like this two-bedroom townhouse right. We have boxes everywhere, I'm talking about. If you did not live in our house, you probably couldn't get in and out, because we knew the path because we lived there. So we were running a million dollar business in this tiny. You know, yeah we were living there. We had our children there. We had our business there and we were trying to leave covet happen and then we couldn't leave, because I couldn't leave my job because in order to leave my job, I needed to have two years worth of tax returns filed under a business we had. We didn't have two years yet so I had to keep my job until we were able to purchase our new home and then like two weeks after we closed that quit right, but um yeah. So that's why um that's why I stayed so long and I also stayed so long because this whole thing happened like so suddenly I almost thought it was a joke like I was just waiting for somebody to come and like be like psych. You know. So it's like, I really wanted to make sure you know before. Like I put myself on payroll, I wanted to make sure that you know David. I was broke for a long time, even though I was making six figures like we had a lot of bills. We had a, we had three kids in daycare. We had car payments, we have mortgages exactly exactly. We don't necessarily get a lot of education on managing so like. Even if we make six figures, we just spend more exactly you're, making six figures, but you got debt from like 15 years ago, just carrying it think about that. You carrying that from 16 years ago or 17 years ago and then Child Care think about how much you think people go to work every day, just to pay for daycare. That'S what we were doing exactly you know what I mean you know we didn't. We didn't touch none of our money from our business for the first two years and that's another thing. I tell entrepreneurs, don't start making a little bit of money and start dipping into it like like. We got there's three people in our relationship. It'S hers me and it's sunny Sonny's our business. That'S the third person in our relationship. We don't play with Sonny's money, you're running a business you're, not this isn't for play. This isn't a game that business needs to stand on its own, and I see a lot of people like yeah. I'M gon na do this with my business. I'M gon na spend all my money with my business you're, not running a non-profit you're here to make profit. Because what happens when you need to go? Get that real money. They want to see your numbers and if you make him x amount of dollars, but you're spending all your money. Why would I now be an investor in your business right? Absolutely, so all of that is kind of like level up get enough money in your business. Account I don't care if you got to eat sardines for the longest before you decide what you're going to do. In fact, you can take that money and put it back into your business, so you go to the next level and when you're ready to stop your job, are you ready to transition? Like me, then you're kind of like in a better situation, and you know the um. Obviously it's a transition. Let me ask you: when did you realize you were successful? I think it was for me. I don't know about you for me, it was when um. I have a friend she's, my um, kids dentist. We go to go to dinner like every once in a while, and she buys products from us and we went to dinner one day and she was like Jill. Can I ask you something and I'm like yeah? She was like um how much money y'all making and I was like dinner yeah. I mean yeah no, but I'm so happy for her, because she's helped me shout out to Dr D she's helped me like so so much because she's been in business for a lot longer, you know, has a successful dentist practice and I'm just now fiddling my way Along right, so she was like how much money y'all make and I'm like gee. This month we made like 20 grand. She was like y'all made 20 grand this month. She was like, do you have an accountant and I'm like? No, I don't need one. She was like you need one. She was like go talk to this guy. You know here's the number to my account and go talk to him and he'll help you, you know to get your business straight, get your money straight and everything because she probably knows.