As more black women embraced their natural hair, Kean Dey began posting pictures of her afro hairstyles on her social media page. Friends reached out to her, and her responses ultimately resulted in her new business, Naturalista.GY.
Dey offers what she calls Kinky Curly Crowns in the textures of black women’s hair, ranging from 4A to 4C. They are curled, frizzed and coiled and are not by any means average wigs.
What sets Naturalista apart from other local businesses is that its wigs give more of a natural look imitating black women’s natural hair texture. Dey noted that women using straight hair wigs have to glue down the lace that gives the wig its natural hairline and could do damage to their own hair line when trying to remove it. With Kinky Curly Crowns, there is no need for glue.
The business was first established in mid-April, but Dey began making them for herself a year ago. She explained that for a long time she had her hair straightened, but from time to time she wanted a natural look and would buy herself kinky wigs. The more she wore them, the more she wanted to grow and wear her hair natural. She subsequently cut her hair and has since been flaunting her natural hair as well as her kinky curly crowns.
“After I did the big chop, I wanted to keep wearing the kinky hair so I would buy synthetic kinky hair…,” she said. “I would look for certain qualities like how long it will last, how easy it was to handle, how comfortable it was, and how natural it looked. I usually have persons asking whether it was my real hair. Eventually I found a kinky hair that matched my texture exactly. My hair texture is 4C. It lasted long
and remained soft. I decided to make it into a wig on a random day while being [guided] by a YouTube tutorial. I had no intention of starting a business. My friend who saw it and was very impressed with how natural it looked. My friend posted it on her Facebook status, and I posted it on my status and people were interested and they began messaging both me and her.”
It was more than she had bargained for. She was not planning on making her hair crowns for anyone else, but people began reaching out. She had five orders that week. Every week since Dey ventured into business, she has been making about four wigs on order.
Though the reviews were great, after the first five orders, Dey took the initiative to reach out to her customers to ask what they thought she could improve on. They were all satisfied with her work.
Naturalista wigs are versatile and can be worn in different styles including with a head wrap, bangs or side parts.
Dey, who last year completed her bachelor’s degree in International Relations at the University of Guyana on a scholarship, has to fulfil her obligation of working with the government for a number of years. However, she has been told that there are no vacant positions at the moment. Her business comes at a time when she is looking to be constructively engaged and earn an income.
“I never saw myself becoming an entrepreneur. I always told my friends that I could never see myself owning my own business because I never knew what I could actually do for a business that could be unique and in demand at the same time. During the pandemic, I noticed a lot of people starting their own businesses or trying different things and I was thinking, maybe I could try something since I needed an income, but nothing ever appealed to me enough for me to decide to run with it as a new business venture and then this happened,” shared Dey.
One of her most challenging wigs was with coloured hair as requested by a customer. The texture of the coloured hair did not match that of the kinky hair, and after crocheting the coloured hair into the wig cap, the difference in the two textures could be seen. She eventually had to undo all her work, manipulate the coloured hair to look like the texture she wanted, then redo it. Overall, the entire process took more than eight hours while an average kinky curly crown takes only two or three hours to complete.
Dey is now hoping that Naturalista can expand to providing ponytails in two or three textures which she pointed out is big on the market. She is working on honing this skill. For the wigs, she gets all of her materials locally, but for making ponytails, there are some things she will need to import.
Aside from expanding to ponytails, Dey is looking to make natural hair products down the road. Already, she has been making products for herself and will be having her friends try them, before taking them to the market. She is also trying to fashion kinky curly crown wedding hairstyles. Naturalista offers a delivery service to customers living in Central Georgetown.
The business can be followed or contacted at Naturalista.GY on Facebook or 691-2836.
