00:00Hello everyone and welcome to Shop Essence Live. We have a very, very special, special
00:06show for you guys today. It is jam-packed. First of all, if you are a curl friend, that
00:12means a part of the curly community, we are going to be joined by Alafia that's going
00:17to tell us all about their curly girl products. And then also, if you're wondering about the
00:22lip that I'm wearing, a little bit later in about 15 minutes, we are going to talk to
00:27two of the most successful New Voices family companies. I'm talking about the collaboration
00:33between slutty vegan Pinky Cole and the lip bar Melissa Butler. Now, something really special
00:41coming up. This collection, the Nasty Girl collection, is actually sold out, but we're hooking you
00:46up today on Shop Essence Live. They have made a batch available just for you, so you got
00:50to make sure you continue to watch and you'll be able to purchase that today. I am so excited.
00:56First, we're going to get into these curls. We are looking for a Mimi Edwards of Alafia.
01:02So Mimi, I'm about to. Now, let's get into these products. And let me pin this comment
01:09right here. Once again, you have joined Shop Essence Live. We're talking curls up first.
01:14Mimi, how are you?
01:16How are you?
01:17I'm amazing. First of all, loving the Bantu knots. You were like, I'm not going to have my
01:21curls tomorrow, but I love this. I absolutely love this. I would love for you guys, just
01:28introduce yourself and what you do for Alafia before we get into it.
01:33My name is Mimi Edwards, and I am the marketing director. So for everything hair care, yes.
01:39I love it. So let's get into the products. And I'd love for you to talk a little bit. This
01:44is special, right? You guys just launched an extra leg in the Alafia family. Tell us about
01:51that, how you guys thought of doing that, and then we'll get into the products.
01:55Sure. So we have textured hair collection. We felt that textured hair was a market that
02:02really, really needed just a little bit more. We have collection within a collection, which
02:08we'll go into a little bit detail. But we essentially have products for every type and texture of hair
02:13from two to four. So that's our newest collection, and we're really excited about it.
02:19I love that. And, you know, just for the curly girl novices out there, when you say two to four,
02:24can you explain that a little bit? Like some people are walking around having no idea what
02:29hair type. I was one of them a few years ago. So can you explain that?
02:33Sure. So type two is essentially like wavy hair. Type three is more curly hair. And type four
02:41hair is more coily hair. And every type of hair requires something different.
02:46I love that. So what do you have up first for us?
02:50Sure. So right now, our first product is our detangler spray. Can you see it? I'm sorry.
02:56I absolutely can.
02:58Yes.
02:58Shout out to everybody watching on the replay and right now, detangling spray.
03:03Yep. This is our coil scope detangling spray for the type four consumer. And to take the complexity
03:10out of figuring out what products for you, we put the moisture levels. I don't know if you can see
03:15directly on the bottle. So there's four drops. So, you know, this is for you. We know that the type
03:20four consumer has a tighter curl pattern. So we wanted to help with the ease of detangling. So this
03:25is a detangling spray that you can use. We have higher ingredients in here because we know this
03:31consumer requires more moisture. And anyone can use it. Just because it's for type four does not
03:36mean only type four consumers can use it. So I use it as a refresher spray. You know,
03:41anyone can use it. Smells amazing. Feels great. And again, this is for the type four consumer or
03:47anyone who's just looking for a great detangler. I love that. And you notice how she says refresher
03:54spray, right? Especially if you're a curly girl, you know, we're not trying to deal with a wash day
03:59every single day. So that's a really great tool to redefine your curls. I absolutely love
04:05that. So guys, I'm flying up the comp. I'm flying up the products as we go. You can go
04:10to the full Alafia store to get all of these products, but make sure you are shopping with
04:14us. I want to remind everyone when you buy on Shop Essence Live, you are buying directly
04:19with these Black-owned businesses. I'm not getting nothing. Essence is not getting nothing.
04:23But we're getting the opportunity to expand our community with this generational wealth. So I
04:30absolutely love it. What else do you have for us?
04:32Sure. We have our enhanced collection. So our enhanced collection is geared for the type two
04:38consumer. But again, anyone can use it. We know this consumer shampoos his or her hair more
04:43frequently. And they really are looking for lightweight oils, products to control frizz. And who does not
04:48love a great leave-in? Leave-in is like the go-to for curly hair. So this product has actually won
04:56awards for one of the best-selling leave-in. If you notice, again, I'm so glad I got my nails done
05:01for this. But it has two moisture levels on here. So again, there's no confusion at shelf. You know
05:07exactly what product is for your specific type and texture of hair. So this leave-in, again, you can use
05:13it as a leave-in, which is usually the third step in hair care. And, or you can use it as a styler.
05:20I absolutely love that. I do want to remind everyone, we have some experts here, right? So
05:26make sure if you have any questions at all about how to take care of your coils, your curls. Oh,
05:34wait. Okay. So we got one question coming in. Do you have hair oil?
05:37We do. The next collection or the next product I am going to showcase is our Define collection. We
05:45have a hydrating oil, very lightweight and it's two ounces. So of course you can put it in your
05:50travel bag. I do it all the time. Really, really great. I actually used the hydrating oil today. I
05:55didn't bring it with me, but it's in my hair today. Yes.
05:58Wow. I love that. Okay. So Blush Boxes wants to know, how do you find out your hair type? I think
06:05that's a great question. Sure. There's usually charts that you can do. You can look up or a
06:12professional stylist would know immediately while you're typing texture and hair. But just to be
06:18clear, even if you are a type two, a type three or whatever, you could still have multiple textures.
06:24So I'm a type three, but there are type four strands that I do have that require a little
06:30bit more moisture. So you could definitely be more than one type and texture of hair.
06:36I love that. So we got another, the questions are, I'm telling you, the curly girl community,
06:41we got questions. So Blush Boxes wants to know, what type of hair do I have if water sits on my hair?
06:49Who wants to know? I'm guessing that is like a low porosity. I just learned this word a few years
06:56ago. But if water does not absorb in your hair, I feel like that would be a 4C.
07:04Yes. So that means, you know, depending on your porosity too, that also determines your hair type
07:09of texture. You know, you either need more moisture because your hair doesn't absorb enough or you don't
07:14need as much, you need a lighter product. So it just really depends. But testing your porosity too,
07:19I would highly recommend a professional stylist because again, we know in the curly community,
07:23no one wants to spend money on products that they cannot use. And we know there's a lot of
07:27products out there. So we definitely don't want you to be confused at shelf on which product is
07:32specifically geared for your type and texture of hair. Oh, I love that. And I, you know what,
07:37I love how you are suggesting to use our stylist kind of as a consult, right? Usually we're going
07:44somewhere, we want to get our hair done. That's when we're going to the stylist. But if you really want
07:48to learn more about your hair, it's going to a professional and asking them questions,
07:54right? Asking them, what type of hair do you have? Asking, you know, how often should you wash your
07:59hair and making sure that we're able to maintain and care for our hair. We have a question about,
08:06do you have products that are safe for dyed hair?
08:09Oh, we do. Now, again, don't be shocked. This is not my natural hair color.
08:15What?
08:16Who knew, right?
08:18So I color my hair.
08:19It's blind though.
08:20When I say all the time, I'm surprised I still have hair. Honestly, stylists are actually surprised
08:26because I do it myself, which I'm sure I missed a lot of spots. But yes, we do have products,
08:31not specifically for colored hair, but the next product I'm going to mention is definitely for
08:36colored hair. And again, even with color, you do need moisture. So adding products like a leave-in
08:42or like a hair butter, you know, something that's a little bit heavier would definitely help with that.
08:47I love that hair butter. I believe you have another product for us. Do you want to get into that?
08:52That's true. So this is our defined collection or our type three collection. So this is the same
08:58collection, as I mentioned, that has a hydrating oil. This consumer, such as myself, I will color my hair
09:04one day, put braids in it the next. You know, I do anything and everything to my hair. So who
09:10doesn't need a great mask? So this mask was actually used today on my hair. It is phenomenal. I
09:16immediately notice a difference. My hair is softer, has a little bit more shine. Once I rinse it out,
09:22very lightweight. It's not going to weigh your hair down by any means. So this is really good for those with color
09:28and for those who, again, like me, like to do anything and everything to their hair. So perfect.
09:34Absolutely incredible. We love a deep mask. There's a lot of quick, where do I get this? Where do I get
09:41this? You are shopping with us right now. Okay, so you can put these products in your cart. I'm seeing
09:47the notification going up. I love to see it. So make sure that you guys are going to the store.
09:53You can see the full array of the Alafia products that are available, but you can also shop right here
09:58in this stream. So make sure that you're picking it up. If you are interested, you're buying directly
10:04from these small black owned businesses. Mimi, so we do have a lot of entrepreneurs that watch these
10:11shop essence live shows, along with the consumers and you being in your position head of marketing.
10:19Is there any advice that you would give to people if they have their own businesses and they want to
10:24make them stand out in the market? Yeah. Do your research, learn your audience, but more
10:29importantly, like invest in yourself. You know, they always say, you know, your biggest supporter
10:35is yourself. Invest in yourself. You know, if you have to do your research, talk to other people who
10:42have been in this position before, like there's nothing wrong with asking for help. You know, it's
10:48unbelievable the amount of support you would get from people who have been where you're at and who
10:52don't want you to, um, you know, forget where you came from. You know, our owner, you know, um,
10:59Oteev is what we call him. His name is Alwanjo T'Challa. He started from humble beginning. So
11:04you definitely, definitely, um, ask for help for sure. Yeah. That's what I would definitely recommend.
11:10I absolutely love, love that. And Alafia is a part of our new voices family. That's our partner here
11:18with Shop Essence Live. Uh, what has it been like for you guys to be a part of such an amazing
11:23community? You know, it's been amazing to have such a support system of, um, people who, you know,
11:32come from, again, same thing, humble beginnings. We're all here to collectively to support one
11:36other. It's been phenomenal. You know, having a sense of community is, is what is needed,
11:41especially during times like this. So it's been amazing. I absolutely love that. So I want to
11:48remind everyone, this is not an unreachable thing, right? I've had people in the comments one week,
11:54like, how can I be on this? We tell them they follow the steps and then I'm talking to them
11:58weeks later. So we have the new voices family in the comments right now, letting you know how you can
12:03join the new voices family and have potential to be on a future episode of Shop Essence Live with your
12:10business. Um, Mimi, you have been so amazing. Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your
12:16incredible tips. Make sure you guys click on these products, right? Click on these products and buy.
12:22If you're watching on the replay, you can still shop and buy. We have Melissa Butler and Pinky Cole
12:29coming up next. Slutty Vegan. It is sold out, this collaboration, but right here on Shop Essence Live,
12:35we're offering you the opportunity to buy. So I'm going to end this stream and I'll come right back in a few
12:41minutes. Don't go anywhere. Thank you so much, Mimi. Thank you. All right. Excited to see how you guys
12:48continue to expand and grow. Um, and can't wait, can't wait to try more of these amazing products.
12:55Thank you. Absolutely. Thanks. Bye-bye.
12:58Bye-bye.
