March 19, 2024

Meet the 25-year-old transforming the wig market for black women

Then my lightbulb moment came in October 2018 when I was on holiday in Las Vegas and lying by the pool.

It was over 40 degrees and I was wearing a big curly wig secured by a velvet band – which is what the ancient Egyptians used to secure their wigs, which should tell you everything really! – and I was absolutely sweating. It was itchy, hot, and totally uncomfortable. I thought, ‘I know I can develop something better. ’

I’d interned at a tech start-up after uni which taught me all about finding the ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP) – basically, what is the easiest, smallest way I can make the biggest difference to wig-wearers right now?

I spoke to friends, family and tons of people from online forums like Reddit, and realised that it wasn’t about inventing a whole new type of wig; it was about making something different to secure the wig.

If you’re a black woman wearing a wig, your options to secure it include: men’s spiking gel– the harshest, strongest type of glue that is not made for continuous wear directly on the scalp; double-sided tape which is super-sticky, messy and painful; wig combs that dig in your hair, leave dents in your scalp and contribute to traction alopecia; and the archaic velvet wig bands which are unbreathable and uncomfortable.

Growing up with psoriasis, I was used to wearing wigs all the time. The condition would affect my scalp and I’d often wake up with big clumps of hair on my pillow, and that was just normal for me. I experimented with different styles over the years and quickly became fascinated by the wig industry, even writing my uni dissertation on it. I researched the economics and history of wigs, from its globalisation to manufacturing and ethical standards, and I soon realised that there had been very little innovation in the wig market since around the 1920s. No one in the industry was thinking differently.

We’d all just learnt to survive and adapt because no one wanted to talk about it. If you are a black woman wearing a wig, there can be a lot of judgement against you for not embracing your natural hair and for conforming to Eurocentric standards of beauty. The natural hair movement, which encourages black men and women to embrace their afro hair, is an incredible thing, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that many women still feel judged if they want to wear a wig.

When a black woman wears a wig, it isn’t about covering up or hiding her identity; it’s about ease, flexibility and versatility

It’s certainly starting to change though. More people are realising that when a black woman wears a wig, it isn’t about covering up or hiding her identity; it’s about ease, flexibility and versatility. And we are the people running the industry. Black women are the cultural innovators of wigs, making up 60% of the market, and we have been at the forefront of new techniques for the last seven decades. I knew I wanted to be part of that.

So I started experimenting with different materials and researching techniques, and ended up seeing the best results with silicone; a band used to grip the wig and keep it securely in place without slipping, and crucially, while protecting your scalp and promoting natural hair growth underneath. Using money I had saved up from an earlier business venture, I secured the product sampling, the preliminary legal fees, and trademarked The Wig Fix under my brand The Renatural.

Then, after approaching 273 different investors to help with costs like patenting, stock orders, the website and so on, it was actually my mentor from the tech start-up that ended up investing £20,000 to help me get The Renatural and The Wig Fix off the ground. She really believed in me and my vision to make wigs more safe and accessible for black women.

Since officially launching in May 2019, The Wig Fix has sold over 40,000 units globally and has become a hit with celebrities including Kehlani, Kahh Spence, Tokyo Stylez (Kylie Jenner’s hairstylist) and Patricia Bright.

I wanted to create something for women like me and women in my community. I wanted to give them the freedom to embrace the versatility of wigs safely and comfortably, andto create a safe space for black women to choose what they want to do with their hair, without stigma or judgement.

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