My name is Angela, the girl boss founder of Strand and this is my story…

One afternoon, my best friend called and asked me if I had any hair relaxer that she had forgotten on wash day. She said the local supermarket didn’t have any and ordering online would mean a delivery in a few days, but she had plans to go out.

It was at this point that reality hit me – why is it so hard for us as black women to find products suitable for our hair type? The nearest hair shop to me and my friend (who is also my neighbour), is 20 minutes away. Meanwhile, on the way there, we would pass supermarkets and high street retailers that stock large ranges of hair care – but not suited to us. The alternative, order online and hope for a next day delivery, if not wait up to 5 days – a wash day nightmare!

The Event of Wash Day

Wash day for me and for most women is so much more than just shampoo and conditioner. From ensuring you have enough product since your last wash day, to needing to purchase additional products to try something new.

Personally, the process of actually washing my hair could easily take 4-8 hours on a good day as it involves multiple products for pre-wash and post-wash styling. This means all social activity for the day is out of the window.

And then there’s the money spent. Did you know 1% of Black British women buy haircare products at supermarkets but spend up to 6 times more on hair products than European women? [Source: TreasureTress]. The amount of money I spend on hair care products is unspeakable, but it’s also very essential. As someone who likes to experiment depending on my hair goal, the amount of money spent is not something I see changing!

In an ideal world, I would love to wake up in the morning and be able to choose to wash my hair on the same day. But quite often I’ve run out of products and forgotten to replace them which means making the trip to the black hair shop or waiting for a delivery.

With this in mind, if you knew you could get your hair products when and where you need them, wouldn’t it be nice to not have to plan when to wash your hair?