To answer the question, "how did hair steaming become a thing?", you have to go back to my founding of Huetiful in 2009. And you have to go back to a world where natural hair was considered a fad and few salons exclusively did natural hair.
It was Summer of 2009 and Huetiful didn't exist at the time. Neither, really, did hair steaming. My wife, who's been natural since a bad experience at a salon in 2004, came home from Too Groovy Salon of Atlanta, one of less than 5 natural hair salons in Atlanta at the time. Colette said, "I just had the best hair care experience ever - they sat me under this machine that steamed my hair and made it feel soft and conditioned. It was only $25 and I was wondering if you could find one to buy for me?"
Note: Too Groovy was owned and operated by Robin Groover, who I consider the godmother of modern natural hair salons. If Atlanta was the epicenter of the natural hair movement, Robin was the center of that epicenter. I'm forever grateful for my association with her and her salon launched the careers of many of the early natural hair stylists of Atlanta.
At the time, I was a Brand Manager at Novartis (healthcare) and an aspiring entrepreneur. Previously, I worked at Procter & Gamble's Global Beauty Division in brand management. While at P&G, I learned a lot about brand management and innovating where there were unmet needs. I realized that the long-standing unmet need of healthier natural hair was a big one. After looking high and low for a hair steamer for Colette with no success, I had an "ahh haa" moment.
WHAT IF I CREATED A HAIR STEAMER BRAND THAT PAID FOR ITSELF IN 5 OR 6 USES AND THAT RESOLVED COMMON FRUSTATIONS AMONGST WOMEN WITH NATURAL HAIR?
"What if there was a product that moisturized your hair up to 5x more effectively than conditioners alone?" That was the initial concept that resonated really well with the growing natural hair segment.
Months later I had my first prototype ready and made my first sale on eBay. Because the buyer was located in my hometown of Atlanta, I literally drove to her house, set it up, and told her how to use it. Within weeks I was selling a handful every week and within months I was selling a handful each day. By June of 2010 I moved distribution (out of our garage) and into a 3PL warehouse. I also hired Myleik Teele as my publicist. She would later go on to start CURLBOX; a natural hair product subscription box.
Huetiful offered an unheard of 60-day, 100% money back guarantee. And I was so confident in the results that I included free shipping for all purchases AND returns plus a 365 day warranty - no questions asked. Huetiful also partnered with this newly emerging, "Influencer", on social media to create awareness around the world for hair steaming. I did shows in Paris and Amsterdam to share the benefits of hair steaming more broadly.
Huetiful, the natural hair company, was born. And when we opened our first salon, naturally, we provided free hair steam treatments to every client to ensure that naturalistas experienced the benefit of hair steaming without having price as barrier to trial. With physical locations by 2018 in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Austin (TX), Huetiful was able to spread the experience of hair steaming more broadly.
Since its founding, Huetiful has been focused on creating products that resolve unmet needs amongst recurring hair care frustrations; be it in the service side of the industry or the product side of the industry. While the Huetiful Hair Steamer became a major success and fundamentally changed what and how natural hair salons did services, there are still many unmet needs in the natural hair care space.
Here's to 15 years of hair steaming and years more of innovation at Huetiful!
The Huetiful nanoSMOOTHING Treatment is an ideal treatment for women who are seeking a natural way to strengthen their hair and wear it straight or curly. We've created a picstitch of a Huetiful Salon client who has very thick, kinky-curly hair. You can watch the full treatment, step by step, here.
The application of the treatment is extremely easy and does not require the use of gloves or the fear of "over processing". The Huetiful nanoSMOOTHING Treatment has a ph-level between 1 and 2. It is similar to lemon juice in acidity so it will not burn or sting the client or the stylist - unless there are open cuts. There also is no odor or fumes as it is a natural treatment absence of harmful ingredients often associated with smoothing treatments.
Section the hair and apply the foam from root to tip. A little goes a long way. You're not looking to saturate the hair. You simply want to expose every strand to a little bit of the foam. We recommend applying at the scalp and combing through from root to tip.
After application, we steam the nanoSMOOTHING Treatment into the hair. If you don't have a steamer, put a cap on over your hair and sit under a dryer for about 20 minutes. Lightly rinse your hair with cool water and then blow dry and flat iron the hair. The heat activates the restructuring (not the breaking) of the bonds to allow for a natural, smooth hair strand. Because the hair is slightly, naturally loosened you should be able to blow out and silk press your hair with fewer passes and/or with lower heat. Less Heat = Less Damage.
The total time should take about 2 hours, 15 minutes if done by an experienced stylist and maybe a little while longer for a Do It Yourselfer or less experienced stylist.