The Business of Beauty with Diann Valentine – Los Angeles Sentinel

A Candid Dialog with the Artistic Director of Glow + Circulation & SLAYYY Hair

Diann Valentine is a powerhouse: a trailblazing entrepreneur, worldwide tv host, superstar wedding ceremony planner, inside designer, and two-time writer devoted to serving to girls feel and appear lovely.

Whereas Valentine excels within the unique realm of superstar occasion planning, she additionally sought to broaden her impression. Desirous to serve 1000’s of ladies and go away a legacy for her daughter and grandchildren, she launched Glow + Circulation Magnificence Provide in 2019.

The enterprise now has two places in Inglewood and Hawthorne. Constructing on this momentum, she launched SLAYYY Braiding Hair, designed to get rid of the scalp irritants typically related to artificial hair.

Regardless of Black hair care being a multi-billion-dollar trade, based on Yahoo Finance, solely 2.5% of magnificence manufacturers, together with magnificence provides, are Black owned.

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By way of Glow + Circulation and SLAYYY Hair, Valentine is making certain that Black girls have fairness and inclusion inside the trade. Furthermore, Valentine tells the Sentinel that proudly owning brick and mortar places has a broader function aligned with activism.

“The rationale we determined to get into the retail area may be very easy–How can we purchase again our neighborhood and create safer streets the place Black boys and Black ladies aren’t being shot on the street or wrongfully arrested? It’s essential that we create and help companies inside our personal communities as a result of while you do, you’re creating an atmosphere the place your youngsters are safer,” Valentine stated.

“You’re creating an atmosphere the place Black {dollars} actually matter and may go to give you the results you want. You’re creating an atmosphere the place Black individuals could be employed and the place Black wealth can truly be constructed,” exclaimed Valentine.

With magnificence provide shops and hair salons being sacred areas the place Black girls could be their most genuine and susceptible selves, Valentine takes satisfaction in being accessible for purchasers, serving to them navigate her shops to realize their magnificence targets.

“Our retail places are like a day by day focus group the place I speak to Black girls, be taught what their ache factors are, what makes them pleased, what makes them unhappy, and once they are available [to Glow + Flow], what answer are they searching for? How do they use magnificence as a approach to discover acceptance in a world and in a rustic that doesn’t worth us? I got here to comprehend how vital magnificence was to the lives of on a regular basis Black girls. And I believed, that is the place the place I could make a distinction,” she stated.

When Valentine was trying to broaden her product choices, she didn’t have braiding hair in thoughts; nonetheless, SLAYYY Hair was born out of necessity.

She recalled, “In 2020, when salons have been closed, I used to be carrying braids, and my scalp was itching and irritated. I used to be getting scabs in my head. I believed possibly I had psoriasis as a result of the flakes have been greater than dandruff. I began speaking to our prospects and realized it was the braiding hair.”

In line with a March 5 article revealed by Harvard’s T.H.Chan Faculty of Public Well being that cites a February 27, 2024 revealed by Shopper Stories, varied toxins have been present in sure manufacturers of braiding hair that might probably trigger well being points in girls.

Whereas the long-term well being implications on account of braiding hair are nonetheless being uncovered, the discomfort that may happen when carrying sure kinds is usually felt instantly.

“It was a typical downside amongst Black girls, but we might simply settle for it. Why are we so conditioned to endure in silence?” questioned Valentine.

“Lord is aware of it’s laborious sufficient simply being a Black girl in America; our hair is an space the place we must always not should endure,” she added.

“I used to be speaking to my husband someday, and I used to be complaining about my hair. I stated I used to be taking the braids out as a result of I couldn’t deal with the itching, and he stated, ‘Effectively, why don’t we simply create our personal?’ And that dialog was the start of the journey to create SLAYYY Hair.”

Valentine revealed how SLAYYY Hair is completely different from different manufacturers, explaining, “We spent two years growing a brand new expertise and a novel method—what we name our ‘Slayyy Secret Sauce’ utilizing 100% of a particular fiber referred to as ‘Afrelle’ which we course of on the manufacturing stage.

“By giving it a particular tub in our method, we take away irritants and potential toxins present in standard artificial hair. This ends in a braid that’s softer, silkier, shinier, lighter in weight, and feels extra like human hair than the rest out there. Most significantly, our product is 100% non-toxic and itch-free, instantly addressing a significant ache level for purchasers.”