Angela Fields CurlyCoilyTresses: Five Things Anyone Can Do To Have Fabulous Hair
Know your porosity! Porosity is a measure of how well your hair absorbs and retains moisture. Porosity is measured as low, normal and high. Low porosity hair has a tightly bound cuticle layer with overlapping scales that lay flat. Normal porosity hair has a looser cuticle layer, allowing just the right amount of moisture to enter while preventing too much from escaping. High porosity hair has a cuticle layer that remains lifted and often has gaps and holes, which allows hair to absorb and lose moisture easily. Porosity may affect the order you should apply products (which is the secret sauce to hair care!).
As a part of our series about “Five Things Anyone Can Do To Have Fabulous Hair”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Angela Fields.
Angela launched CurlyCoilyTresses®️ after realizing the difficulty of finding fragrance free and moisturizing hair care products that wouldn’t cause allergic reactions. As she was transitioning from relaxed hair and discovering an increasingly dryer hair texture, the importance was only magnified. And when she couldn’t find what she needed, she started making products in her kitchen and launched CurlyCoilyTresses®️ about a year later!
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I launched CurlyCoilyTresses®️ after realizing the difficulty of finding fragrance free and moisturizing hair care products that wouldn’t cause allergic reactions. As I was transitioning from relaxed hair and discovering an increasingly dryer hair texture, the importance was only magnified. And when I couldn’t find what I needed, I started making products in my kitchen and launched CurlyCoilyTresses®️ about a year later!
This came after 26+ years in corporate America (fortune 100 and 1000 companies). It was a huge gamble that is paying off immensely.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Wow! Well, the most interesting stories all center around customers expressing their happiness, their joy with their hair after trying CurlyCoilyTresses! No matter how customers discovered us, no matter how they described their hair challenges, no matter what their most pressing hair issues were, they all convey words that resonate with pleasure and joy in experiencing their best curls yet! Curls they didn’t think were possible for them!
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
For me, the “tipping point” was our Nourish Treatment masque being named top 19 in 4C hair care by the Oprah Magazine! We must celebrate the successes, the milestones! Once recognition started happening it was certainly easier to relax more and establish my own approach. I was no longer so focused on what someone else thought I should be doing to grow my brand. In some ways I inherently knew the next steps. And in others it was an augmented approach.
In your experience what were the most effective ways for your business to generate leads and sales? Can you share a story or give an example?
The best lead generation offers are content in exchange for email addresses. Content can be quizzes, e-books, brochures or services. The best sales opportunities are from paid traffic and virtual speaking opportunities in front of another’s audience of followers. The audience should have similar interests to the brand’s own.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Melody Brockelman has been an incredible resource in launching and growing my brand. I still recall her telling me I needed to raise my prices. I was thinking that would be an incredibly difficult task and would seriously impact sales. She strongly felt the perceived value of my products exceeded my price points. Well, while I was raising prices, sales increased.
Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?
Well, DIY business cards seemed like a safe way to save money. Purchased the card stock which included access to software. I designed cards I thought would be great. Until printing started. The perforated business cards self-destructed in the printer! Enjoy the moment. Forgive yourself. Learn. Move on.
You have been blessed with great success in a career path that many have attempted, but eventually gave up on. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path but know that their dreams might be dashed?
Entrepreneurship can be incredibly lonely, isolating and frustrating. But incredibly rewarding and satisfying. Know this before starting. Prepare yourself. Network. Have accountability partners, coaches and mentors.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you please share “Five Things Anyone Can Do To Have Fabulous Hair”. Please share a story or an example, for each.
Keep those ends trimmed! Damaged ends can move up the hair shaft and cause additional damage.
Dryer hair types should always apply moisturizing styling products to water saturated hair that’s still dripping water while you’re still in the shower. This is the first step to getting lasting moisture even days after wash day as your cuticles are still lifted and products and water can actually penetrate the hair!
Know your porosity! Porosity is a measure of how well your hair absorbs and retains moisture. Porosity is measured as low, normal and high. Low porosity hair has a tightly bound cuticle layer with overlapping scales that lay flat. Normal porosity hair has a looser cuticle layer, allowing just the right amount of moisture to enter while preventing too much from escaping. High porosity hair has a cuticle layer that remains lifted and often has gaps and holes, which allows hair to absorb and lose moisture easily. Porosity may affect the order you should apply products (which is the secret sauce to hair care!).
Protein is a hydrating conditioner, meaning it grabs and retains water in the hair. In essence, protein works twice as hard in moisturizing your hair.
Cotton is very drying and dehydrating on hair. Dryer hair types should wrap, cover and protect hair nightly with silk or satin scarves or bonnets.
Can you share 3 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Swipe on your favorite lip color! My fave true red lip color always makes me smile. Enjoy your favorite sheet mask! Indulge in self-care for at least an hour weekly. You will simply glow! Enjoy a relaxing massage once or twice a month. Add in a side of Jin Shin Jyutsu for additional relaxation.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Self-acceptance! No self-criticizing allowed! We should embrace our differences and celebrate them. We should always have support in our circle of influence.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“We all have an unsuspected reserve of strength inside that emerges when life puts us to the test.” Isabel Allende
We rise to the occasion even when we think no additional options exist or no additional strength exists. Yet, we still rise.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you’d like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this. :-)
I’d love to have a private lunch with Oprah Winfrey! I’d love to experience even more of her wisdom and life’s lessons learned!
How can our readers follow you online?
Instagram @curlycoilytresses_
Facebook CurlyCoilyTresses
Website curlycoilytresses.com
Thank you so much for this. This was very inspirational, and we wish you only continued success!
About the Interviewer: Jilea Hemmings is a staunch believer in the power of entrepreneurship. A successful career revamping Fortune 500 companies was not enough for her entrepreneurial spirit, so Jilea began focusing her passion in startups. She has successfully built 6 startups to date. Her passion for entrepreneurship continues to flourish with the development of Stretchy Hair Care, focusing on relieving the pain associated with detangling and styling natural black hair. For far too long, people with tender heads have suffered in pain. Until now.
