For people with curly hair, it takes about 15 products until they can find one that works for them. Mona El-Gharby, CEO and founder of CURLē, struggled with the same issue of finding curly hair products that worked for her. In middle school she realized all the products on the market kept drying out her hair; she then turned to YouTube to figure out how to make her own products at home. After using her homemade curly hair products El-Gharby saw a drastic difference that even her peers noticed. It was then that she decided she wanted to create a custom curly hair product company. However, it wasn’t until college that she began selling her homemade recipe to others.
Once she was at SMU her passion for finding the best ingredients and products grew as she learned more through her Biochemistry, Business, and Human Rights classes. Through her journey, she came up with a business idea for a company that “prioritized the natural crown.”
“It was a passion of mine and SMU allowed me to really take that and grow with it,” El-Gharby said.
Growing up El-Gharby found that having curly hair was discouraging because she associated sleek hair with elegance. That is why CURLē’s mission is to empower people to feel luxurious and elegant in their hair and all contexts.
“I think natural hair is something that is part of my identity and a lot of other people’s identities because we’re able to embrace something that in growing up wasn’t necessarily something that was empowering,” El-Gharby said.
This month CURLē has started the #LoveYourRoots and #MyCurleMyWay campaign to promote the CROWN Act. The CROWN Act, stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” This law prohibits race-based hair discrimination because of protective hairstyles such as locs, Bantu knots, braids or twists.
CURLē’s campaign encourages everyone with curly hair to share their stories to empower other women while advocating for the CROWN Act. Along with social media posts, CURLē is having round table discussions, giveaways on their Instagram and promo codes for their ambassadors leading up to the main event day on February 2nd.
El-Gharby’s goal is to make more than just a product, she wants to make a change with CURLē.
“It is so important for us to feel beautiful in our natural and to really create a community that talks about that to share their stories and really be more than just a company but more of a spearhead to a movement,” El-Gharby said.
To find out more information visit Curlebeauty.com or check out the #LoveYourRoots campaign on their Instagram @Curlebeauty.
