Korean BSS Topic Agains: Black-owned Entrepreneur Interviews

Ha! I don't know how legit this list is, but here is a list of BLACK OWNED BSS:

http://www.urbansalonnetwork.com/health-and-beauty/product-reviews/35-black-beauty-supply.html

-and it includes their contact information as well.


There are some in Richmond (never knew they existed) so I am going to do my part and buy my worlds of curls at one of these locations next week :D Ya'll got me fired up, I think I'm about to blog about this my dern self...

the addresses for the ones in IL make sense (primarily black areas). I cant remember seeing one of the ones listed, where I know the area... but doesnt mean its not there. I am going to try to go to the one closest me, and I'll let you ladies know how it goes!! :grin::grin:
 
the addresses for the ones in IL make sense (primarily black areas). I cant remember seeing one of the ones listed, where I know the area... but doesnt mean its not there. I am going to try to go to the one closest me, and I'll let you ladies know how it goes!! :grin::grin:

I'm in the Chicago area as well and was thinking the exact same thing. Okay, this is getting somewhere. I will definitely go check some of these places out and let you all know within a week (gotta add to the gas budget cuz none of these places are down the street from me).
 
the addresses for the ones in IL make sense (primarily black areas). I cant remember seeing one of the ones listed, where I know the area... but doesnt mean its not there. I am going to try to go to the one closest me, and I'll let you ladies know how it goes!! :grin::grin:

That's what I'm saying! I really don't remember seeing any of these businesses in my area so I don't know how old this directory is.
 
I'm in the Chicago area as well and was thinking the exact same thing. Okay, this is getting somewhere. I will definitely go check some of these places out and let you all know within a week (gotta add to the gas budget cuz none of these places are down the street from me).

yeah they arent close to me either.. curse of being on the north side lol.
 
nisemac I love the idea of doing a "buy black" challenge, what an awesome idea!

How many folks would be willing to do this?

Do you all think buying black should apply to independent online vendors (Shescentit, Qhemet, Oyin, etc) as well, or do you think it should only apply to black owned bss'?

Also, keeping up with how much money is spent at black stores is an awesome idea! I'm thinking that everyone can check in whenever they make a purchase and share how much they spent and at what store.

Shoot, we can even have a photobucket or picturetrail account to save scans of reciepts. Of course, only one or two people would have access to the account because if everyone did, it would be an unorganized mess. :lol:

Bofe:yep:

Okay...about this CurlMart thing.....a previous poster brought to my attention this morning about how it seems that NaturallyCurly.com is slowly dominating the Black haircare market as well....now i'm reading the views within this thread....

do you all think we are just oblivious and letting that happen?

Check this out.....there are more and more naturals on that board and lots of YouTube bloggers working for them as vloggers. I thought it was interesting to look at it that way....not trying to demonize them....but just think about that...as well as sites like AveYou...they sell Black haircare products.

Are the Black companies making a good profit by utilizing sites like these to sell their products?

Could the same effort it takes to have these products sold through these sites be used to sell products in stores? Could the money used to be able to sell on these sites be used to increase their production to be able to sell products in stores?

Where is all our money really going by us ordering from sites like these? Do they even go back into our community?

Food for thought.
 
Bofe:yep:

Okay...about this CurlMart thing.....a previous poster brought to my attention this morning about how it seems that NaturallyCurly.com is slowly dominating the Black haircare market as well....now i'm reading the views within this thread....

do you all think we are just oblivious and letting that happen?

Check this out.....there are more and more naturals on that board and lots of YouTube bloggers working for them as vloggers. I thought it was interesting to look at it that way....not trying to demonize them....but just think about that...as well as sites like AveYou...they sell Black haircare products.

Are the Black companies making a good profit by utilizing sites like these to sell their products?

Could the same effort it takes to have these products sold through these sites be used to sell products in stores? Could the money used to be able to sell on these sites be used to increase their production to be able to sell products in stores?

Where is all our money really going by us ordering from sites like these? Do they even go back into our community?

Food for thought.

Don't shoot me, but isn't the owner of this site white too? I mean, I get what you are saying, but race is not really THAT big of an issue to me that I am going to refuse to buy from every single person who is not black selling black haircare products. Just like any entrepreneur, the owners of naturally curly saw an opportunity, and they capitalized off of it.

At least they are trying to employ black people (isn't curly nikki affiliated with them and getting paidt good $$$?) and sell some products made by lesser know black haircare companies whereas most BSS do not (at least the ones that I have encountered).

I have never shopped their but at least they have created a venue for us to buy black owned products, and they have a big audience due to the forums (I always wished that Deecoily could do it on Nappturality but I guess since she lives in Australia, it is a little harder). Maybe someday someone with a black face will do the same.
 
Please call her JeterCrazed a professional opinion would be much appreciated.

ETA: this is what I've observed and experienced at BSS in my area.

1) About 5 years ago I went into an Asian BSS for the first time checking out products and I went up the register to where the weave glue was because I was thinking about doing a weave so I picked up a bottle to see if there was a price sticker on it. Chile as soon as I picked that thing up the cashier ordered me not to touch it in the nastiest tone. You'd think I was gonna transmit herpes to it or something. I was so pissed I :swearing: him and stormed out the store. Ignant? Yes. Thing is I was actually gonna buy that weave glue and a couple other things. I was mad too because I was too lazy to go the BSS in the opposite direction. I've never been back in there since. I don't even pay attention enough to notice if the store is still there.

2) There is another Asian BSS a few blocks away that has almost EVERYTHING. Even hair pousse plus. I have never seen that in other BSS. The store people are super nice there and the prices are reasonable but there are some things like hair accessories that are over priced. I've been going there for a while because I can't find what I need at other places. There are alot of black salons in the area and they get lots of weave customers also. They also sell some weave brands for super cheap.

3) There's another one on the same street that I think is black/Jamaican owned and that poor store is skimpy. I try to buy there when I can, if they have what I need. I'd really like to buy from them if could get more stuff.

4) this Asian one's owner takes mj breaks in the middle of the afternoon. Let's just assume it's prescription.:look: He doesn't let you try on the wigs. I've actually witnessed him being nasty to a customer who was upset that she couldn't try on hers. Like how you gonna tell me I can't try it on but I can't return it if I go home and don't like it? Other than that he's polite.

Just got off the phone with auntie. She said she has gotten complains of Korean owned stores who have refused service to black patrons and can look those up tomorrow if you supply her with some names. She said to call consumer affairs in your state with names of distributors and ask if a complaint has ever been filed against them and for what. The information is public and you can find the names of the owners. She says before you do business with a company, you always have the right to know who you're doing business with, but blindly boycotting isn't gonna give you the results you want. She said if there is a racial issue, there will certainly be a complaint at consumer affairs. She said the distributors are licensed and if there have been complaints, their licenses would have been revoked a long time ago.

Contact Robert Russo. He was my professor at Rutgers Newark. Very nice man. He is the President of this organization and current president of the Lemon Law division at the NJ division of consumer affairs. He can point you in the right direction instead of being passed around.

http://www.clnj.org/
See how he supported this black business owner.
http://atlantapost.com/2011/10/03/from-an-apprentice-to-a-boss/
Very nice guy.

Sent from my HTC Inspire™
 
^^Thats just really something to think about tho.....how come Naturally Curly...a site with a mix of different races/ethnicities....they have CurlMart...they have a store...selling our types of products.

Why don't WE have a store here?? With the whole Vendors/Sellers forum...why don't we have a shop here? There's a number of members/former members from here that sell products. SweetCashew...the owner of She scent It...sells from her website only....i haven't seen her products on other sites.

I wonder if we had a shop here...would she utilize it? Is it really useful to these companies to use the sites? I always feel some kind of way when purchasing Oyin products from CurlMart....now...my complaint was....CurlMart ships faster than Oyin does....but THEN a thought came to me...

Oyin Handmade stuff is handmade....how do we even know how fresh their stuff is sitting in a warehouse for CurlMart...you know what i mean?

Is it all that beneficial for a company like Oyin to be selling their stuff out of CurlMart?

Any insight on this?:look:
 
Don't shoot me, but isn't the owner of this site white too? I mean, I get what you are saying, but race is not really THAT big of an issue to me that I am going to refuse to buy from every single person who is not black selling black haircare products. Just like any entrepreneur, the owners of naturally curly saw an opportunity, and they capitalized off of it.

At least they are trying to employ black people (isn't curly nikki affiliated with them and getting paidt good $$$?) and sell some products made by lesser know black haircare companies whereas most BSS do not (at least the ones that I have encountered).

I have never shopped their but at least they have created a venue for us to buy black owned products, and they have a big audience due to the forums (I always wished that Deecoily could do it on Nappturality but I guess since she lives in Australia, it is a little harder). Maybe someday someone with a black face will do the same.

I'm not saying not to use these sites.....i'm just asking...where is OUR money really going? Is it helping Black businesses?
 
^^Thats just really something to think about tho.....how come Naturally Curly...a site with a mix of different races/ethnicities....they have CurlMart...they have a store...selling our types of products.

Why don't WE have a store here?? With the whole Vendors/Sellers forum...why don't we have a shop here? There's a number of members/former members from here that sell products. SweetCashew...the owner of She scent It...sells from her website only....i haven't seen her products on other sites.

I wonder if we had a shop here...would she utilize it? Is it really useful to these companies to use the sites? I always feel some kind of way when purchasing Oyin products from CurlMart....now...my complaint was....CurlMart ships faster than Oyin does....but THEN a thought came to me...

Oyin Handmade stuff is handmade....how do we even know how fresh their stuff is sitting in a warehouse for CurlMart...you know what i mean?

Is it all that beneficial for a company like Oyin to be selling their stuff out of CurlMart?

Any insight on this?:look:

I imagine curlmart provides much needed exposure and shipping capabilities for small companies. I actually think curlmart is proably a good thing because it provides easy access to black owned companies.

it probably is good biz for black companies to sell through curlmart, they are still making a profit, i am sure.

It is important to remember that yes while we want to buy black, we have to be realistic, sure it would be great to have our own curlmart but im not that mad at it. at least they are supporting black biz.

BTW another black owned marketplace is bglhmarketplace.com. great girl.
 
nisemac I love the idea of doing a "buy black" challenge, what an awesome idea!

How many folks would be willing to do this?


Do you all think buying black should apply to independent online vendors (Shescentit, Qhemet, Oyin, etc) as well, or do you think it should only apply to black owned bss'?

Also, keeping up with how much money is spent at black stores is an awesome idea! I'm thinking that everyone can check in whenever they make a purchase and share how much they spent and at what store.

Shoot, we can even have a photobucket or picturetrail account to save scans of reciepts. Of course, only one or two people would have access to the account because if everyone did, it would be an unorganized mess. :lol:

So does that mean we should avoid buying products from other stores as well? Ban Whole Foods, Walgreens, Target, etc? If we do that, that's going to hurt a lot of pocketbooks. [ETA: Our own who cant afford to buy 100% of our hair care products from niche stores]

Ha! I don't know how legit this list is, but here is a list of BLACK OWNED BSS:

http://www.urbansalonnetwork.com/health-and-beauty/product-reviews/35-black-beauty-supply.html

-and it includes their contact information as well (email and phone numbers).


There are some in Richmond (never knew they existed) so I am going to do my part and buy my worlds of curls at one of these locations next week :D Ya'll got me fired up, I think I'm about to blog about this my dern self...

Figures there's none in Oregon. (Only 1.7% of the population is black in the entire state and 6.0% in the city of Portland. Owning a BSS in here is a pipe dream :lol:)

Don't shoot me, but isn't the owner of this site white too? I mean, I get what you are saying, but race is not really THAT big of an issue to me that I am going to refuse to buy from every single person who is not black selling black haircare products. Just like any entrepreneur, the owners of naturally curly saw an opportunity, and they capitalized off of it.

At least they are trying to employ black people (isn't curly nikki affiliated with them and getting paidt good $$$?) and sell some products made by lesser know black haircare companies whereas most BSS do not (at least the ones that I have encountered).

I have never shopped their but at least they have created a venue for us to buy black owned products, and they have a big audience due to the forums (I always wished that Deecoily could do it on Nappturality but I guess since she lives in Australia, it is a little harder). Maybe someday someone with a black face will do the same.

+1
 
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I think i saw an article like this a while back and it actually stopped me from buying anything from Asian run BSS.

Now...in Orlando there's these chains of Beauty Depots....but there is a Super Beauty Depot that i go to...i am under the impression that it is Black owned. Because all i see working in the store are Black people...and i like that WAY more than going into a strange Asian BSS....i have nothing against Asian ppl personally...but in THIS case...i'm down to boycott because this is a group of people that actually HATE me and MY people. Ya know?

I say we start it bruh.

Super Beauty Depot is run by Doyo Corporation. Officers:
So, yeah, definitely not black owned. I live north of Orlando and when I do go to the bss I go to Gina's in Sanford. Korean owned, but has a black natural that works there. This is the only bss in this area that has a black working there, but I agree that WE as a community need to take back the industry.
 
BTW It would be nearly impossible to encourage everyone to stop shopping at KBSS and shop strictly online. it is not cost effective, especially in this economy. Plus we have to keep in mind that eventually we want to reach women who may not be online -- we have to have reasonable alternatives.
 
Don't shoot me, but isn't the owner of this site white too? I mean, I get what you are saying, but race is not really THAT big of an issue to me that I am going to refuse to buy from every single person who is not black selling black haircare products. Just like any entrepreneur, the owners of naturally curly saw an opportunity, and they capitalized off of it.

At least they are trying to employ black people (isn't curly nikki affiliated with them and getting paidt good $$$?) and sell some products made by lesser know black haircare companies whereas most BSS do not (at least the ones that I have encountered).

I have never shopped their but at least they have created a venue for us to buy black owned products, and they have a big audience due to the forums (I always wished that Deecoily could do it on Nappturality but I guess since she lives in Australia, it is a little harder). Maybe someday someone with a black face will do the same.

No. She is not.

http://www.longhairdontcare.net/long_hair_dont_care-deleted-20090628-muftz/2009/08/beverly.html
Let's nip that rumor in the bud.

ETA: I agree w/ everything else :lol:

Sent from my HTC Inspire™
 
Super Beauty Depot is run by Doyo Corporation. Officers:
So, yeah, definitely not black owned. I live north of Orlando and when I do go to the bss I go to Gina's in Sanford. Korean owned, but has a black natural that works there. This is the only bss in this area that has a black working there, but I agree that WE as a community need to take back the industry.

I just checked my email and discovered this:ohwell:

The store has mainly black employees so.....what to do ya'll? If we boycott...how are we really gonna go about doing it? I can sit here and say i'll never buy anything from them again....but what about ppl who like to wear weaves? Like to buy Dominican haircare products? Is there really a way to hit em where it hurts?
 
I agree with the rest of your post but this kinda stood out to me. We should be very careful about our language. Many naturals ps with weaves and wigs. I'm sure that there are a lot of naturals who aren't on the hairboards and I bet they get their shampoo and conditioner from a bss.

This shouldn't be 'naturals against Korean-owned bss,' this should be 'the black community against blatantly discriminatory practices.' Once we get into who uses what and whose 'fault' it is, we start splitting hairs and discouraging mass participation in the boycott.

I see how the wording seems funky. I am not saying this should be naturals vs. Asian BSS. I am new to this and I'm still trying to pick up the lingo. Just from what I have seen where I live, there aren't any BSS stores that carry products with natural ingredients, they mostly carry that products are specifically marketed for straightening hair. Regardless if the products are for curls or straight hair, I was just saying I would like to see more product diversity. And that this should be a Black dominated market since most BSS products are mostly marketed to us anyways. This should be a Black movement, regardless of hair type.
I hope my point comes off more clear now :ohwell:
 
This is definitely a sad thing, but most of my beauty supply shopping is no longer done at a beauty store or a Korean owned place for that matter. One of the more recent times I went to the beauty store I heard the owner tell the lady who worked under her to go follow this guy and girl. Yes, they spoke it in Korean, but I know quite a bit of Korean (though they don't know that :lol:) and understood them quite clearly. It disgusted me. I feel that if I want to buy something, I will be respected whilst doing so; BSS in general are a bother to me in that arena. I will say, however, when I lived in GA for the 2.5 years I did, the Koreans in general were friendly and helpful (and they'd speak English around you too) :rolleyes: That's more than I can say for many of their Maryland counterparts. :yep:
 
This thread is really making me think about a lot of things....we can get SO caught up in buying products, trying this and trying that....not saying that the all the ppl behind these things are evil and racist....but i see it as somebody holding the bag of feed sprinkling it on the ground for the chickens....i'm just that one chicken tryin to grab the bag...find out exactly what the heck it is you're feeding me...and if it ain't bout nothin...me and whoever else can KIM and find our own worms.

I hate the feeling of us being exploited and laughed at is all i'm saying. On every level....tomorrow is my last day at my job where the manager (Hispanic) didn't want to hire Black ppl....but will use that crap about how his wife is Black like thats supposed to make it better. I was the only Black person to ever work there. This is real ya'll....we are like...the laughing stock to other races.

How can we change this whole thing? Because i'm not a lazy Black person....every job i've ever had i got 2-3 raises while there bc of my hard work...and i know of countless others that work hard, nice, honest people....and i have seen so many lazy ppl in other races....so why do we always have to be the one to be looked down on?

From now on i'm being SUPER careful about where i lay my dollars....i would rather my money go back into my community. Everybody else does it for theirs....lets do it for ours. What's wrong with that?
 
This thread is really making me think about a lot of things....we can get SO caught up in buying products, trying this and trying that....not saying that the all the ppl behind these things are evil and racist....but i see it as somebody holding the bag of feed sprinkling it on the ground for the chickens....i'm just that one chicken tryin to grab the bag...find out exactly what the heck it is you're feeding me...and if it ain't bout nothin...me and whoever else can KIM and find our own worms.

I hate the feeling of us being exploited and laughed at is all i'm saying. On every level....tomorrow is my last day at my job where the manager (Hispanic) didn't want to hire Black ppl....but will use that crap about how his wife is Black like thats supposed to make it better. I was the only Black person to ever work there. This is real ya'll....we are like...the laughing stock to other races.

How can we change this whole thing? Because i'm not a lazy Black person....every job i've ever had i got 2-3 raises while there bc of my hard work...and i know of countless others that work hard, nice, honest people....and i have seen so many lazy ppl in other races....so why do we always have to be the one to be looked down on?

From now on i'm being SUPER careful about where i lay my dollars....i would rather my money go back into my community. Everybody else does it for theirs....lets do it for ours. What's wrong with that?

That is soooo what I would like to see. More of our money in our communities. Ask these black beauty supply store owners where the live. The minute their business becomes successful, they move to nearby South Orange or Montclair to pay taxes in other cities and support schools that children in their own communities are not attending. The black dollar moves out if the community at record speed.

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the link you provided is an interview with Beverly? Were you trying to address the Curly Nikki thing??

I was referring to the "the owner of this site" thing. In case she was referring to THIS site. Her post was not specific.

Sent from my HTC Inspire™
 
That is soooo what I would like to see. More of our money in our communities. Ask these black beauty supply store owners where the live. The minute their business becomes successful, they move to nearby South Orange or Montclair to pay taxes in other cities and support schools that children in their own communities are not attending. The black dollar moves out if the community at record speed.

Sent from my HTC Inspire™

That needs to change!!! And whydonate to schools that have nothing to do with your people?

Case and point...Brian McKnight is an alumni of my high school tha i graduated from....i don't ever remember hearing of him donating to our school when our ceilings started caving in and leaking, and we had rodent problems due to the 2004-05 hurricane season.

They leave their communities behind. What the hell are we going to college for? I understand we need to better ourselves as individuals and be educated. You can have all the degrees in the world but you still a nobody if you don;t know how to utilize your achievements to give back to where you came from.

Help your community! Help your family! Help your neighbor! Lets support each other yo.

Stop all this "Gucci, Louis,Prada" ish....don't nobody care about a :blush:in' Gucci! I don't give a Fendi!:lol:....these designers barely even wanna use us in their adds and on their runways! Let's put more of our money back into our community...let's help our widows, fatherless children, our poor, our hungry....let's do this for real...something HAS to be done!
 
I didn't read the whole thread but it's unclear whether this proposed "buy black" challenge is a proposed boycott against Korean owned bss - or all non-black purveyors of hair care tools and products. Because the struggle to successfully own and operate a black owned beauty supply business is not just about Korean store owners and distributors.

No bss carries everything. So why aren't black bss owners stocking up on products by black manufacturers. And how does it change much if a black person takes their business away from Korean distributors and switches dependency to Chinese manufacturer's instead?
 
SmilingElephant you are so hype... :lol: i love it

:grin:

I can't help it...i couldn't even sleep last nite. I keep thinking about how other races keep taking advantage of our people. It all started with that dang thread in the OT Forum about Afrocentricity.....really great thread!:yep:

Things i never really thought about...like how we aren't even taught our real history in our schools....nothing but slavery, Dr.MLK, Rosa Parks and the rest of the crew comes to mind when i think about what i was taught about Black history. And we are sooooo conditioned to the Europeanized way of things...we have accepted them as OUR norm...when we don't even fit in the category whatsoever.

I tried really hard not to let me going natural turn me into one of thos afrocentric types:lol:...but its hard when you really THINK about what has been done to our people. It makes me very sad...but very happy at the same time to KNOW what we really are made of...and what we are capable of.

Look at the damn pyramids in Egypt!

*sips drink*
 
I have been saying this all along.....stop shopping at these darn Korean BSS. I no longer do it. I won't support people who think I am the scum of the earth. I don't wear weaves either. I refuse to make East Indians rich and they feel the same as Koreans about us. Blacks don't use their heads at all. We gotta stop allowing people to suck our blood. First we need to stop with the weaves. This is a big area that needs to be addressed. We then need to learn how to do our own hair. It's not that hard, in fact it's easy once you get the right products. We must then support black owned BSS and cease shopping at the korean stores. If you can't find a black beauty supply store, hell order the products online or go to the local drugstore. Once we get this under control we can then demand better customer service from black stylists who feel they are doing us a favor by doing our hair. Making a person sit in your salon hours before they are seen or trying to do 3 or 4 heads at once is just tasteless. We can definitely demand better customer service without saying a single word. It's all about action. We can do better. We must get rid of the crazy mentalilty though.
 
That needs to change!!! And whydonate to schools that have nothing to do with your people?

Case and point...Brian McKnight is an alumni of my high school tha i graduated from....i don't ever remember hearing of him donating to our school when our ceilings started caving in and leaking, and we had rodent problems due to the 2004-05 hurricane season.

They leave their communities behind. What the hell are we going to college for? I understand we need to better ourselves as individuals and be educated. You can have all the degrees in the world but you still a nobody if you don;t know how to utilize your achievements to give back to where you came from.

Help your community! Help your family! Help your neighbor! Lets support each other yo.

Stop all this "Gucci, Louis,Prada" ish....don't nobody care about a :blush:in' Gucci! I don't give a Fendi!:lol:....these designers barely even wanna use us in their adds and on their runways! Let's put more of our money back into our community...let's help our widows, fatherless children, our poor, our hungry....let's do this for real...something HAS to be done!

They are not donating. I'm Dayum.g they are paying taxes in communities where they are a minority.

That is NOT true about designers. There is an All-black vouge magazine. Their first all-black issue was the first time vogue had to re-print. Ever. Everything in the magazine was black. Even the Barbie dolls. Black models are in demand.

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I think one major issue here is actual products sold in a Asian BSS and the store locations. It will be very difficult for a woman that does not live close to a Black owned BSS to join this boycott if the products she uses are sold by an Asian BSS just down the street. Not everyone has open access to the internet and can't afford shipping fees on top of the actual price of some quality products sold online. So asking this woman to stop buying from Asian BSS will, understandably, be more difficult.
Another issue, some women may not be fully educated on the importance of group cohesion in a small and marginalized community like our own. So to them, it makes no difference if they give their money to an Asian BSS rather than supporting a Black BSS because they may not be aware of the important economic factors that help keep certain communities strong. To be honest, our community is not as united as it should be, unfortunately. This is where education is key. When you look at other groups of racial and sexual minorities, preserving the community is key, whether it is a conscious or sub-conscious act. How can we revamp our community strength?
I am 100% on board for encouraging a boycott and educating others.
 
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