We Are Onyx plans international expansion
US beauty sample site and educational vehicle for women of colour plans to expand internationally.
After suffering her own hair calamity, Delali Kpodzo partnered with friend Myriam Bocobza, to launch WeAreOnyx.com, a beauty sample site and educational vehicle for women of colour.
Like many black women, Kpodzo said she had relied on salon stylists to manage her kinky tresses. But one day her appointment got cancelled and she was forced to do it herself. "A lot of us we have grown up in a culture where we let somebody else take care of us. We didn't know how to manage our own hair," acknowledged Kpodzo, who has stopped using chemical treatments, in favor of natural hair. "When you put water on my kind of hair it can shrink to 75 per cent of its normal length and becomes impossible. I panicked."
For the next eight hours, she called friends and searched the Internet for hair tips. While she eventually found lots of information, there wasn't a one stop shop. Thus We Are Onyx presents video instructions from women ages 22 to 60, representing a range of hair types, style preferences and skin tones. Members select the samples they want to receive from among the items demonstrators use. "It is a rationalization of the sampling process," noted Kpodzo. There is also advice from a dermatologist, nutritionist, celebrity hair stylist and makeup artist.
An Onyx subscription is $20 per month for five samples, four are self-selected and one is a surprise. Members can also buy full size products. Onyx has partnerships with 12 brands including Dr. Miracle's, Herban Body Care and Lamik Beauty, with more in discussion.
Both Kpodzo and Bocobza have MBAs, and had been working in aspects of the film industry. Their enterprise is being funded by an angel investor.
In February, Onyx will offer its first men's box as a limited edition promotion, and eventually plans to go international with the UK, France and Brazil at the top of the list. For now it is available in the continental US.
