Interview with Kim Lewis, Co-Founder of CurlMix

Have you heard of CurlMix? It is a subscription service where you will get ingredients to mix your own natural hair products. Co-founders Tim and Kim Lewis (who’ve also launched The Natural Hair Academy, a social network for people with natural hair), decided to start CurlMix after Kim experienced how stressful it was to get the right ingredients to mix a hair product. We caught up with Kim over email to discuss how the subscription service of CurlMix works and what you will get for your money.

Curlmix works regardless if you’re straight, wavy, curly or kinky

 

Interview with Kim Lewis

Frolicious: Please introduce yourself!
Kim: Hi I’m Kim, co-founder of CurlMix. I’m a seasoned naturalista of 5 years and entrepreneur in the curly hair industry for 2 years. I’m really outgoing and I love talking to our followers. Check us out on Instagram @CurlMix if you ever want to chat.

Frolicious: What is CurlMix?
Kim: CurlMix is the DIY box for curly hair. Because this product is in the DIY space, we know that naturals can research, shop, and mix it themselves, without us. However, CurlMix is for the “Aspiring DIYer”. It is for the naturalista who doesn’t have the kind of time or money DIY projects usually consume. It’s also for the naturalista who doesn’t want to risk “buying up the whole grocery store” for products she may not like. CurlMix allows you to test several recipes before hand. When you find something you like, we would encourage you to go buy in bulk because that’s cheaper for you in the long run.

Frolicious: How does it work?
Kim: Inside the mix you can expect to receive 5-7 ingredients to create your awesome product. Each mix will have a “bonus element”. This element can be mixing & matching ingredients for different treatments, or the hair product may double as something for the skin, or we may even include an all-natural product from a company that pairs very nicely with the mix. It all depends on the ingredients in that month’s box.

Frolicious: If I would onbox a box what would I find?
Kim: Go to www.curlmix.com and join the mailing list, from there we will notify you when the next mix will be open for sale. We only open up purchasing for a limited time so you have to be fast. After you order, we will ship CurlMix within 3 weeks.

Inside The Box – Everything You Need To Mix

• 5-7 Ingredients
• Utensils For Mixing (Other than major electrical appliances of course)
• Self-Sealing Mason Jars For Storing And Sharing
• Informational Card W/ Link To
  • Instructions for Mixing & Application Instructions
  • Demo Video From Vlogger of The Month

Frolicious: Do you have to be natural to use CurlMix?
Kim: No you don’t have to be natural, these are all natural ingredients that are the basis of many of the same products you buy from the store without all the things you don’t like. Curlmix works regardless if you’re straight, wavy, curly or kinky. Some of the top ingredients include Aloe Vera (Juice or Gel), Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and water.

Frolicious: Instead of launching your own hair product you launch a CurlMix subscription box. What made you go this route?
Kim: Launching a product is already quite difficult. We wanted to take things slow and validate the product, see if people actually liked it before launching a product line. The subscription box model allows us to grow at a manageable pace and allows customers to try our line of DIY products at their own pace.

Originally, I thought we didn’t need any more beauty subscription boxes. However, my thoughts quickly changed the day I went shopping for the ingredients in my next diy hair project. I spent 1 hour researching for recipes, 2 hours shopping, and another hour mixing. I also spent over $300 on ingredients alone, no containers, or utensils. I thought, there has to be someone selling this stuff in a subscription box, but there wasn’t.

I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to go out on a limb and build CurlMix, so I reached out to some industry people who really helped me refine the idea. After all the positive feedback from industry leaders, I knew I had to build CurlMix

Frolicious: Do you ship worldwide?
Kim: We do ship outside of the U.S. but it requires an additional shipping charge from $15-$25 USD.

Frolicious: Is is easy to mix all the ingredients together?
Kim: Yes, it takes less than 15 minutes whereas the typical DIY can take up to 4 hours.

Frolicious: How long can a subscriber use your raw ingredients and the final DIY?
Kim: We usually recommend refrigerating the mix because we do not use chemical preservatives and it may contain some perishable ingredient. With refrigeration, it can last as little as 1 month.

Frolicious: A monthy subscription box costs 29.99 (free shipping). How did you come up with the price?
Kim: Of course we looked at cost of materials (mason jars, raw ingredients, custom boxes) and what it takes to produce and ship the box. Most importantly it was about the value of the CurlMix. We wanted the price to be cheaper than if you went out and bought all the ingredients in full size containers. The price is low enough where you’re able to test a full-size DIY recipe without breaking the bank.

Frolicious: Do you have different levels of membership?
Kim: As of right now, no. We want to keep our model simple. We only sell subscriptions but in the future we are considering legacy CurlMixes. These are CurlMixes that were big favorites of the subscribers that we decide to sell separately as one-time purchases.

Frolicious: What makes CurlMix so special comparing to other subscription boxes?
Kim: CurlMix is unique because we aren’t just providing you with popular products in your local retailer. We are providing naturals with an experience, a project where they get to learn a create their own products. We give curly girls the power of truly knowing what’s in your product, while saving you several hours, a couple hundred dollars, and the risk associated with DIYing.

We are also the only subscription box that allows the influencer of the month to take a real stake in the process and allow them to choose what ingredients are in the box. It’s almost as if they are personally sending you one of their favorite recipes. Knowing that they have tested it, approved it, and recommends it, provides so much peace of mind. You can’t beat that.

Frolicious: What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since coming up with the idea?
Kim: In starting CurlMix, I got a lot of No’s and it made me reconsider whether this was even a good idea to begin with. I almost quit it before I even really started. I went back to the drawing board, reevaluated my strategy and the Yeses began to flood in. It was the happiest day in working on CurlMix. My advice would be to let the No’s encourage you, you’re just one No closer to a Yes.

Frolicious: Where do you see your business in one year?
Kim: Ultimately, I want to see our subscriber base grow and for CurlMix to become a household name for curly haired women. Aside from growth, I would love for CurlMix to expand into CurlMix parties. My husband and I like to joke about having “CurlMix Mixers”, where we send you discounted bulk boxes, maybe 10 CurlMixes, and you and a bunch of girlfriends get together to mix your hair products together, a CurlMix Party essentially.

More information:

Webpage: www.curlmix.com
Instagram: @curlmix

 

What do you think? Will you be signing up?

Leave your comments below. I would love to read your points of view. Use your Facebook account or Disqus to comment below.