Dear Valued Customer,

Sadly Curly & Wild will be closing indefinitely. 

Here is a excerpt of a newsletter sent to our Curly & Wild newsletter subscribers back in March 2023 sharing the reasons why we are closing.

***

As a loyal newsletter subscriber, I wanted to share some thoughts on my decision to close the business because I feel it’s important to be transparent with you.

So in no particular order, I’ve shared them below.

• The current economic climate and supply chain issues.

I am sure you and others in your circle have felt the rising living costs and inflation that are hitting many around the world. This has increased the running costs of the business and has also affected sales. I noticed this trend as early as October 2021 when the business sales from previous months were like night and day and they have not picked up since.

Curly & Wild hair extensions are sourced from our manufacturer in China. Since the global pandemic, supply chain issues have been a challenge to navigate for myself and many other small business owners. This and the current social, political and economic issues China is facing means these challenges are only going to get harder. Large businesses with investment, capital and time can afford to wait until these issues improve, but unfortunately, I don’t have either of these things.

• Expecting a baby

My husband and I are overjoyed to be expecting our first child this year. While I write this newsletter it’s currently 3am as pregnancy insomnia is hitting me hard! With a baby on the way, it forced me to take a hard look at the current state of the business. I had to take the emotion out of it and ask myself logically whether it was feasible to keep going with another mouth to feed. Is continuing the best decision for our family? Perhaps in the long-term but in the short-term it currently isn’t.

• Being a one-woman show

I’ve been running Curly & Wild mostly by myself for 4 years with no pay. It feels crazy to write this because who would work for so long for no money? I was more than willing to temporarily sacrifice the financial return as natural hair is my passion and changing the black hair industry felt like my purpose.

Of course, I still need to pay my bills, so I’ve worked while running Curly & Wild. Doing this for 4 years with no financial gain from the business and continuing while the economy looks like it will get worse before it gets better starts to become unrealistic. I’ve not had a proper break since launching the business, it’s always on my mind and there is always something to do and that gets tiring. Work-life balance is non-existent and burning out is a real possibility. Having burnt out twice already, I would like to avoid it.

Closing Curly & Wild is so bittersweet. It's difficult to distinguish between feelings of "giving up" and simply feelings of "what a shame, but it's for the best". There is such a cultural narrative in the Black community about "never giving up" and “pushing through the struggle”. Although I think there are benefits to having this mindset, it isn’t practical in all circumstances. It’s ok to acknowledge that something isn’t working and to take the path of least resistance.

I’ve had many proud moments like the extensions being used in TV productions like The Witcher and Hocus Pocus. Being featured in the Daily Mirror, having 5-star reviews and speaking personally to lovely repeat customers. It’s been a joy running this business with so many lessons and teachings. I will always look fondly at what I tried to build and how Curly & Wild extensions helped women around the world embrace their natural hair.