Anikitia Abram Paused Curluxe Naturals To Become Mom To Five Kids. Now, The Brand Is Back.

Plenty of parents put dreams on hold to look after their children, but not many have a story like Anikitia Abram’s. Just as her haircare brand Curluxe Naturals, which is aimed at consumers with 4C hair, was beginning to gain traction, she chose to become the mother of five children who had been in foster care. Two are her cousins and the other three are her cousins’ siblings. The choice to assume their care made leading Curluxe untenable, and she hit pause on its business to be the best mom she could be. But Abram didn’t let her entrepreneurial dream die. Today, she’s reviving Curluxe and doing so with her children as her biggest supporters. “I’m determined to show my children the strength of being resilient and following your dreams no matter the obstacles,” she says. Here’s Abram’s account of launching Curluxe, deciding to set the brand aside and bringing it back to life with renewed purpose.

I went natural in 2008, 2009. During that time, relaxers were very heavy in the African American community. Everyone wanted straight, long hair. When I started telling everybody I wanted to go natural, people were like, “No, not nappy hair.” If your hair wasn’t curly like a baby’s, it wasn’t considered good hair. I didn’t have that baby hair or good hair. But I’m very observant. I noticed that, when my mom and aunt hit their 30s and 40s, their hair was falling out, and they had patches. What they had in common was that they were putting relaxer in their hair. And my hair didn’t seem healthy. It wasn’t full of life. It was dry and brittle. It had looked healthy and thick when I was younger. Why couldn’t I go back to that? I wanted to see my hair like that.

I’m kind of rebellious. I’m a Leo. Even though people told me not to, I was like I’m going natural anyway. I even traded hairdressers because my hairdresser told me I didn’t have the right kind of hair to go natural. YouTube wasn’t like it is now with so many gurus. We had this website called Fotki where there was a natural hair community. We would get shea butter from our local beauty supply store, melt it in the microwave, and put avocado, mayonnaise and honey with the shea butter. That’s what we would use to style and moisturize our hair. I put so much food in my hair, even eggs. Over time, my hair started growing.

A few years later, Target picked up Camille Rose and Shea Moisture, and the natural hair movement was taking off, but my hair wasn’t taking to a lot of what was on the shelf. I told my husband, “You know, there isn’t one hair product that says it targets kinky curly 4C hair.” In the Fotki community, I had learned about different curls, so I knew I had 4C hair. 4C was not desirable. Now, you might go on YouTube and see how people are styling 4C hair, and it’s rockin’. It wasn’t like that. Back then, people would say, “If I had 4C hair, I wouldn’t go natural.” So, I thought I needed to create a product specifically for this hair type.

I went to a manufacturer and told them, “I want to target girls like me because, if they had a product for them, they would learn to love their hair.” I named the brand Curluxe Naturals because every curl is a luxury. I didn’t want to just come out with a shampoo. I came out with 10 products because I wanted my girl to have everything she needed. The main thing I did was keep it plant-based and moisture-driven. One of the biggest issues is that our hair is prone to dryness. In 2014, I had everything set up, but I didn’t know how I was going to sell.

“I’m really trying to get my footing again. This time, I’m bringing my children along. I want to build a legacy brand.”

I reached out to CharyJay. She’s a blogger. I was new and up-and-coming, and I said, “Can you blog about it?” She said, “Let me know when you are ready and send me your products.” One day, my PayPal was going off. I found out that she had talked about my brand on her YouTube channel. I sold out. After that, I started to get wholesale requests, and we made NaturallyCurly as a holy grail for 4C hair. I was still selling direct-to-consumer and doing everything myself while working full-time, and I went to Cosmoprof with Tones of Beauty in July of 2016. Dawn [Norvell, formerly multicultural haircare buyer at Walmart], said to me, “I love your packaging, product and personality, and I want your products on Walmart shelves.”

I exited the plane heading home and got a phone call from my uncle. He said, “I really need you, the girls are in foster care.” I had fought for years when Curluxe was starting to get them because their parents had substance abuse issues. I always kept them in the back of my mind. By the time I found out they were in foster care, they’d been there for months and were about to become wards of the state. I was told, “If you get them, there’s going to be a total of five siblings.” I said, “All five will be mine.” They said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Yes.” I hadn’t told my husband I made the decision when I made it. We had made up our minds we weren’t going to be parents. We were going to be the super fun auntie and uncle because we had other goals. He said, “How are you going to do that and Walmart?” I said, “I don’t know, but I’m going to try.”

When I got them, they were so broken. They were 6, 7,8, 9 and 6 months at the time. I couldn’t even go to the store without my oldest daughter being like, “Are you going to come back?” My baby would throw temper tantrums in the middle of the store. My son was severely behind in school, and they were talking about holding him back. I was trying to have the life I had before them, but I couldn’t do it. So, I made the decision to put Curluxe on pause. I changed my career. I had been working at Sam’s Club as a manager, but I took a $20,000 to $30,000 pay cut to become an educator and be there for my children. I knew they needed me. I was doing dance and soccer. You name it, I was there.

The only thing I used in the house was Curluxe. To my children, it was big. My oldest daughter was like, “You always tell us how we should follow our dreams no matter the trials and tribulations,” but I told them there are too many brands now. When I launched, it wasn’t like that, but they said, “You can’t give up.” In 2018, I slowly started the process of trying to get back out there. I had a photo shoot and took my children with me so they could see me chasing my dream. I opened up the website, but wasn’t taking wholesale orders. I was trying to pace myself. Then, last year, I started being tagged as a Black-owned business. My daughter said, “See mom, they remember you.” I was like, “You are right, I can’t give up.” I’m really trying to get my footing again. This time, I’m bringing my children along. I want to build a legacy brand.

I want people to know why I left and why I am back. My goal now is I definitely want to see my products on the shelves of Target and Walmart, and I also want to work with local beauty supply stores. Even though the market is a lot more crowded, there are still not a lot of brands targeting 4C natural hair. My children are running the company, too. They help fill orders. They think I’m a celebrity. I’m not a celebrity, but to them I am. They are really proud of me as a mom and an entrepreneur, and want to be part of that. We are all working as a family unit.