Building an Innovative Natural Hair Care Business with Ceata Lash

In this episode, Ceata Lash, founder of Puff Cuff, shares her journey from graphic designer to pioneering entrepreneur. She created Puff Cuff to manage her natural hair without damage, celebrating comfort and self-acceptance. Ceata's story highlights the determination required to thrive as a black female entrepreneur, navigating product development, securing financial backing, and tackling challenges in the Black personal hair care market. We explore the highs and lows of building a business, the importance of inclusivity and representation, and Ceata's aspirations for Puff Cuff's global impact. Her insights provide inspiration for entrepreneurs and a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial journey.

📺 You can watch this episode on Moses The Mentor's YouTube page and don't forget to subscribe: https://youtu.be/IWyUZyVZ9lo

🎯Connect with Ceata Lash @therealceatae on Instagram and visit her website thepuffcuff.com

🎯Connect with Moses The Mentor: https://mtr.bio/moses-the-mentor

☕If you value my content consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mosesthementor

📢Support Money Focused Podcast for as low as $3 a month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2261865/support

🔔Subscribe to my channel for Real Estate & Personal Finance tips https://www.youtube.com/@mosesthementor?sub_confirmation=1

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:46

Welcome back to the Money Focus Podcast. I'm your host, moses the mentor, and in this episode I'm excited to welcome Sita Lash. She's the innovative founder, inventor and CEO of the Puff Cuff. She transformed a personal hair care challenge into a thriving business that caters to those with thick, textured hair. She's here to share her entrepreneurial journey, the inspiration behind her invention and how she's empowering others with her vision. So let's dive into her transformative journey. Let's go. The first thing I always ask my guests to do is to really walk us through your career journey, professional journey and just, ultimately, how you started your business. So the floor is yours.

Speaker 2: 1:30

The career journey Interesting. So I never thought to be completely 100 percent, 200 percent transparent. I never thought I was going to end up in this space. I am a graphic designer by career and that's what I thought I was going to be. I always worked as a consultant or a freelancer because I didn't like the whole corporate you know atmosphere, as well as the politics and all the stuff that goes in with it. So I was after my first job that I had my first fulltime job after college, which has been a while, a long time ago. I would be working next to freelancers or consultants doing the same exact job that they were doing for the company, but they got to come in, do what they do and then leave and was being paid like three times the amount that I was being paid. I don't like being stagnant. I like change. I like meeting new people, new opportunities. So it's like I think I'm going to be a consultant and the fact that I was a graphic designer allowed me to do that, so I didn't have to be in one place working for one industry. I could go all over. That actually led me to starting the Puff Cuff, which is the product that I invented.

Speaker 2: 2:49

I at the time was freelancing for a community college right outside of Chicago and it would just happen to be the same time that I was getting my hair chemically straightened for years, for years, and like I had. I think I got my first relaxer when I was 10, because, at years old, had no idea how to take care of all the above. So, but at that time I happened to go longer between touch-ups because I would get my hair relaxed every four to six weeks and I literally just couldn't get into the beautician's chair. So I went longer between touch-ups and when I did that, all of what I thought was eczema that I had been suffering with for years just, literally just disappeared. It all just went away. And I really thought, wow, this is my body telling me that I need to stop with these chemicals, because I had been, you know the, the dermatitis and the dandruff and the scaling, the itch, all of that, for it to just go away by itself. And I had been using all types of medications and everything else. It was like, okay, I'm not going back to this, but this was in like early 2000s. So there was no curly hair movement, there was no Google like it is, no social media, all of that.

Speaker 2: 4:38

So, and it was just me growing out my natural hair and I didn't know what to do with it or how to style it, how to take care of it, anything. And I couldn't go to my aunties, mom, grandma, none of them because they all were relaxing and straightening their hair. So the way that I mentioned, like I said, I was a graphic designer freelancing in higher education in the North, so I was the only Black woman in the department and the only Black woman in the building. So you know how Black women we can change up our hair, and so it's always like a source of interest for everyone, just like, oh, what? You know? How does Sita have her hair today? You all amaze me how you can do such different stuff with hair.

Speaker 2: 5:31

But when I was growing it out natural, I was like, okay, I don't want the attention. This is not a life-changing event, even though it was life-changing. I just want to feel comfortable in my own skin and the way that, and I didn't want my hair to lead the conversations. So the way that I felt comfortable was to wear my hair in a style like this, but, like I said, there was, there was no influence that I could lean into to help me figure out how to style it.

Speaker 2: 6:05

At that time, when I went to go look for tools or anything that would help me style it the way this is, I couldn't find anything, so I had to use a boot-sized shoestring and tie it around my neck, then pull it up and cinch my hair up and wrap it around and just hope that it would stay.

Speaker 2: 6:27

Or I would have to take one of those supposedly ouchless headbands, pull it over my head, wrap it twice, roll it up to try and see if I could get all of my hair to stay up, and no matter what I used, I would have a blazing headache by the end of the day I used, I would have a blazing headache by the end of the day.

Speaker 2: 6:50

The relief and the exhale that my body did from stop using, from not using, the chemicals on a regular basis, it was so great. I wasn't going to go back, but I needed to be able to style my hair in a way that I felt comfortable, looking at myself as well as trying to embrace this hair that I had not ever been used to. And I couldn't find anything, so I was using those tools that weren't meant to be used with hair, and I was searching all over the internet and in store trying to find a tool that kind of made sense in my mind that should work for my hair. But the tool would not bind my hair, it would just hold my hair in place.

Speaker 2: 7:29

If that makes sense I had the idea of this little clamp. No, I got the idea from a clamp, a little clamp that my mother and grandmother used to have and it was about this big, maybe about this big, but it had teeth all the way through. And my whole thought was I needed something on a much larger scale and I didn't want the teeth, because any, anything like teeth, like this only thing that's getting through this stuff is straight hair. So I was like I ain't gonna work. I wanted the teeth to be spaced out and the teeth kind of like only really function to anchor the tool or the clip in place and to work with like kind of like work like fingers, as if you were holding your hair up with your fingers. So I was at the right place at the right time.

Speaker 2: 8:20

Being working at that junior college, I had the idea in my head. Since I'm'm a graphic designer, I could get it out of my head onto paper, so I could get it. You know a 2D version of it. But I knew I had to get some type of working physical prototype. But since I was at the college, I was able to work like catalog stock is what I said. It say. I describe it because this was actually when all the classes were in a book and you had to you know to open up the catalog. There was no, nothing was online, so I had to. I went and I catalog stocked all of the engineering professors and inter-office mail them. You probably didn't even know too young to even know what inter-office mail them. You probably are too young to even know what interoffice mail is.

Speaker 1: 9:07

That's with the manila envelope, and you got to put your name on it and kind of cycle it through the office. Yeah, I know what that is. Yeah, I'm not that young.

Speaker 2: 9:18

Interoffice mail. And then there's interoffice email. I just did that until somebody would meet with me for lunch to help me bring it to life, and that's what happened. That's how Puff Cuff came to be.

Speaker 1: 9:34

So, with you being a graphic designer, I'm sure creating the 2D version was pretty much nothing for you, because you know you can do that in your sleep. But walk us through what all it took to actually produce a full prototype of your product.

Speaker 2: 9:49

I knew I needed an engineer of some type. So I thought I needed a CNC. You know, this is totally not my ministry, it's only out of my realm. But he was like no, you actually need a CAD engineer. And then with that, that CAD engineer should be able to take your 2D design, make it three dimensional and then you should be able to produce a 3D print. So this was like the very the early onset of 3D printing.

Speaker 2: 10:20

I also had a friend of mine who was a carpenter take my idea and carve it out of a piece of wood. So I had my piece of wood, had the 2D drawing and I got introduced to my CAD engineer, which we still have a relationship to this day, and that was this was like 12 years ago. So basically that was it, because I don't have the math skills and all of that needed, but I knew that this skill set would be able to help me bridge that gap and that's what I did. So I met with the CAD engineer and he came up with the first 3D prototypes and which is a 3D print. Basically.

Speaker 1: 11:03

Walk us through some of your initial challenges that you faced when you first started your company.

Speaker 2: 11:09

It's still challenges, it ain't? This consumer product game is no joke, man, especially when you're the first of your type. Because and let me answer the first question that you asked the challenges then were not knowing about building a business, not having anyone to go to that has built a business with a mark, built a business that has the same type of target market, that I have. No money, no, just no working knowledge of Just bringing a product to market, let alone retailing it. So all the above, and also not realizing that at that time that being a black female was going to because I was born with estrogen that that was going to be a barrier for a lot of financial backing period, you know, and it's still. It's gotten better, but it's still a very, very big part of the world we live in, the reality that we live in.

Speaker 1: 12:53

You know, for someone who wants to be in this type of industry, you know, I'm hoping you can paint the picture of like a full representation of what it's like to, you know, have an idea, develop a product in a very competitive industry. So if you can kind of walk us through some of the things that you wish you knew beforehand, some of the things that you're doing now, that'd be great.

Speaker 2: 13:16

My advice first would be get a mentor that's already in doing what you want to do. There's way more of us that are accessible now than it was before. And then you also have to understand.

Speaker 2: 13:31

I mean, I had to understand the history of Black personal hair care and the reason why there are so many Korean-owned beauty supplies versus Black-owned beauty supplies, and what's the history of the products that are available and things like that. So I kind of, now that I've been on this journey, I know the history of some of those big black brands that no longer exist or they're now owned by foreign entities. You know what I mean. And the consumable market when I say that it's the wet products and stuff like that. That's total.

Speaker 2: 14:15

Even though it's under beauty and personal care, it's really different than the hair accessory or the tool, the tool industry. They're huge corporations, you know, and I had no idea how, how much it was going to cost to create a tool. I'm glad I didn't know actually in the very beginning how much the cost was, as I probably would have continued to talk myself out of bringing this product to life. I feel like there was some bliss in my ignorance, you know, this product to life. I feel like there was some bliss in my ignorance, you know. But I also feel like I also know that if I hadn't had that mentor earlier in this process, I would be further along in the business. But then there's also there's also so many things that you know, have changed in the world that we live in in terms of even getting your message out, like social media wasn't around, when all of those products, you know all of the lusters and the, you know the um, what is it?

Speaker 2: 15:30

dark and lovely, or something like that but even now it's like dark and lovely is not owned by black folks anymore, and it's like Cantu is not a black owned brand. Everybody thinks it is, but it's not. The headquarters is in Luxembourg, germany. They're owned by a hedge fund and they own a whole bunch of beauty brands. But that's it's like One of those things to where you really have to understand and know how this game works, because no one's telling you.

Speaker 2: 15:58

You have to find out and do the research on your own, and once you you, you start to know the history and you know who the players are, where they are, what, what, what, who's owned by what? Then you can kind of start to navigate. Okay, this is what this actually means. This is the presence that they actually have, this is who they, this is who they're marketing to. But are they really? And it's like you understand that as the, as the brand owner, but also trying to get your consumers to not take everything at face value there is so much history to the personal care industry and how it's sewn into the Black culture, especially within the United States, that you really need to know and you have to tread lightly at the same time, but you really need to know where your products are coming from, as well as what's in them and if they're really for you or not.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Well, let me ask you this I mean, you've done a great job of breaking down some of the challenges of being an entrepreneur, especially in the personal care industry, but at some point, some point, you were to the point where you had to have known like, hey, I got something here. When did that happen and how did that make you feel?

Speaker 2: 17:21

Actually, I had the idea of Puff Cuff back in 2006. I didn't. I found every reason under the sun not to really bring it to life until 2010, 2011. I, you know, I figured I was. I didn't have any business background. I was not going back to college again Cause I was like once I got out of undergrad I felt like a free person. I was never going back. I did not want to take on that expense and every everything else that was. I was like I'm not getting an MBA, I don't want to take on that expense and everything else that was less. I was like I'm not getting an MBA, I don't want to do that. I also figured I wasn't smart enough. I didn't have enough money. It was every reason in the book.

Speaker 2: 18:07

But God gave me two life changing situations where I was able to take care of my 99 year old grandmother in her last, during her transition phase, where she went from living independently to being and being diagnosed with congestive heart failure. And then my father is an only child and her doctors were like you cannot, basically told her you cannot live by yourself anymore. And she was like I'm not coming to live with your dad, so Got to make room in the house for your grandma and I was like I would love to have you come live with me. So she came to live with me and at that same time, my husband and I were on the adoption waiting list because we wanted to adopt a child, because that was another one of my. I feel like God had put it on me to put down the myth that Black people don't adopt Black children, so that was one of my life goals too. Both of those situations intersected on the same weekend. We had literally been waiting for 18 months to receive our third child and actually had decided to take our names off the list because we wanted to be able to give my grandmother that attention. And it was like this is a big undertaking, so maybe we should just put the adoption on pause until we get our footing with grandma.

Speaker 2: 19:42

Well, god chose different and was like the birth mother. My son's birth mother chose us the same week that my grandmother was supposed to move in. So I got a four week old baby and a 99 year old in the same weekend it was. It was like okay, lord, you didn't ask me about how much I can bear, but I'm glad you didn't, because I wouldn't have signed up for this, but he, you know, gave us. He was so much grace and it was such a wonderful time that I was with able to spend with my grandmother and being able to have those close grown up conversations with her.

Speaker 2: 20:21

She knew she was in the midst of her transition and she was like she welcomed it with more than open arms. She was like I'm ready to go, jesus can call me tonight and I'm Ray. And and I would ask her if, if she felt like there was anything left for her to do, did she accomplish everything that she was meant to accomplish? And she was like no, I've done everything that the Lord has asked me to do. I'm ready whenever he is. And I had the whole idea of Puff Cuff in my mind. You know, like I said, I had talked myself out of it for whatever insecurities that I had or whatever insecurities that I had. But with that I was like, okay, if I am blessed to live as long as she has, well, I'd be regretful to not do anything with this idea. With that thought, it was like no turning back. So that's when I actually took my first full-time job since college. Again was to work to be able to get the money to bring Puff Cuff to life. So that was literally. That was the aha moment.

Speaker 1: 21:24

I want people to understand that are listening or watching the experience of your product. So what are your customers saying about using the Puff Cuff?

Speaker 2: 21:37

My customers are the reason why I do this Honest, point blank, and I did not realize the significance that Puff Cuff. We call it a life changer, a lifesaver, and it really, and that really comes from my customers. So let me show you how it works. First of all, I'm wearing two of them right now, so we have them in five different sizes. But my, since I started getting micro locks, my hair is much, much thicker, so I use the, the biggest one, which is this one right here. Even though this is the puff cuff, even even though it's shaped in the package, it looks like it's more oval shape. It's not, it's actually round, so it's like this. So the way it works is take off the bigger one too. This is it here. So you open it wide, Okay. Then you gather your hair wherever you want your puff or ponytail to be, okay, and because now my hair is thicker at the scalp, that's why I use the bigger one. But you put one arm in, then you bring the other arm around and you overlap the hooks and then you let your hair go. So the way that it works, different than anything else.

Speaker 2: 23:08

First of all, everything else on the market literally is designed for straight hair it's to give, it's to bind thin or straight hair, thin strands together to give it bulk. Well, it kind of and I kind of compare it to like fiber optics. You know, when you saw the fiber optics, that's kind of like how it used to be. You know, when you saw the fiber actus, that's kind of like how it used to be, those those thin, thin strands. They wrap it in plastic or rubber or whatever to give it, to hold it and bind it together.

Speaker 2: 23:38

Well, us have curls and texture, our hair already has bulk, so we don't need anything to bind it, we just need something to hold it in place. So then the other I'll put in my second puff cuff, which is a junior, so then it gives me height because my hair is so much longer now than it used to be. So, but the whole thing is because it's not binding and cinching, it's just holding the hair in place. You don't get the, you don't get the hair damage. Like I sleep in my puff cuff every night.

Speaker 1: 24:14

So what has been some of your tactics to really help people understand or simply just educate them about your business?

Speaker 2: 24:22

I lean on my customers. To be honest, I have had customers. I was just on an investor call the other day where we were running, we ran a crowdfunding campaign and with crowdfunding, you know, the average everyday person can invest in the company. And I held an investor call from Curlmix from Kim Lewis of Curlmix, that as Black people, a majority of us have never invested in anything, especially after of a certain age. We've never invested our money into a business or a vehicle that can make us money outside of our 401k or whatever you know comes with the job or whatever. But the reason why Puff Cuff has had the success that it has is because of people that look like me, that are trusting and buying the product. So why not offer them the opportunity to invest? So when Puff Cuff does, you know, see its ultimate success that everybody can win and everybody can benefit from it. So, like I said, I was on the investor call and it was an open forum for anyone to ask whatever questions and want this. Actually, husband and wife team I should say team husband and wife were on the call and the wife just, you know, I figured she had natural hair and I figured she just wanted to ask more of a question about the return on the investment in this and other. And she was like I really just want you to know that I bought your puff cuff and I bought it because I started suffering from alopecia and all of my hair fell out. And all of my hair fell out, but when it started to grow back, I was so afraid of all the other tools that were out there that they were going to damage this new hair that I had so desperately prayed for to grow back. And she said I ran across the puff cuff and she was like and I'm actually wearing it right now and I could see her husband in the background shaking his head you know, shaking his head in agreement and acknowledgement that this was a tough time in her house and her self-esteem. And you know, when mom ain't right, the whole rest of the house ain't right and and our hair point blank. Our hair is part of our essence and who we are.

Speaker 2: 26:56

And she was like and I'm trying not to get emotional, but she started to get emotional she was like you just don't know that I had prayed for a tool to help me with this new season that I was in of really understanding and understanding in my hair and the value of my hair, cause sometimes we take it for granted until you lose it Right. Then it was like but I meet, I she's like. I know I knew I needed a tool, that cause I was not going to go back to the relaxers, I didn't want to do a wig, I didn't want to do all the other things that could possibly damage my hair again. And she said I prayed for a tool and Puff Cuff was that tool for her. And I just was like and I've had so many other instances like that but that it's literally like.

Speaker 2: 27:52

You know what this tool helped me help me mend the relationship with my mother, like because I'm of mixed race or my mother had straight hair and she didn't know what to do with my hair, do with my hair, and from then it always was a wedge in our relationship. But this, this tool, helped me embrace my hair and embrace my look and realize that my hair wasn't bad. It was something. It was other stuff that played into the reason why I felt this way about my hair. This helped me be comfortable in my own skin. It's when I hear, when I see a little brown girl put the puff cuff in her braids for the week, for the summer, and she can wear now her you know her ponytail and have her braids up and not, and she's like, and it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt, and it's stuff like that. That that makes all of this worth it.

Speaker 1: 28:57

Hands down. Have you seen any people try to copy your idea?

Speaker 2: 29:02

from the beginning, and that's another reason why I say you have to really understand and do your do your research about the things that are actually obvious. There's a reason why beauty supply stores are Korean owned and they're in Black neighborhoods. There's a reason for that. There's a reason behind that and I can tell you there was a bill that was introduced years and years ago, years and years ago, and this is why the dollars that we spend on personal care items fuel a global economy and I don't think you realize that we literally are supporting a whole other country through our dollars. But there was a bill. Like I said, there was a bill that was passed before you and I were born. I know I'm older than you, but before I was born, probably even before my mom was born.

Speaker 2: 30:01

Where human hair can never be harvested within the United States, it always would have to come. It was an agreement with Korea. What race of people can you convince that their hair is not good, that that money is already taken out of so that automatically fuels that country's economy? For the hair, you got to have products, right. You got to have a place to sell it right. Got to have everything. They bought a lot got to have a place to sell it, right, you got to have everything. They bought a lot of the black companies. They bought up all the distribution rights. They go into lower income black neighborhoods, buy the real estate only hire their family. They own the whole freaking supply chain and then they lock out other businesses and at least prior to then they lock out other businesses and at least prior to they would lock out other businesses, especially black businesses, because they own all the distribution channels. So it was hard for black beauty supplies to stay in business in their own neighborhood. They've got it on lock from top to bottom. So with saying that, that's who was knocking me off.

Speaker 2: 31:13

Now I do have two patents. I have actually four patents, but I have two patents on the Puff Cuff and then I have another patent on another version of the Puff Cuff. And then I have a patent on my Edge tool that I invented because my edge tools is a real plug, low plug. It's the same as every other edge tool, but my bristles are made out of silicone instead of boar, because our the our edges are delicate, so the boar tends to put more tension and stress where the silicone does not, and plus plus, you can rinse the silicone out, so you can rinse all that disgusting gel out of it under the sink. But the Korean shopper there was actually. He made a mold of my product and started selling it, called it the puff clamp in on the East Coast, and it was my fans that let me know that this was happening. So what I say? Even though I have a patent, there's no patent police. It's still up to you to protect your patent.

Speaker 2: 32:16

And typically these distributors have deep, deep pockets because, again, they have been fueled on. The owners of these distribution companies have been fueled on the dollar of black and brown people for years, years, years, years, years, years. So, even though I tried to fight it, I just couldn't afford to fight it anymore. And then it came down to OK, I've got to beat them with the story and the brand, just like Nike, nike and Gucci and Fenty and all. It's all about the brand recognition and the customer loyalty. So I don't have that large of, but you know and I'm saying that because all of them are being knocked off but it's about what the customer values in buying what they know is real versus what's not.

Speaker 1: 34:10

So let me ask you this what's the future for the Puff Cuff? Are you looking to partner with the larger business or are you simply, you know, looking to keep the business within the family? Kind of talk us through what the future looks like for you.

Speaker 2: 34:26

Risha. Lou Dennis has done with Shea Moisture, monique Rodriguez, what she's done with Myelle, what B Dixon has done with Honeypot, with I forget the name of Carol's daughter, the founder I can see her face right there, but I'm having that senior moment. But the only, the way that they have figured out the formula to be able to not just be the last but to be put this on repeat for other brands and other people that look like us, that have been locked out of the opportunity, for one reason or another of history, of certain level of generational wealth, that's, that's my goal. So my goal right now is to build the brand, because Puff Cuff is a global brand.

Speaker 2: 35:23

65% of the world's population has curly or textured hair and everybody and all of that can use more than one Puff Cuff, and but a lot of it. They just don't know the solution exists, that Puff Cuff. They know they, they have the problem, but they don't know that there's a solution. And curly hair comes across all ethnicities, it's not necessarily just for people of african descent, and more now than every years before, people are embracing their texture and growing out their hair globally. So I 100%, 2000%, know that Puff Cuff can be a global brand. It's a matter of the exposure, the opportunity, the access and the funding.

Speaker 2: 36:16

And if I can get those things in line and that's what I'm actively working toward working on to get towards the to that goal, I want to get the, the company, at the place where someone, some partner corporation, whatever, sees the value of it is and is able to take it to the point where it it deserves to be.

Speaker 2: 36:45

Am I passing it on to my children? Heck, you know, my destiny is not necessarily their destiny, you know, but I do want my children, their children, their children's children, all to be able to have that opportunity, to make that decision based on what I was able to build, on, what they want to do and what they don't. You know what opportunities they want to take on. But my whole mission, literally, is to be that person that I didn't have when I started this business for other people and not have to worry about where my bills, my bills, are being paid and that I can fuel and fund those people who have that burning passion. And you know that they, they actually they have something, they have that idea, they can, they can take it to this next level, but they just don't know how to do it, and I'm still learning myself, but it's one of those. Each one help one. That's where I'm at all right.

Speaker 1: 38:00

so what final advice or thoughts would you like to share with the audience? And before you go, make sure to shout out your website so people can purchase your product. Also, let people know how to reach you on social media and just really appreciate your time. So the floor is yours, thank you.

Speaker 2: 38:19

Just really appreciate your time. So the floor is yours. Thank you, I would. I always say that One of the things that you have to realize is and embrace is that you don't know everything and don't be afraid to admit what you don't know. There are genuine people out there that will help you through.

Speaker 2: 38:41

But if you work in that silo of I can do it all and I've got to be in control of it all, you're just going to spin in a circle. You're not going to grow, and the whole point of it is to grow. The other point, the other thing I have to say is this is not for the week. Entrepreneurship, small business, is not for the week at all. It takes a lot and there's there are some. There may be more. You know seasons of peaks and valleys, but if you stay in, if you stay in the game, it, it, it will pay off. But it is one thing and I think social media and regular media have made it have like romanticized small business and glorified small business and they think that I can have one post and it just takes off and I'll be set for the rest of my life. That's not how it works. People's attention span is so short right now that you'll be up here one day and then the next year you'll be like do y'all remember when such and such and such? So it's about that. You know being in it for the long game and creating a good plan Definitely creating a good plan, but also knowing you're not out here by yourself, but you, if you become an island, island of one, you're doing yourself a disservice, a huge disservice. But you can find us at the puff cuff dot com.

Speaker 2: 40:16

When you asked me about those, the copycats and the knockoffs, I forgot to tell you that I actually did knock myself off because I couldn't compete. I was like I can't compete with those, that the money that's driving those machines, but I can create a better mousetrap. Is that what they say? So there is a big brand in the black hair care space that I mentioned earlier that is not black owned. That put a clip on the market. That's very much like mine, but it this way. It's still on the market, but this is my version of it.

Speaker 2: 40:56

It was like the heavens open up and the light was fighting sound. It was like the heavens opened up and the light was shining down. It was like that makes so much sense. So I have the Cuff-It line and this is the budget line of the Puff Cuff. The Puff Cuff is a premium product, but we have a budget line. Yes, we have a budget line, and the budget line is actually available in HEB stores in Texas and it's about to roll out into 1700, not 1700, 1500 CVS stores. It's also available on Amazon and it's available on Walmartcom and I've got a couple other retailers that are interested in it. But it's all right. Now it's about, you know, owning my space in the tool aisle, and I'm the only black one doing it in a tool that is not elastic.

Speaker 2: 41:50

So I'm on every social channel that's out there and it's always at the puff cuff. So T H E P U F, f, c U F F, and I'll make sure to include all your contact information in the show notes thepuffcuff so T-H-E-P-U-F-F-C-U-F-F, and I'll make sure to include all your contact information in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 42:05

So again, thank you so much for joining the show. You gave us a wealth of information when it comes to the personal care industry, entrepreneurship as a whole and just simply going for yours as an entrepreneur. So just really admire that about you. So good luck to you, your family and your business Appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 42:24

Thank you so much. You take care. I really appreciate the allowing me on this platform and to bring additional exposure to the brand and other small businesses you know that are in the same game, just trying to do what we do for the customers that we know that we fulfill a need for.