Meet Anikitia Abram: CEO + Founder of curLUXE Naturals

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anikitia Abram and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anikitia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The thought process behind the start of curLUXE Naturals was to get women to love and embrace their kinky-curly hair. Before everyone jumped on the natural hair train, kinky hair was frowned upon. I remember reading blogs and hair threads with women stating, “if I had that dry, 4c hair, I’d never go natural”. 4c hair was known as the hair texture that didn’t grow, retain moisture, and easily prone to breakage. I wanted to create a brand that wasn’t just a product on the shelf but confidence in a bottle, which is why I named my brand curLUXE Naturals. I want the women that used my product to feel like FINALLY something made for us by us! In 2014, when I started curLUXE Naturals, there weren’t many, if any, haircare brands on the shelf that mainly catered to the diverse needs of 4c kinky-curly hair. I was determined to change for myself, my daughters, and every woman who felt underserved by the haircare industry.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Black women have played an essential role in the haircare industry over the last decade, specifically in the natural hair realm. These women are taking the beauty industry by storm. As a result, I knew that I wanted to contribute to the vastly growing natural hair community by creating a solution for women with 4C curls. At the start of my journey, I could not find products to manage my kinky-curly tresses. 4c natural hair wasn’t a “trend” when I started my natural hair journey, and I was determined to change that; and in 2014, I formulated curLUXE Naturals. I brought my brand to the front line of many natural hair events and even caught the attention of various influencers and magazine publications. But my success was short-lived; in 2016, I was forced to make an executive decision to put family first. With the support of my loving husband (then of nine years), I stepped down from my CEO role to become a mom to five exceptional children.
After deciding to become a mom, I stepped away from the business for two years. So when I returned to the industry, natural haircare was trendy, and everyone was developing hair care products. So reemerging back into the sector has been challenging; however, we had some very incredible collaborations and brand loyalists that have helped us stay afloat during this stage of our business. We are working on some fantastic projects to show why we are still the coarse hair; holy grail!
As a company, I’m most proud that we are part of the solution and that we are contributing to women, men and children with kinky-curly hair-loving their hair and learning how to care for their hair properly. One of the biggest things that set us apart from the thousands of natural hair care brands is my motto from the very beginning, “I don’t want to sell a product, I want to change the way the world views kinky-curly hair, and how WE view it as well. I want to teach my consumers to love their hair.”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a big kid at heart so when my best friend come in town it is a must that we hit up Top Golf and Six flags for fun within the first two days. For breakfast we would hit up Atlanta breakfast club because the chicken and waffles is DEEELICIOUS! For Lunch it is a must that we Slutty Vegan ATL and Slim and Huskys for Friday not Pizza. Dinner and drinks will be enjoyed at Blaze and the Sugar Factory. I usually have the most interesting fun touring the city as Atlanta is always developing new sites but the historic ones such as the Cocoa-Cola Factory, Aquarium, Black History tours and of course we’d have to pop into the Culture Experience Atl art gallery for great 90’s nostalgia moments.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shout out to my children Meghan, Naomi, Ryland, Savannah, and Giselle for being the driving force behind my resilience. Our journey hasn’t been easy, and as the market begins to become trendy and saturated, they constantly remind me how the world needs our products, especially our special niche. I do it all for them.

Website: www.curluxenaturals.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/curluxenaturals

Facebook: www.facebook.com/curluxenaturals

Other: anikitiaabram@curluxenaturals.com

Image Credits
Photographer Kat Harper