Hair is a big deal for black women. We are constantly changing our hairstyles and spend 9 times more on our hair than any other demographic. We don't just get a regular cut or color our hair. We get drastic! We go from braids to weaves to cornrows and then to our own hair and then back again. Size, length, style, color, volume of hair, weaves and extensions all differ each time we change our hairstyle. And we do that…
Recommend this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Hair
Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
21–30 of 69 posts
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#22Interesting topic and I can see how this is a daily issue for some, but I don't get the startup angle. What's the eventual monetization angle? Referrals for hair stylists? Paid membership to get new lists of or customized styles? Which of the pictures of the girl (linked to the dropbox share) is closest to her natural hair? The styles are so varied it's impossible to tell! On the aesthetic front (obviously IMHO) it's…
With regards to your second question, the closest to her natural hair is the 1st pic (Nov 2016). Hers will be much shorter and will have to be straightened to look like this. It's surprising that none of the styles show her own hair.
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#23Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#24This seems like a tremendously clever idea. To me the most relevant phrase from the text posted above is: "...and worked on marketing consumer brands like Nike" Because I think that's what this really is: the launch of a new premium consumer brand. Tress is capturing consumers at _exactly_ the right time, they all have purchase intent and it seems targeted really really well. They can make serious money recommending…
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#25Hair is a big deal for black women. We are constantly changing our hairstyles and spend 9 times more on our hair than any other demographic. We don't just get a regular cut or color our hair. We get drastic! We go from braids to weaves to cornrows and then to our own hair and then back again. Size, length, style, color, volume of hair, weaves and extensions all differ each time we change our hairstyle. And we do that…
The thing that makes black hair complex is that the texture ranges from extremely tough and curly to as soft as "white" hair. I don't even need a comb when my hair is short - I can just run my fingers through it and it'll fall into place. My sons hair is much easier to comb than my partners and if we don't comb it extensively morning and night and use creams or oils to soften it, it becomes impossible to manage within a day or two.
So firstly a lot of effort goes into treating the natural hair simply to keep it manageable, ranging from "just" cutting it and applying various oils or creams, to using straighteners, to using harsh chemical relaxants (strong enough that you can severely burn your skin).
This partly depend on how thick/strong the hair is to begin with, and so different people rely on a wide range of different products (go into a store catering to black hair and you'll see more hair products than you thought possible...).
This already creates a lot of options that are complicated with white hair. E.g. just think of the stereotypical afro which would be pretty much impossible for someone with think, straight white hair like mine.
Next, where a lot of "white" hairstyles are focused on letting hair flow, this does not work well for a lot of black women without a lot of chemical relaxants etc., and so many of the hairstyles are based on keeping the hair down in various ways. There's an element of history of racism there too, in that hairstyles that emphasise the natural difference of hair texture have had a tendency to get criticised for deviating from white beauty norms.
Some of this has led to counter-reactions of hair styles that make use of the texture of black hair to make hairstyles that won't work with white hair.
Partly for this reason and partly due to the effort involved in treating black hair, there is also a lot more extensive culture for using extensions, braids, weaves etc. of synthetic or human hair because if done well it can last much longer, and if done quickly/cheaply it can be done with less preparation, and because it enables other hair styles. Use of chemical relaxants can also cause a lot of damage over time which makes the hair brittle and less likely to grow long, which can further make it more attractive to use various extensions.
Doing this can involve enormous effort if you can afford to take the time and pay the price. E.g. hours of taking out the old braids, hours of relaxing and straightening most of the hair to make it blend well, followed by hours of having someone tie in or glue in place hair extensions and optionally braid them.
Whenever my partner started doing this, I basically knew she would spend the entire day (getting up early, spending hours preparing, then going off to someone to have two people spending hours doing her braids, wrapping up late evening) sorting out her hair.
So it's an interesting area where there are a lot of opportunities both when it comes to styles, service providers and products.
And I'm sure I'm missing out on a vast number of details I've paid attention to.
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#26Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…
Did you miss the "YC W17" in the title? Of course they're announcing their launch on news.ycombinator.com. (Mind you, they probably rolled their eyes as they hit submit, knowing they'd get this kind of comment.)
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#27Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#28Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…
You're right that HN isn't the best place to launch consumer products for customer acquisition, but there are other reasons to launch on HN, such as discussing ideas, product feedback, and getting on users' radar for future hiring. No reason not to do all the launches!
p.s. As a local professional in the 'omg that's bad' department I can assure you that it's always the good users who worry about sounding like a dick :) Your comment shows how an excess of enthusiasm can sometimes come out the wrong way temporarily, but explaining it as nicely as you did makes it all ok.
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you miss the "YC W17" in the title? Of course they're announcing their launch on news.ycombinator.com. (Mind you, they probably rolled their eyes as they hit submit, knowing they'd get this kind of comment.)
Oh, so they have to launch here? Didnt know that. Makes lots of sense. :)
Edit: here's the rundown so far: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=.... Those comments trace the history of how the idea is evolving. I like explaining it to the community this way because the minute we announce something formal, people forget that it's all experimental and subject to change. But once it stabilizes we'll add it to the FAQ or something.
Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles
#30Couldn't someone just do a hashtag search on Instagram? Why not just go big and do a social network for hairstyling in general? I think the social commerce angle could be great for revenue, esp now Instagram are starting to launch it.