Self Made Netflix Series: Fancy's Commentary

Let me just start by saying, I know that everything in this series was not true. Netflix kind of made that disclaimer when it was marketed as "based on her life" and not a "biopic". But whatever, I was entertained. As a woman. As a woman in business. As a woman in business in the beauty industry, I could relate to her struggles and triumphs. Here's my two cents...

People will deflect their own fears on to you

Poor C.J., the husband. He just didn't have the vision or the ambition. Our people are scared now, in 2020. I can only imagine how deeply entrenched the slave mindset was as the child of a former slave. He just wanted to get by and be comfortable. He meant well by encouraging his wife to take a job when things got tough. As a man, he probably didn't want to see his wife hurt. I can admit,

set backs can be discouraging and sometimes the feeling of defeat can be overwhelming. However, successful people get back up, assess the damage and learn from the mistakes. I can admit, had it been my husband trying to sway me from my dreams I wouldn't been irritated. Understanding but irritated. 

Beyonce said it best...

It's MY shit! BOW DOWN, BITCHES!!! I've never been one to brag or talk a lot about what I've accomplished or the things that I have. However, it is super annoying when people assume that your lifestyle is because of your husband. The man always gets the credit. I am blessed that my husband actually gives me credit for my accomplishments and business acumen. While my husband helps me with heavy lifting, literally, he lifts the heavy stuff, and sales, he would NEVER try to take any credit for Fancy Free Hair & Skin. That's my baby. He helps and invests in me but it's mine. If I thought C.J. was weak for trying to encourage Madam to get a job, he was SUPER weak for trying to take credit and ownership for her company. Very annoying. Would not recommend.

Marketing makes a difference

There are sooooo many trash products out there that are successful because they have a great marketing team behind them. Madam C.J, may have stolen the formula for her "Magical Hair Grower" product but she had a story that sold which is why she is more prominent in the history books and not her mentor. I realized this early on in my business and hired a marketing team to help me tell my story in a way that is relatable and compelling. Watching this series made me realize that I I can do better with sales. I am no where near as aggressive as she was portrayed in the Self Made series. Her sales team was lit. Since hiring a sales force isn't quite in my budget yet, EYE gotta go harder myself. Noted.

You can get a $1 Million order and not make a dime

It seems that everyone who has a product wants to get placement in a big box store. I'm glad that this series showed that isn't the only route to success. I thought that's what I wanted early on. But then I got some mentors and learned the truth about those deals. 

1. I'd have to make changes to my formulas. My customers are attracted to the natural ingredients of my products. However, natural products mean shorter shelf life. Which means, products should be used almost as soon as they are manufactured. Product placement in large stores almost always require longer shelf lives which means....adjusting the formulas and possibly adding a few more preservatives. I'm not necessarily interested in doing that.
2. Your product placement on shelves is at the whim of the store. If your products are placed anywhere other than eye level...forget about it. If they decide they don't want to carry your products anymore....forget about it. If stores are closed because of a pandemic or war....forget about it.
3. Filling that $1 million order is the first step but then you have market downs, charge backs and charged off goods, you might no make ANY money. Imagine doing a million dollars worth of work and going home with nothing. Heartbreaking.

In the end, I was entertained and inspired. I think that's what the Madam would have wanted. That's all I have to say about that.

Shameless Plug Alert:

Fancy Free Hair & Skin manufactures quality products for hair and skin, as well as provides natural hair consults for women who would like assistance on their natural hair journey. Our motto is "Keeping you fancy and free of chemicals." Visit our website, www.fancyfreehairandskin.com, to see a full range of our products and services. Sign up for our mailing list to receive natural hair tips and stay up to date on sales and the latest happenings with Fancy Free.

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Milkshake Brings Naturals To The Yard

I created Fancy Free Shea Pomade for Hair & Skin for me and my kinky hair. I couldn't find any shea butter based products that smelled good and were easy to work with an any store. However, as I've become a business woman of sorts, my market research has shown that some prefer a milky/creamy moisturizer for their hair and skin over a body butter. While most Fancy Free faithfuls love the Shea Pomade in the cooler month, they were looking for something lighter in the warm weather. Say no more, I present Fancy Free Milk for Hair & Skin.

The Milk is not as heavy as the Shea Pomade. In fact, the main ingredient is water. This means that you can apply it to dry hair and skin for moisture. What's super cool about the Milk is that we are able to provide a natural alternative to sunscreen with raspberry seed oil as one of the ingredients. Raspberry seed oil offers SPF protection of 25 - 50 SPF. Combined with the SPF protection of coconut oil and shea butter of 4 - 6 SPF each, it's safe to say the Milk will protect your hair and skin from damaging UV rays while you enjoy fun in the sun.

I don't think y'all understand how excited I am about this product. I have been working on it for over a year. More than 52 weeks. 365 days and then some. With the main ingredient being water, and considering oil and water don't mix, I spent a lot of time figuring out the right ingredients and the right manufacturing technique. I legit had to break out my lab notebook. My family were probably sick of me giving them "lotion" that was too thick to squeeze out of the bottle. LOL! But we did it! I say "we" because I wouldn't have been able to do it without their honest feedback and input on texture, smell, shape and color of the bottle, squeeze versus pump...I could go on. They were right. It all came together. 

The final step in this process was to test the whole SPF protection thing out in the real world. I did my research. But sometimes things work in the lab that don't work in the real world. I needed to test but, I'm a small business owner, I do not have lab animals to test my new products on. But I do have friends. LOL! So, I made small batches for them to use while we were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.  I must say, I did not burn while using the Fancy Free Milk. I did tan though.

Nothing brings a business owner more joy than successfully completing a project than completing a project that required them to fight through failure after failure before getting it right. I will be honest and say that it took me so long because I would get frustrated and give up on it for weeks, even months, at a time. The techniques I had to learn to make this work took me out of my comfort zone. But the sense of accomplishment I get when one of my most harsh critics says "This is nice!" makes it all worth while.

My intention was to have the Milk ready for the beginning of the summer but it wasn't quite right and Fancy doesn't do mediocre. I tweak until I get it right and even after that, I'm still adjusting and improving. There's always room for improvement. So, here it is...the Milk. Check out the details and let me know what you think.

Fancy Free Milk for Hair & Skin is a organic shea butter, oils blended with distilled water for a high quality, creamy moisturizer for hair and skin. It offers SPF protection without zinc oxide or other harsh chemicals. Shipping with both a pump and flip top cap for your convenience.

The fresh scent is an invigorating blend of lemon zest, spearmint and eucalyptus softened by rain kissed blossoms and sheer musk. If you like Bath & Body Works' Eucalyptus Tea scent, you'll love Fancy Free Milk.



The Ingredients

• Distilled water: The ultimate moisturizer

• Organic Shea Butter: Seals moisture in, SPF 4-6

• Coconut Oil: Seals moisture in and has a soothing effect, SPF 4-6

• Olive Oil: Hydrates skin and has anti-aging antioxidants

• Raspberry Seed Oil: SPF 25-50

• Emulsified Wax: Because oil and water don't mix. This ingredient keeps it all together

Shameless Plug Alert:

Fancy Free Hair & Skin is the manufacturer of quality products for hair and skin. Our motto is "Keeping you chemical free." Visit our website, www.fancyfreehairandskin.com, to see a full range of our products and services. Sign up for our mailing list to receive natural hair tips and stay up to date on sales and the latest happenings with Fancy Free.

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Our Hair, Our Rights

I remember in the late 90s and early 2000s when I was a master hair braider. Two days a week I braided some college guy friends' hair in my dorm room and on Saturdays, I braided neighborhood guy friends' hair in my parents' basement all day long, 9a to 5p. Cornrows were in. All the rappers had them. But as they began to graduate from college, they cut their hair or loc it because cornrows were not considered "professional" hairstyles for men.

Everyone was happy back then. We *rubs melanin on hand* were happy because we had good paying jobs and felt accepted into society. They *points to palm* were happy because we were living up to the standards set for us and not questioning the standards. Usher in the widespread use of social media, the age of viral videos, and "woke" black folk. African American women had already started growing out our relaxers and making kinky fros, twisted up dos, braided styles and wavy edges the new normal in the workplace. More and more of us were tired of torturing ourselves to force our hair to do something Jehovah had not intended for it to do, be straight. We were embracing our kinks and curls. The powerful, white man in charge was just gonna have to deal with the aesthetics of it all because, let's face it, black girls are magic. So, if he had to compromise his standards of straight hair in order to reap the benefits of our talents, then so be it.

But it's not about hair, hairstyles, hair texture, appearance, it's about embracing who we are and

telling the "system" to deal with it. During slavery and the Jim Crow era, much of the culture that enforced our inner royalty was made "illegal", but you can't hold a true king or queen down. We're going to shine regardless of the circumstance. Be it a hairstyle, clothes, the way we sing, or how we run a board meeting. We got royalty, it's in our DNA. You can see it. We're woke. We're speaking out. So what does the "system" do? Try to bring our children down.

Let's face it, the American education system is not designed to make our kids prosper. It is designed to keep them in check. Think about how slow the system is to adapt to new advances in technology and the economy. Think about how most public school systems are underfunded. Think about how poorly teachers are paid. It's all by design. OUR children are more likely to be disciplined by suspension and end up in juvenile prison than any other group. And just like in the Jim Crow era, blackness is being penalized. But we are tired. We are woke. We aren't standing for it. Any. More.

Then I hear about a child being suspended for wearing a certain hairstyle. Not because she was a distraction in class. Not because she caused harm to another student with her hairstyle. But suspended for the style it was in. And to justify the suspension, they say that it's part of the dress code. No. Just no. Dassit. We are not about to make rules and laws to criminalize and vilify our young boys and girls. Our culture is our culture. How we wear our hair has NOTHING to do with our ability to do anything. Unless, of course the braids are too tight. LOL! That might slow us down for a little bit but then we're back to business when they loosen up.

People of color are magic. Black hair is magic. Racism and discrimination is real. The dress code policy enforced leading to that young lady being suspended has since been changed but only after outrage. Click here to read the story. We have to continue to voice our outrage and fight the system that was built to keep us down. Kudos to those families that resisted and brought change to that school. Hopefully, schools who have similar policies will revisit their stance without as much drama. You have set a great example for your sons and daughters. They know we have their back. They know that you have to speak up when something is not right and challenge the policies in place that try to make us compromise who we are.

You can't tame magic.

Shameless Plug Alert:

Fancy Free, LLC. is the manufacturer of quality products for hair and skin. Our motto is "Keeping you chemical free." Visit our website, www.fancyfreellc.com, to see a full range of our products and services. Sign up for our mailing list to receive natural hair tips and stay up to date on sales and the latest happenings with Fancy Free.

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