Sugar Puffs is a line of hair care products for children with tight, curly hair. Our goal is to make sure that every hair gets the care and attention it needs. By avoiding all parabens and sulphates, we try to keep your child's curls moisturized and silky without endangering their health. Additionally, all of our products were created with science-backed beauty for curly, afro-textured hair and are cruelty-free.
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00:00 Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Shop Essence Live in partnership with the
00:05 New Voices family.
00:06 I am your host, Noni Donovan, and this is a show where we bring you new Black-owned
00:11 brands to shop right here with us every single week.
00:14 Today, if you got little coily heads in your house, little curly fro's in your house, we
00:21 have an amazing line that I guarantee you and your little ones will absolutely love.
00:27 I want everybody to welcome founder, Nyasha Lacey of Sugarpuff's.
00:32 Hey, girl.
00:33 Hey.
00:34 Hey.
00:35 How's everyone today?
00:36 Everybody's great.
00:37 Welcome, welcome to the show.
00:40 When I tell you, and I was just telling her, my six-year-old, she just turned six, my six-year-old
00:47 was with me when I opened this.
00:48 And when I tell you it was like Christmas all over again, the packaging is so cute.
00:54 Look at the little character and you got a little sticker here.
00:59 We're going to get into these products, right?
01:01 But before we do that, Nyasha, I would love for you to talk a little bit about your journey
01:07 as an entrepreneur and how you came up with Sugarpuff's.
01:11 Most definitely.
01:12 So Sugarpuff's is a brand.
01:16 It starts out through representation.
01:18 I have two girls and they have a lot of hair.
01:21 I think I sent you the picture of all the hair.
01:26 So between the two of them, they have four different textures all throughout their hair.
01:32 So while shopping and trying to find products, I just felt like we needed something on the
01:38 market that's super fun, super inclusive of our children with more pinky curly textures,
01:45 hence the line.
01:47 So I just wanted to start a brand that's not only just hair care brand, but something that
01:52 builds confidence and that is solution oriented.
01:56 And I think we got it.
01:58 And also something that promotes inclusivity of our children with more textured hair or
02:05 kinky or curly, whatever way you want to say it.
02:08 So that's where we get our tagline, kinky, curly, and proud, because we want our little
02:12 ones to be proud.
02:13 And we also want products that work, that aren't just cute.
02:16 So that's how I got started.
02:18 And just I really was inspired, believe it or not, by Just For Me.
02:23 I don't know if I'm gonna age myself, but when I was younger, even if I wasn't getting
02:33 a perm, whatever was in a box, I wanted it because it was like a girl and she looked
02:37 just like me.
02:39 And that's what's encouraging because when the children see Sugar Puffs and when they
02:44 come to our booth or wherever, they're like, "Oh my gosh, that's me."
02:51 Just hearing that is so inspiring for the brand.
02:57 Representation is so, so important.
02:59 And you hit the nail on the head when you said something that is fun, but also so effective.
03:05 So I definitely want to get into these products before we do.
03:10 We got to let people know you got a little discount code for the Shop Essence Live family.
03:14 Can you tell us what it is?
03:16 Yes I do.
03:17 So we have a discount all the way into the end of the month for Black History Month.
03:23 So it's a great kickstart to Black History Month.
03:26 We're just offering a movement that's empowering for our children.
03:31 So if you use the discount code Kinky25 and it's 25% off all of our products.
03:37 Love, love, love it.
03:41 What's the first thing that you want to highlight for the people from the Sugar Puffs line?
03:47 Yeah, so just a sidebar.
03:49 I had a little model, but that little model wanted to go to sleep.
03:54 I'm here in Arizona, so it's like four o'clock in the afternoon.
03:58 So I want to highlight our bestseller.
04:04 This is right here.
04:05 Oh, you got it.
04:06 This is just as much for the parents as it is for the kids because we know what the tangling
04:13 time is for all of us.
04:15 It's torture for all of us.
04:17 Unless you go like this.
04:19 So tell us the benefit of this.
04:22 Okay, so I want to start where you used the word torture.
04:26 So that was a big part of the brand.
04:29 A lot of our little ones have a lot of hair anxiety.
04:33 So that's why it was important for me to formulate products that actually work, that offer slip.
04:39 We all know we want something that has a little slip.
04:42 And just having confidence in getting their hair done.
04:45 Some children are, we'll say have sensitive scalp.
04:49 We know back in the day it was tender headed.
04:51 And when I used to hear that term when I was younger, it wasn't really positive.
04:57 So with this brand, we want to be mindful of the words we use, tender head, bad hair,
05:04 or it's nappy.
05:07 Because those things really imprint in the self-confidence of our children.
05:11 So yeah, so this right here, we want to get started with a leave-in when we're detangling
05:19 the children's hair.
05:20 And I love this.
05:21 So here, backstory.
05:22 So most of the products that are on the market, the first item or first ingredient is glycerin.
05:30 Glycerin is amazing.
05:31 It's a humectant.
05:32 As we know, humectants are moisture magnets.
05:36 So they pull the air, any moisture in the air, and seep it down to the cuticle.
05:43 But here in Arizona, there is no moisture.
05:46 So when I formulated it, I used aloe vera juice.
05:50 You'll see that as the first product.
05:52 So that's what keeps the moisture going.
05:53 We still use glycerin.
05:55 But that aloe vera juice is great for high porosity hair or cuticles that kind of open
06:01 up.
06:02 But we won't get too much into science, guys.
06:04 But yes, this is amazing.
06:06 It offers so much slip.
06:08 Let's see if I can-- see, I got to be innovative.
06:12 So I had--
06:13 Listen, we got to listen.
06:14 We got to demo.
06:15 Yeah.
06:16 My little hair model just kind of broke her contract.
06:24 You know what I also love about this is the actual pump.
06:28 Like it's very unique.
06:30 I don't know if there's a story behind why this pump-- this doesn't look like your regular
06:34 spray bottle.
06:35 And you guys see how it sprays?
06:36 I don't even know if you can see.
06:38 It's like more of a mist.
06:40 And sometimes you get a pump, and it just starts to spray straight out to where this
06:44 spray is.
06:45 There's a lot of ground.
06:46 It's like, oh, it just sprayed in my hair.
06:47 You guys see that?
06:48 Yeah, I wanted a wider mist versus it targeting small portions of the hair, because most of
06:57 our little ones have big frills.
06:58 So we want to cover as much as we can when we're detangling.
07:04 But you might not be able to see.
07:06 But the good thing about my products are they're not super sticky.
07:11 It's that aloe vera juice.
07:14 We use Slippery M, Marshmallow Root.
07:16 All of those are like their roots, and they're super slimy and sticky.
07:20 But the way it's formulated, it just holds in moisture like no other.
07:25 So what I was telling everyone, once my products went over to the South and the Northeast where
07:30 all that moisture is, everyone loves it.
07:33 And most of our parents aren't believers, because they've been through so much with
07:39 all the products that say they work, and they're not performing.
07:42 But this one, this is the go-to.
07:44 It's a top seller on Amazon, sold out at Essence Festival.
07:48 Come on.
07:50 Yeah.
07:51 So this whole thing is a full circle moment.
07:54 And I just love this.
07:56 It smells amazing, too.
07:57 How does it smell, Manny?
07:58 Tell them how it smells.
07:59 It smells amazing.
08:00 My daughter was like, it smells like blueberry candy.
08:05 Mm-hmm.
08:06 Mm-hmm.
08:07 Oh, it smells amazing.
08:08 Yeah.
08:09 So this is my go-to.
08:11 Oh, just a quick tip.
08:12 When you're detangling our little one's hair, especially with this, you want to start out
08:16 with moisturized hair or wet if you're starting a new style.
08:21 But this is great in-between styling.
08:23 But definitely use finger detangling with the sensitive scalps.
08:27 We want to finger-- like, if the hair gets all knotted up, we want to strand by strand
08:32 to do the finger detangling versus raking through the hair.
08:36 So that's a nice little tip.
08:39 We want to build confidence.
08:40 One curl at a time.
08:41 One curl at a time.
08:42 I love that.
08:43 The fingers before you hit the heavy artillery.
08:46 Yeah.
08:47 Because some of the curls-- I'm starting to get into curl science.
08:55 But some of the curls kind of interlock into each other.
08:59 That's kind of more of the 3C finer hair.
09:01 They start to go into each other.
09:05 So I do recommend-- I'm not one of the brands that say, hey, use all of our products.
09:10 But if the child's hair is a little looser or-- I would say-- this works for high and
09:18 low porosity hair.
09:19 But this is a go-to.
09:21 But our cream-- moving on to the cream.
09:24 We love the cream.
09:25 Yes, we love cream.
09:26 My daughter-- look at that.
09:27 The noise my daughter let out when I showed her this.
09:32 She's like, it's purple!
09:34 She absolutely loves-- you see, I'm using it.
09:37 She absolutely loves.
09:39 And once again, it smells so good.
09:41 And this morning, I actually used it on the front of my hair.
09:44 You guys can kind of see the difference between the curls right up here.
09:50 Like the curls are defined, y'all.
09:53 Look at that.
09:54 Versus back there-- Love it.
09:55 Love it.
09:56 --where it's not defined.
09:57 Versus up here.
09:58 Beautiful.
09:59 And one quick tip about the heavier creams.
10:05 So my younger daughter, her hair is a little, I guess, low porosity.
10:11 Again, meaning that the cuticles are open.
10:15 So heavy creams don't do well on her hair.
10:18 And you'll notice if you use creams, and you notice that the hair-- the cream is actually
10:22 sitting on their hair.
10:24 Yeah, that's my five-year-old.
10:25 She just turned five.
10:26 I can't believe I have a five-year-old.
10:27 That's at the Athens Fest.
10:28 Yay!
10:29 So those children, they were so excited.
10:36 And this whole thing has come full circle.
10:39 But back to the hair.
10:40 So as I was stating with the cream, sometimes you'll notice that the product sits on top
10:45 of the hair.
10:46 And you're like, oh, this isn't working.
10:48 I will suggest what I suggest to most of my customers.
10:51 Make sure you clean the hair really well, because there's a lot of buildup.
10:55 So if you want to see a product really perform, you want to make sure that there's no buildup.
10:59 And you can really see, because then you're putting a whole bunch of products on top of
11:03 it.
11:04 And it's like, mm, it's not performing, but it works.
11:06 So yeah, I suggest this for the thicker hair, curly.
11:10 Yeah.
11:11 You guys can see that.
11:12 And the camera is so nice.
11:15 I love it.
11:16 It smells delicious.
11:17 Yeah.
11:18 I suggest this for like, sweat, and after you wash their hair, and things like that.
11:24 Perfect.
11:25 And how often would you say you would use something like this?
11:28 Is it basically every time you style the hair is fine?
11:31 Yeah, this is a good styling product.
11:34 After you've washed your hair, I like this isn't something like maybe if you're doing
11:38 a little ponytail, and maybe you didn't get to wash day yet, you want to revive it with
11:43 a little water.
11:44 Yeah, depending on you know, their hair, because sometimes it can take water leaving and this
11:48 cream, you know, for my little one that you just showed, I'll do water leave in and not
11:53 too much of this and maybe like a little gel or something like that, because it just weighs
11:57 her hair down.
11:58 But you know, that's the beauty of these products.
12:00 We have a little something for everyone.
12:03 So I love it.
12:04 And we want to make sure these, these little ones are embracing their kinks with pride.
12:10 And you know, it's inspiring to see moms and you're like, nothing has worked.
12:15 I don't, you know, they're not believers.
12:18 Like I was spraying people's hair.
12:19 And I said, Hey, guess what?
12:21 If you come back the next day, and that puff is still moisturized, you come back to me
12:24 and I had someone purchase for it's amazing.
12:29 Come on.
12:33 I think as moms, we all experience you put the product on and then two hours a hair is
12:38 dry.
12:42 So a lot again, we start off with aloe vera juice, shea butter, we put a lot of good oils
12:48 and they're stinging nettles, things that promote growth, we don't want it to be a cute
12:51 product, but we want it to have healthy hair.
12:54 And you know, we start out with healthy hair, and then we'll get you know, get to the length
12:59 once the hair is really healthy.
13:01 I love that speaking of oils.
13:08 Everyone loves a good oil, right?
13:10 Absolutely.
13:11 So this is our this is our juicy drops.
13:14 Let me cover that.
13:15 Can you guys see that?
13:16 Okay.
13:17 So let's let me tell you why we're a little bit different than a lot of the other oils.
13:23 This is not a greasy oil at all.
13:26 So a lot of the oils can be greasy, like when people put it like, oh, it's not greasy at
13:31 all.
13:32 Um, the reason why is I put like sunflower hemp, the jojoba is a lot of sealing oils.
13:40 Complete.
13:42 You're going to have you want to put the oil last.
13:47 Here you go.
13:48 Last on my style, just just to seal it never.
13:52 Yeah, because you see people they're like, oil.
13:55 No, we always want to put the oils last we want to seal the moisture and for the cuticle.
13:58 So leave in conditioner and you'll know if you notice it has like a little tingly feeling.
14:05 That's a peppermint.
14:07 Just to Yeah.
14:09 And it has peppermint and also chamomile to calm those those scalps that are inflamed.
14:15 What I do just a little quick tidbit.
14:19 Wash day for my my daughter who is who has a sensitive scalp and flame scalp not tender
14:25 headed.
14:26 I actually before I wash her hair, I put this all in the roots and I massage the scalp because
14:32 the chamomile and this oil and tea tree and fights all the inflammation, you know, the
14:39 inflammation, it calms her scalp because she is extremely sensitive.
14:43 And it's really sad.
14:44 She gets sometimes she gets anxiety when you pull the call.
14:48 And I'm like, Oh, but yeah, that's a really good tip quick tip just to calm the scalp
14:52 down and it helps like prior to you know, wash day and no buildup either because you
14:57 know a lot of oils can cause heavy buildup.
14:59 So I use a lot a lot of light oils and oils that promote growth and you know, a healthy
15:05 hair biome.
15:06 Yeah, I love the intentionality that you speak with about making sure our little ones grow
15:13 confident about their natural hair.
15:16 I think that's super important.
15:18 There are things that we've carried over from generation to generation about how we should
15:22 think about our hair.
15:24 And I just absolutely love the kinky curly proud promise.
15:28 Oh, yeah, it's a promise.
15:30 Yeah.
15:31 And we all know our identity as women starts with hair.
15:36 You know, that's where it all starts your self esteem.
15:39 I call it hair self esteem.
15:41 But that's where it all starts.
15:42 Like most people's, you know, how how they identify and how they see themselves.
15:47 Again, I just wanted it to be a brand that focused on solutions and inclusivity.
15:53 And we actually partner with the Crown Act here in Arizona.
15:56 I'm from Philly originally, shout out to the East Coast girl, but we out here there's not
16:04 a there's not a large black community.
16:06 So I partner with the Crown Act and we have like, little workshops that we go to all the
16:13 schools to, you know, empower our children and say, hey, there's someone that looks like
16:17 you and, you know, we, we want to empower them and make sure these children have confidence.
16:23 And like we said, it's Black History Month, we want to go kinky curly and brown and black
16:28 and beautiful 365.
16:30 So this is this is this is a one of those brands for us that were even the days that
16:40 I want to give up.
16:41 I'm like, I can't like when you, you know,
16:45 Yeah, word.
16:47 Absolutely.
16:49 Speaking of not giving up and persevering, you are a part of a community of a ton of
16:56 black entrepreneurs that have gone down that path, which is a New Voices family.
17:01 Can you say a little bit about what it's been like being a part of that community?
17:07 So yes, I'm in a New Voices community.
17:10 I love it.
17:12 I'm actually in a Madam CJ Walker incubator.
17:16 And that's full circle, you know, a black woman entrepreneur, and, you know, focusing
17:21 on hair care, it's it's to be well as an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, it's very, it can get very
17:28 lonely.
17:29 So to have a community of other entrepreneurs where you can kind of reach out and say, hey,
17:35 you know, we just and inspire each other and also hold each other accountable.
17:40 You know, there's a lot going on.
17:43 And, you know, we're all here for each other and the issues that you think that you are
17:49 only struggling with.
17:51 There's a ton of other business owners and I and the one thing I do love about New Voices
17:56 and the program is they have opportunities to not mentor, but we're part of the community
18:05 of larger brands.
18:08 And no one gatekeeping information, we're all sharing information, learning from each
18:13 other and you know, like with anything hair products, we're not going to no one has one
18:17 brand and you know, in their class, we're all like kind of product junkies, to say the
18:23 least.
18:24 So, again, then New Voices, Essence, it's all come full circle.
18:28 I'm a very young brand.
18:31 I actually debuted at Essence last year and I did really well and it was my first chance
18:38 to be in front of people.
18:39 I had so much anxiety, but I could talk to parents and listen to their struggles and
18:44 issues that they're having with their hair.
18:47 And I like kind of pushed myself and got myself out of, you know, out of my shell.
18:52 You know, as entrepreneurs, we don't really hear about, you know, the experiences with
18:57 our products.
18:58 So that was a really great start for me.
19:00 And I'm just excited for our journey.
19:03 Definitely.
19:04 I was so excited.
19:06 I did not know that that was your debut and you sold out on your debut.
19:11 So it's Essence and it's kids hair care products.
19:16 Like people weren't there for that.
19:17 But what it's just, it was just different.
19:20 And you know, the story behind it and, and you know, our little ones with having the
19:25 opportunity to, you know, build self confidence and talking about, hey, this is not just cute
19:30 products with cute packaging.
19:32 I spent a lot of time because the air out here in Arizona is something.
19:39 All the East Coast people don't want the shrinkage, but you don't want to haste that because there's
19:43 no moisture in the air.
19:45 And it's really a struggle for a lot of parents to keep their, you know, children's hair healthy
19:50 state and moisturize.
19:52 So I just appreciate the opportunity, you know, and this is, this is super exciting
19:58 for me.
19:59 Definitely.
20:00 Oh my gosh.
20:01 Well, Neasha, I want to thank you so, so much for joining us.
20:05 If you guys are watching, make sure you go to her website.
20:08 She is giving us a discount code.
20:10 This is the discount code right here.
20:11 Can get 25 to 25% off, or you can go to sugarpuffhair.com and see everything that she's got to offer
20:18 there.
20:19 It is just, it's a game changer.
20:21 If it works in Arizona, it's going to work where you are.
20:25 It's going to keep them curls and going.
20:27 And look at that cute packaging.
20:29 We'll send this to you.
20:30 Look, keep going.
20:31 Let the magic begin.
20:32 Your kids, they'll be so excited when they see it and that it's coming really, really
20:40 great.
20:41 I wish you the best of luck.
20:43 Hopefully I'll see you at Essence Festival.
20:47 Thank you so much for being on Shop Essence Live.
20:49 Everybody at home, thank you so much for watching and make sure you come back for more black
20:53 owned brands.
20:54 Bye y'all.