A brand beloved by UK curlies, Flora & Curl has gone from strength to strength since its conception in 2017. Now, with 20 awards under its belt and partnerships with two of the largest high street drugstores, Superdrug and Boots, owner Rose Ovensehi has made the exciting decision to rebrand.
The new Flora & Curl offers a more refined product range, with more emphasis on botanicals and sustainability. Plus, updated packaging that looks fun and eye catching, yet high-end.
Here, Rose tells us more about the rebrand, how she overcomes entrepreneurial challenges, and the steps she takes to ‘switch off’ after a day’s work.
Flora & Curl has been a curly girl bathroom staple since 2017! Why the rebrand, and why now?
In January 2022, we embarked on a plan to update our branding and packaging in order to become a more sustainable haircare brand. Our previous labels served us very well in communicating the plant-powered and goal-oriented purpose of our botanical products and collection. The goal of our rebrand is to elevate our unique proposition: we want to effectively communicate and highlight our new eco-friendly and plant-powered credentials. The additional goals are to enhance our brand identity to make it more luxurious, modern and even more high-value. In addition, we wanted to use this opportunity to refine our product offering, make the range more uniform and the product titles easier to understand. We genuinely care about our customers, and we serve to provide educational and relatable content that can enable them to make informed decisions to achieve healthier hair, but also to make more sustainable decisions. In addition, if we are a brand that believes in the power of plants and the brilliant and wonderful ingredients that nature has to offer us, we should equally care about our impact on our environment too. We are strengthening our commitment to planting trees.
Flora & Curl is centred around botanicals – can we still expect that from the new Flora & Curl?
Yes absolutely. We continue to formulate haircare products powered by plants
for textured hair. We focus on nature’s most hydrating ingredients to nourish
textured hair. Compared to the norm, our recipes are completely free from
synthetic fragrances, and instead, we use 100% plant derived aromas to
fragrance our range.
What are the best and worst parts of developing new products for your
brand?
The best part is seeing the positive feedback after customers get their hands
on our new products. The worst part is how long it takes to develop a new
product, because we want to ensure that we create something that will make
a difference, and that each new recipe is thoroughly tried and tested and
goes through all the necessary internal steps and checks to ensure that we
can deliver brilliant haircare recipes that will seriously wow and impress our
customers. Our standards are very high before we give a new product the
green light to meet our customers.
Building a successful product brand is challenging, let alone one that is
natural and sustainable. What has kept you grounded during your
entrepreneurial journey?
Remaining steadfast on our mission to simplify. I started Flora & Curl because
I was overwhelmed by the amount of options and didn’t know where to start.
I thought you needed more to achieve more, but my mission with Flora & Curl
is to create a range of products that allow our customers to save time in their
routine, because I believe that less is more. Ultimately, we believe that taking
care of our natural hair shouldn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.
We strip back the extras with our streamlined range of high quality,
botanically powered haircare products for all curl types.
What’s your Floral & Curl recipe for a relaxing self-care evening?
I love to run a bath with some bath salts and essential oils. Water can be
therapeutic. Then have a simple evening skincare routine so that my skin is supple and glowing – I love hemp seed oil and carrot seed oil and the super healthy body creme by BeautyPie smells so good and applies so nicely on the skin . I then put on my favourite TV show to binge watch (currently Gilmore Girls or Virgin River) and I put my feet up and maybe have a little ice cream (because, why not?!). For me, homemaking and making my home feel cosy makes me happy after work.
As a business owner, it can be hard to ‘switch off’. What boundaries do you
have in place to protect your headspace?
I have to mentally tell myself to switch off and not think about work. Because
even if you’re not in the office, your mind can still be there. Creating a
separation between work life and personal life can be achieved by not using
your personal phone for work after work, deleting work apps if needed,
modifying notification settings, and then being very disciplined about your
routine and schedule. Delegating is important as a CEO. Have a team that is
willing and able to support you in managing your workload.
Having recently launched in Boots, it seems that Flora & Curl is taking over
the UK! What’s your ultimate goal for the brand?
Our goal is to ship to every corner of the world and bring our products into
key retailers that can elevate our brand and support our customers.
With all the success you’ve achieved over the past six years, including gracing
the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, how does it feel to be an authority on haircare?
It feels incredible. I have lots to share, and I am so happy that I’ve made a
difference. I am learning how to pat myself on the back and reward myself. I have worked hard over the last two years, and I am so happy that the vision that I had for the rebrand, as a creative person, has materialised so well.
What’s the most common piece of hair advice you’re always giving out?
Keep it simple. Protective style, low manipulation routines are great for your
hair. Also, embrace change and don’t be afraid to experiment with your hair.
Length isn’t the only goal!
Shop Flora & Curl at floracurl.co.uk
