# Ouidad hair products: Ouidad Wise

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2024-07-08
- Length: 1h 04m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise

## Summary

Ouidad Wise, co-founder of the Ouidad curly hair care brand, explains how she turned a personal struggle with managing tight curls into a multi-million dollar business alongside her husband Peter. Starting with a specialized salon in New York City, they identified a gap in the market for curly hair products, leading to a direct-to-consumer mail-order line and later retail expansion with the help of private equity firms like JH Partners. Wise details the operational challenges of scaling production, the emotional toll of balancing family life with a 16-year long-distance commute, and her eventual sale of the company in 2018.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=0) Introduction: Ouidad Wise and the Ouidad Brand
- [4:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=292) Early Life and Cosmetology Training
- [19:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=1187) Meeting Peter and Opening the Salon
- [30:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=1817) Launch Challenges and First Customers
- [35:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=2144) Formulating Products and Sourcing Ingredients
- [38:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=2299) Scaling to Direct Response and Manufacturing
- [40:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=2403) Balancing Family, Salon, and Product Growth
- [47:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=2829) The Climate Control Collection and Retail Expansion
- [53:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise#t=3233) Private Equity, Sale, and Life After Ouidad

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Ouidad (product)
- Condé Nast (company)
- L'Oreal (company)
- Chanel (company)
- Mac (company)
- Bumble and Bumble (company)
- Unilever (company)
- JH Partners (company)
- Ulta (company)
- Sephora (company)
- Climate Control Collection (product)
- Garnier (product)
- Hearst (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [019: Organic haircare products with Susana Stewart & Caroline Maina of Fro Butter](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-09-20-019-organic-haircare-products-with-susana-stewart-caroline-maina-of-fro-butter) (Product Startup)
- [Founder Feature: Akua Boakye Okunseinde of Karité](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-02-21-founder-feature-akua-boakye-okunseinde-of-karite) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [021: Using Public Research to Develop WINK Lash and Brow Oil with Megan Cox of Amalie Beauty](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-04-021-using-public-research-to-develop-wink-lash-and-brow-oil-with-megan-cox-of-am) (Product Startup)
- [#59 Welcome to the Oat Haus! Celebrity Collaboration, Sprouts Launch, and Mental Health with Ali Bonar](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2022-08-30-59-welcome-to-the-oat-haus-celebrity-collaboration-sprouts-launch-and-mental-hea) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [170 - Wipes and Weenus Wednesday w/Sean Riley and AJ Peek](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2022-11-30-170-wipes-and-weenus-wednesday-w-sean-riley-and-aj-peek) (People of Packaging)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-07-08-ouidad-hair-products-ouidad-wise. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.