Every entrepreneur has an origin story and for Xclusive Beauty Hair Store owner Talona Ogden, hers is one that many Black people will recognize.
One day, Ogden walked into a local beauty supply store to buy some hair oil. While she was browsing the selection, she noticed that she was being followed closely by an employee, as if she was a thief. The incident made her so angry that she vowed to open her own beauty supply store.
“You don’t have anything I want,” she told the store attendant. “Then I told them that I was coming back and I was going to get their customers.”
Xclusive Beauty Hair Store is South Carolina’s first and only Black-owned beauty supply store offering a range of over 4,000 products for skin and hair, including Ogden’s branded line of hair and lashes. Xclusive Beauty Hair Store sells products online and via local delivery in South Carolina.
Xclusive Beauty Hair Store opened this summer and Ogden told us that one of the biggest challenges in launching her store was her desire to find Black-owned suppliers for her products.
While she is able to carry some Black-owned brands, many of the products Ogden sells come from Asian countries, and according to her experience, there just aren’t many Black people who have been able to break into that supply chain.
“We really need to expand into different areas, so that when someone is starting a business, there are other Black-owned businesses that can help,” she said.
At Xclusive Beauty Hair Store, buying Black comes with an additional benefit: the owner has a wealth of product knowledge, the kind most stores simply can’t provide, because they don’t have the experience.
When asked about her selection of products, Ogden says, “I try to carry the products that people actually want, not just what I want to sell.”
In the future, Ogden plans to release an entire line of branded hair and skin products for customers to purchase, but for now, she is just focused on being a respite for people who want to spend money where they are respected.
Xclusive Beauty Hair Store Website: https://xclusivebeautyhair.com
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