In the wake of the recent killings of innocent Black men by incompetent racist police officers, the importance of how we use our $1.1 Trillion economic power has once again risen to the surface. Buy Black always comes up in light of these type of horrific racial crimes as many are convinced that marching can only do so much. It’s the money that talks that can bring real change.

In the wake of the recent killings of innocent Black men by incompetent racist police officers, the importance of how we use our $1.1 Trillion economic power has once again risen to the surface. Buy Black always comes up in light of these type of horrific racial crimes as many are convinced that marching can only do so much. It’s the money that talks that can bring real change. In my opinion demonstrations are functional but more than just a call to support Black-owned businesses, learning to consciously spend our dollar will truly make a difference. Money talks but utilize your spending power and you’ll speak volumes.

Mind shift
Although it is great that the call to buy Black resulted in Black-owned banks signing up thousands of new customers in recent weeks, we should not have to wait for plain public slaughterings of our people  to support Black-owned businesses.

At the same time, I do realize it can be quite a challenge to support Black-owned businesses. Yet, rather than citing stereotypical notions that we have been fed for centuries, just like with our hair, I suggest you watch One Family’s Effort to Buy Black for a Year or read Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy. You’ll get an understanding of where we are and hopefully be inspired to make an effort to support Black-owned businesses. Here is an updated directory: http://blackfollicles.com/buy-black

So what do you do?
My question in trying times like these is always, what else can I do? Twitter and facebook shares are not really going to cut it, don’t you agree? For me the answer was very clear this time. I used the opportunity to finally bring to life this idea that had been manifesting in my mind for years: A one-stop shop offering Black hair care products from us by us so that no matter where we reside, if we can connect to the web we will be able to find the hair care products we are looking for from the manufacturers we want to support. 

A One-Stop-Shop to utilize our $500 Million Black Hair Care Market

The reason for this marketplace is hopefully, obvious. Going-natural.com, online since 2002, has been at the root of the internet revolution that sparked the online natural hair movement and propelled the Black hair business to this new dimension. Yet there is more.

My main inspiration comes from the fact that Black women are the driving force behind the Black hair care industry but it’s not reflected anywhere. The inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs who keep building this industry earn next to nothing from it. Companies that wouldn’t even hire us with our natural hairstyles are striking up the profits.

No one knows our follicles like we do. We are the authority on Black hair so it’s only natural that we should also own this industry and o yes we can! We may not have the capital to go toe to toe with big corporations but we sure have the power to get our share.

The growing ecommerce climate with powerful social media tools offers us the opportunity to turn things around. The click of a share can not only give Black hair care entrepreneurs the opportunity to grow their business; It also has the potential to create a shift so Black businesses can take back the hold of the $500 million Black hair care industry. 

Black follicles are the one thing that connect us throughout the Diaspora and beyond, regardless of our origin, religious beliefs or political differences. So with the growing internet highway connecting us, the potential is endless. All we need to do is to make it happen and to make it happen, I need your support. 

I gladly built the foundation WhatNaturalsLove.com so you can easily support by shopping and sharing. It’s as easy as that. I can’t wait to serve you and ship your orders. Recommendations of what brands to add are also very welcome.