After the social distancing of the pandemic, salon owner Akilia Darrell saw many Black clients ditch chemical hair straighteners in favour of natural growth.

However, this change was not without its challenges for the owner of Hair Am I at 38 Union Street in Hamilton.

“It takes a lot of hair oils and moisturisers to take care of natural hair,“ she said. “Suddenly, I was paying a staggering amount to import natural haircare products. It was challenging to get the right products for the right price.”

To bring down costs, she formulated her own Hair Am I haircare line. She had her items manufactured in China and shipped to Bermuda.

At first they were available only at her salon.

“Then everybody was saying it would be nice if they could buy the products somewhere outside of the business,” she said. “I thought, let me try and get them into a few stores.”

It was not easy.

“It took a lot of e-mails,” Ms Darrell said. “It was a lot of knocking on doors, multiple times, and checking with people. Our production had to be at a certain level and the product had to look a certain way.”

The hard work paid off last year when the Phoenix Stores agreed to carry her line. Then a manager contacted her to say his daughter was using Hair I Am products, and he wanted to sell them at his store in Warwick.

From there, sales blossomed.

“MarketPlace came on board,” she said. “It was like a domino effect. Once people saw it working and thought why not take it on board and make the revenue?”

Ms Darrell now has 13 haircare offerings in 15 stores across the island.

“Our top-three sellers are definitely the edge control, the braid gel, which is sold for braiding locks or ponytails, and our growth oil, because a lot of people experience hair loss through pregnancy, stress or just genetics.”

Things are going so well she has downsized her salon to better focus on sales.

“After 13 years running the salon, it was a hard decision to make,” she said. “Before, we were doing barbering, make-up and nails. Now I am just focused on hair. We still do hair — all natural and chemically treated, extensions and braiding in the store.”

She only uses her own line at Hair Am I, so clients get to experience them.

Ms Darrell finds that more relaxing.

“Managing people is very hard, and there has been a shift in the economy,” she said. “Many people have left the island, lost a job or are taking care of their own hair, rather than going to a salon.”

Ultimately, she would like to take her Hair Am I line beyond Bermuda. The next step is to set up a commercial website.

She said: “I get a lot of messages from people in Canada and England, but obviously we cannot do any money transactions without a website.”

One of her challenges is funding.

“Hair Am I is becoming quite popular,” she said. “As soon as I stock, things sell out. In order to really keep up with demand and take my small business to the next level, I need an investor.”