The company’s mission to “empower all individuals to embrace their natural hair” is inspired by Founder and Formulator Merian Odesho’s struggle with styling her own curls and by traditional beauty formulations that she traces back to her family’s Middle Eastern roots.
“My grandmother played an important role in developing my hair care routines, and she has been my inspiration for Bounce Curl.” Odesho says. “She would mix up special formulas using only natural ingredients, and she always used black seed oil.”
Bounce Curl gets its start
Odesho combined her studies in chemistry, personal beauty quest and commitment to safe ingredients to launch Bounce Curl online in 2015 while still in her mid-20s.
The company’s first product, the Bounce Curl Hair Gel, remains its most popular to date, but the brand has since expanded to over a dozen products including shampoos, conditioners, stylers, vitamins and a botanical tea. Its latest: the Full Cleanse & Hydrate Kit with a turmeric detox mask, clarifying shampoo and deep conditioner.
“We launched this kit in February of 2021, when we realized that our customers were looking for a kit that would clean their hair as well as hydrate it,” Odesho explains.
The brand expects to add hair gummies, body butters and hair oil to the product line next year.
Formulating cleaner, greener and safer
As a member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and formulator of all Bounce Curl products, Odesho says she searches for new ingredients that follow green chemistry principles. She has already reformulated several products and switched to greener preservatives in 2020.
“We are seeing the demand for hair formulas with a higher percentage of naturally-derived ingredients continue to increase,” she told Cosmetics Design-USA. “People are starting to pay attention to ingredients, so that will always remain our focus.”
Formulations put forward ingredients like pomegranate and pumpkin enzymes, organic apple cider vinegar, charcoal, turmeric, green tea and Odesho’s grandmother’s black seed oil to cleanse, hydrate and promote healthier hair growth. Certified organic, plant-derived styler actives include boswellia carterii, aloe barbadensis and Panax ginseng extracts and avocado, Moroccan rose and argan oils. Hair perfume is made from a 100% essential oil blend.
“Clean Beauty is using uncompromising ingredients to create curly hair products that will actually style, moisturize and hold your beautiful curls, waves and coils,” Odesho says.
Bounce Curl formulates cruelty-free, color safe and vegan products without silicones, parabens, sulfates, PEGs, DEA/MEA, propylene and butylene glycol. All are top rated on the ThinkDirty app, which helps consumers filter out products that contain toxic ingredients like carcinogens, hormone disruptors and allergens.