High Tech Haircare: Myavana Launches Personalized Picks For Women of Color

Myavana, created by the co-founders of Techturized Inc., has launched a new hair analysis service to solve the pain that many women of color have with their hair— not knowing what products are right to use and how to manage styling on a day-to-day basis. The service is now exclusively available for the first 100 customers who purchase a hair care plan for a one time fee. The company’s vision is to help take the guess work out of caring for your hair. Myavana will be the catalyst of breakthrough for millions of women around the world by creating an unprecedented, innovative product to an outdated industry, while reinventing the standard of beauty.

So how does it work? You start your order on their Website by completing an initial set of profile data. You will receive a prepaid mailer in 3-5 business days to send in hair strands that naturally shed through the combing process in a prepaid mailer. Your hair is analyzed in a lab setting and recommendation plan mailed back to you, including products, hairstyles, informational content, and hair care professionals recommended for your unique hair type and your hair goals. You will also receive a Myavana membership welcome kit that includes a t-shirt, membership card and discounts with salons and hair products. The company also has a mobile app to complement the personalized hair care service. On the app, women can discover new hairstyles, products, and local stylists in their area, serving as a one stop shop for all things hair.

The founders are black women in STEM, a computer scientist and chemical engineer, serving as the technical brains behind the business. They met at Georgia Tech during their undergraduate career and have developed a passion to empower women and change the face of technology and entrepreneurship. What better way to begin that journey than through a field that affects all women – hair care, a “for us, by us” mentality through their personal experiences with hair growing up and learning from the experiences of their family, friends, and female peers. “Hair represents a lot to women. It’s confidence, freedom, identity, attitude, and our self-expression, handed down generation after generation from our mothers, grandmothers, and ancestors. We deserve to have the best resources to take care of our crowns, and ultimately be our best self, ” state Candace (co-founder, CEO) and Chanel (co-founder, COO). The New York Times recently reported on black women finding growing business opportunity in care for their hair: “We’re aware of where our dollars are going, we’re aware of the power of our dollars, we’re aware of the cultural significance of the way that we choose to wear our hair,” said Patrice Grell Yursik, the founder of Afrobella, a popular natural-hair blog. “There’s been a lot of taking back the power, and a lot of that is from the Internet.”

The application of technology in this market has the potential to completely transform the industry by creating a more targeted, personalized experience for consumers and navigate the hundreds of products to understand what uniquely works for each woman. The co-founders also envision tremendous economic opportunity in the black community by creating businesses that leverage our own spending power. Black Enterprise has previously reported on African-American’s Buying Power Projected to be $1.1 Trillion By 2015. The Huffington Post also shed light on the changing business of black hair, a potentially $500 billion industry.

Myavana is now participating in the DreamIt Ventures startup program in Philadelphia, one of the top startup accelerators in the country. Their home office is located in Atlanta, GA.

For more information, visit Myavana.com/

Candace Mitchell (@candyVmitchell) is co-founder and CEO of Techturized Inc., enabling hair care personalization capabilities in the market for female consumers around the world.