“I started out of a love I had for hair.” Those were the words of 27-year-old Sherelle ‘Asherlee’ Curtis in describing how she conceptualised the manufacturing of her very own hair products — Asherlee Naturals.

But what started out of love has now grown into a healthy manufacturing business. So thriving is the business that the young entrepreneur is now exporting her products to the United States.

“Since 2015, Asherlee Naturals has formed fruitful relations with individuals, retailers, and salon owners across the United States,” Curtis told the Jamaica Observer in an interview yesterday. “It has allowed accessibility in some parts of the United States and we are now working to get shelf space for our products in New York, Maryland and Connecticut.”

Teaming with her husband, Curtis started the production of a natural haircare product line back in 2009, after she encountered difficulties trying to find products that worked for her natural hair.

“I noticed that there weren’t a lot of natural hair products in Jamaica, so I started experimenting with home-grown products and used them in my hair,” she told the Business Observer.

“After I started using them I got a lot of compliments about my hair, and I would make the products for friends but more persons kept coming. I then realised I could start a business from what I had created.”

Fast-forward to 2013, when Curtis launched the Asherlee Naturals haircare product line, which includes a moisturising herbal black shampoo, a deep repair ultra-moisturising conditioner, a provitamin B5 and marshmallow leave-in cream, a nourishing daily hair butter, leave-in spritz, a loc love butter, an aloe vera and honey hot oil treatment, a detangling spray, a hair butter sealant, and a scalp and hair growth serum.

Operating from her home off Molynes Road, Curtis and her husband are the geniuses behind the Asherlee product line, from conception to the shelves.

They maintain that love is the main ingredient, which is infused with locally sourced products such as coconut oil, honey, rosemary, orange, aloe vera, mango butter, among others.

“The black soap shampoo is made from different herbs and ingredients such as chamomile, honey, aloe vera, nettle and sage, which is good for the scalp and also moisturises. It’s also sulphate-free, so you don’t have to worry about your hair being dry after using it,” Curtis explained.

The leave-in conditioner, also infused with herbs, is applied after shampooing and can be used daily to revive dull hair. The hot oil treatment prevents dryness, breakage and damage, and gives great results if used before shampooing, while the nourishing hair butter and deep conditioner are moisturisers made up of shea butter and mango butter, it may also be used to strengthen the hair.

“This year has also seen a more deliberate push towards brand awareness,” the entrepreneur stated. “We have been offered an opportunity to be featured in a major international magazine, which we are unable to disclose just now, but this was brought to us because of a model they are featuring in the particular issue, who used our nourishing hair butter cream and has had very good reviews of the product.”

According to Curtis, the shampoo, leave-in conditioner and the moisturising conditioner have been the favourites so far on the market. Starting at $700, the products can be found in Kingston at Earthy Elements, Beautiful Earth Haven, Nettle and Moss, Discount Beauty Supplies, and at Divine Living Essentials in Montego Bay.

She is a full-time career developer at the HEART Trust/NTA and dreams of making Asherlee Naturals an international brand. She also eyes the addition of a hair mask to her 10 products.

‘We are completing plans to launch a new line of products, which we’ve been promoting since last year,” she said. “We’ve delayed for a while, but are finalising efforts to launch our e-commerce feature to enable purchasers overseas to order and pay for products solely from our website.”