Monique Ingram, Owner of Go Sleek Hair
www.gosleek.com
Hairstylist Monique Ingram parlayed her love of hair into the successful beauty brand, Go Sleek Hair. Having been in business for nine years, the entrepreneur knows a thing or two about healthy hair. Her empire – that started with hair servicing and supplements – grew into various hair extension products, including clip-ins and ponytails. This beauty maven shared tips on how her brand stands out from the rest.
OTC: What inspired you to start Go Sleek Hair?
INGRAM: I started Go Sleek in 2013 as a hair supplement and hair service brand. I focused on healthy hair, and my first product was hair growth vitamins. In 2015, I put Go Sleek on the back burner and started another hair company with a partner – that was eventually dissolved. In 2017, Go Sleek became my main focus, so I rebranded, offering Cambodian extensions and units. Every year, the brand evolves to introduce new products that align with the company’s vision of “enhancing natural beauty.” We’ve added clip-ins, ponytails, u-parts, flat irons, an infrared hairdryer and a wand, just to name a few.
The pandemic changed the game and accelerated the brand’s strategy pushes us to evolve into a DIY luxury hair brand. We started providing content that showed How-To videos for maintaining healthy tresses and adding extensions from the comfort of the buyer’s home, and fast! The pandemic required us to move fast to meet the demands of our buyers, so we expanded our product line to include heatless rollers, edge paste and other products.
OTC: What are your top-requested products?
INGRAM: I definitely would say the clip-ins because of their ability to give our buyers a naturally enhanced look quickly. And with the introduction of our ponytails, edge paste and the heatless rollers, it’s been close calls lately.
OTC: Self-care is a huge focus in our culture right now. How does your business accommodate that?
INGRAM: We have evolved into a DIY brand which is the ultimate form of self-care. Self-care is all about doing what one loves and feeling refreshed and fabulous afterward. I believe our brand adds the finishing touch on a day of self-care without breaking the bank or taking all day. A woman’s hair is her crown and glory, so being able to enhance your beauty with our extensions or polish off your look with our products is just the thing any self-care regimen needs.
OTC: As a Black woman in the beauty business, what has been your experience trying to break into this industry?
INGRAM: It has not been hard, by the definition of ‘struggle,’ but it’s been challenging. I love what I do and the experiences we provide our buyers. For me, it hardly ever feels like work, but I am faced with challenges every day being a business owner. I must balance my family life and my growing and thriving business while maintaining a sense of independence – that’s the challenge. It’s fun developing new products, sharing new information with the brand’s followers and hearing their feedback – so much fun! There is a lot of competition in this industry, and a lot of hair brands are doing the same thing, but my motto is, “show up every day and give value in my products and content.”
OTC: What’s up next for your company?
INGRAM: Whatever the people want!!! We listen to the feedback from our buyers, and our product innovation team gets to work. We are always expanding our product line, but our next big step is global recognition. We are still a growing brand, and not enough people know about us yet, so there’s lots of fun work to do.
