Respected Roots

Respected Roots Men’s Grooming Company

Junious Ricardo Stanton

 

Men’s grooming, hair and skin care, beard and facial health products have become a booming business. According to observers the male grooming and skin care industry is predicted to reach $26 billion in revenue by 2020. Barbershops, beards and fly hair styles are on the uptick and two African-American entrepreneurs Jaret Patterson and Jason L. Hawkins are posed to take full advantage of this trend. The two partnered in 2015 to found Respected Roots a company that produces facial hair care products especially for African-American men.

Jaret Patterson created his first product, a beard conditioner, to solve a very real personal challenge; there were no facial hair products that met his needs. Patterson started off with the one product and he sold it while working full time on his 9-5 job. He partnered with Jason Hawkins who contributed the marketing and sales acumen that allowed them to increase their brand visibility and market presence.  They saved their profits, plied them back into the company until they got to the point they could focus all their time and energy into the company and began to branch out beyond the Atlanta metropolitan area.

The partners were in Philadelphia last month vending and demonstrating their products at the 2018 International Locks Conference. Jaret took time to share why and how they formed the company. The former Detroit native who relocated to Atlanta said, “The company is co-owned by myself and Jason Hawkins.  I created this brand Respected Roots for many reasons, the first product I had was a beard conditioner. I wanted something I could put on my beard that was first natural that feels good and smells good but I couldn’t find anything on the market so I had to create it. My beard was brittle and dry, lotion wasn’t enough it would break off so I created a formula to moisturize my beard and skin.  

At heart I’m a problem solver, I’m a creator. I was that kid who got in trouble because I took the VCR apart to see how it worked than put it back together and made it work. That’s how the formulas came about. I always wanted our people to look and feel like kings and queens when they use the product, that’s why our colors are black and gold because they are royal colors.”

The company makes a series of products that address the issues Black men experience with their skin and beards. “We have a razor bump solution that’s great for ingrown hairs that gently smoothes the skin so the hairs can penetrate the follicle and not return into the skin. Hair doesn’t grow straight all over your head and face; some people have a swirl pattern on their cheek and you may get razor bumps on that part of your face. You may have to change the shaving pattern instead of shaving against the grain shave with the grain by that I mean the direction of hair growth. You want to minimize skin irritation.  Our products are for enhancing what you already have by replacing the natural oils in the skin.”

The company also makes other products for the skin; while they are primarily a men’s brand women like and use the body butter too. To market their products the company participates in shows like the International Locks Conference, they also offer Online videos, tutorials and sales on their Website, they use social media, they conduct focus groups to get feedback about their products and they cultivate networks of professionals and they are planning to conduct seminars and workshops to familiarize the public with their products. “We want to be able to put our product in as many places as possible while having a mutually beneficial relationship. We have our products in places like Wal-Mart and the mom and pop barber shops.”

Their short term goal is to expand their brand profile and availability and create contacts with regional distributors. “Short term our goal is to continue to grow the brand nationally. Wherever you go to get your beauty products eventually you will see our Respected Roots products. This is our first trip to Philly we started up north in New York and are working our way down.”

Long term they want to cultivate economic empowerment by showing others how to have a business. “We want to teach people how to be business minded, educate them in multiple ways, teach consumers how to take care of themselves, educate barbers how to create a business while they are in business  and show people how to start and LLC and what tax laws to be aware of to grow your business.”

Respected Roots products are available at Amazon and on their Website https://www.respectedroots.com/#

 

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