Meet Emily Kenison: She is the lawyer-turned-inventor behind RobeCurls and the Curling Headband, a heat- free hair curling tool that combines ease, functionality and style to create effortless, bouncy curls on any hair type. A first-generation American who has always had a passion for helping others, Kenison left the legal world to create fashion and beauty innovations with the goal to make life simple after launching her first product, Straplets, a detachable strap that can be added to strapless shoes to make them safer and more versatile. With a focus on sustainability, problem-solving and functionality, Kenison is thrilled to enter the beauty industry with her newest invention.
Here is what Kenison had to say about the adventure of starting a business, the power of empathetic invention and how to stay connected to your value system as an inventor:
What inspired you to enter the hair care industry?
Like many women, I curled my hair everyday. I love curls, but I was tired of spending an hour every day damaging my hair and even occasionally burning myself (and my countertop) to achieve basic curls that, for me, would fall flat in 30 minutes. I tried every heatless product on the market hoping to find a better solution, but all of them left me frustrated. They were bulky, uncomfortable, embarrassing to wear, and often created undesirable, outdated curls. I was always looking for something better. Then one day, I saw the TikTok hashtag, “#robecurls,” curling hack: women were using a bathrobe belt and getting incredible results. The hack went viral, with over 450 million views and rave reviews from publications. I gave it a shot and, like those TikTokers, I achieved great curls that lasted all day.
I became obsessed with the results, but I was wearing a bathrobe belt on my head. I looked ridiculous! Plus, it wasn’t comfortable and it didn’t stay on properly. I wanted something better; no more sacrificing my health, time or money. I wrote down my criteria for what “best” would be, and decided that I would only launch my product if it could meet this criteria.
Tell me about your journey from the beginning stage of product development to what became the Curling Headband.
In two months and with $500, I went from idea to launch, launching 50 units of the first version of our Curling Headband on Amazon. A week later, we were sold out with $1,000 in sales under our belt. At the time, I had a single fashion student with a sewing machine creating my product. He turned the crude prototype that I created (after teaching myself to sew) into a sellable product. Over the next 12 months, we scaled our production in order to keep up with demand, quickly moving from our single fashion student to a U.S. factory and then moving production again to our overseas factory.
Our primary goal was to get the product in front of customers so we could gather feed- back and make it absolutely perfect. We test- ed our product on over 500 people, having them send us photos of their results. We made sure it worked on all types of hair: short hair, long hair, thick hair, super straight hair, curly hair, wigs, waves and extensions. During this time, we rolled out four substantial updates to our initial version of the Curling Headband. I became an expert in the science of hair, studying trichology. Taking classes on fabrics at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I learned everything about hair healthy fabrics. And I spent hundreds of hours studying heat-free styling methods.
The end result is the product we launched on Indiegogo. A product that not only curls your hair but makes it healthier while you curl. It’s comfortable and stylish, so that our community always feels confident and can truly curl anywhere, anytime — from work to workouts, overnight or out for the day. We made sure our product is the best on the market and we stand by it 100%.
What surprised you most about starting your own business?
I am a former lawyer turned inventor, and the Curling Headband is the second invention I have brought to market, with the first being a footwear accessory that reinvents women’s shoes and their eco-footprint called Straplets. I built Straplets while working a full-time job as a lawyer to self-fund its development. I quit my job a year after launching Straplets, once the business could financially support myself. A couple of months later, however, the pandemic had become a reality, and the footwear industry was significantly affected. The silver lining was that I had already been tinkering in the heat-less hair space out of personal interest. So while I never expected to launch a second invention, the pandemic-related pause in footwear gave me the opportunity to pivot and launch the Curling Headband.
What does innovation mean to you, and why is innovation important?
To me, innovation is finding a new way to solve a problem. It does not need to be high-tech or complicated. It can be super simple, or repurposing a tool traditionally used to solve a different problem to solve another. It can be using a bathrobe belt to curl your hair.
Innovation alone, however, is not enough to make a product important or good for people and beneficial to our society. I believe empathy is the fundamental ingredient that makes innovation important. Great new innovations focus on people, and great innovators deeply understand people’s needs and challenges. When combined with the power of empathy, new innovations have a positive impact on people and communities. Empathy-driven innovation is what matters, and is at the core of everything I create and bring to market.
What advice would you give to other women who are aspiring to start their own businesses or create products?
Always be asking yourself, “Why?” Why doesn’t this product already exist? The answer to why something doesn’t exist may be that no one’s been able to make it well, or no one’s had the time or even the idea. If it does exist, your question then is, “Why will people choose your product over another?” Asking this question makes sure you confirm that there is a need and a market for your product. Once you have that down, put your product or idea out there as soon as possible and get feedback from real customers.
You should also ask yourself “why” from a macro-level. Why do you want to do this? This journey is very long and very hard. Being connected to a deeper value system is what will keep you motivated, and be a running thread throughout the adventure. As a first-generation American from Turkey, my “why” is to inspire and empower wave-makers. My brands embody deep-rooted values of inclusivity, diversity and self-expression. My inventions are thoughtfully and sustainably designed to solve everyday frustrations and lesson our eco-footprint to better the state of our world.
Lastly, be bold and go for the ask! I got Spanx CEO Sara Blakely to be my mentor by asking her.
What’s next for RobeCurls? What are you looking forward to in the future?
With the Curling Headband, we no longer have to sacrifice time, health or money for beauty. We are looking forward to introducing this new wave in hairstyling to the masses to bring them joy and confidence with our innovative tools, so we can spend less time doing our hair, and more time doing what we love. The Curling Headband is just the beginning — we already have a fleshed-out innovative product pipeline to create heat-free, healthy, effortless and easy hair results.
I create innovation for progress. By using my background in law, I identify and secure patents, an anomaly in the fashion industry that gives my creations a unique edge. These products are thoughtfully created to solve everyday frustrations for everyday people. There will be more to come!
