My New Favorite Haircare Brand
It's not something you'd expect...
In Today’s Newsletter
My haircare routine journey
My new favorite brand
and an interview with their founder…
My Haircare Journey
For nearly every routine in my life, I have a very specific brand I love to use.
For skincare I typically use Aesop.
For coffee I use a Chemex and Stumptown beans.
And obviously all my work gets done using products from Apple.
I am an incredibly discerning customer who loves what he loves and takes a researched approach to trying to new things.
Through and through, I just want the products I interact with to add value to my life in the simplest way possible.
But for some reason I never seemed to care about what I was using to wash and style my hair.
In a time where this is no shortage of men’s haircare products from washing to styling and now supplement like Nutrafol that promise to grow and maintain healthier, fuller hair— I struggled to find a brand that really worked for my specific hair type.
This changed recently when I began a search to find a comprehensive haircare routine that would keep my hair looking healthy and full, and not reaching for my Who Do You Know? baseball hat everyday.
I tried a few out from brands like Malin+Goetz, Aesop, and Le Labo, but none of them worked as well as a smaller brand with a ton of history: As I Am.
I tried out their Rosemary Collection which contains—
Rosemary (obviously LOL) which protects against damage, improves blood flow as a vasodilator and is more effective than 2% Minoxidil at maintaining healthy hair growth.
Peppermint: Helps with scalp itchiness. Provides a natural scent & a cooling sensation to the scalp.
Melatonin: Improves hair thickness and density. Clinical studies show Melatonin is a preventive treatment for alopecia and hair loss, delaying hair aging.
Copper Tripeptide: Acts as a skincare ingredient. Strengthens hair follicles, enhances hair elasticity, and promotes hair growth.
After using their full rosemary line-up: shampoo, conditioner, styling mousse, edge control, and rosemary water, I noticed my hair was more manageable, healthier looking, and had a nice shine. It didn’t leave my hair feeling dry and fragile, which was happening a lot when I used the products in the shower at the gym.
I wanted to learn more about As I Am, its history, and how they are redefining haircare for specialized groups.
So I spoke with their founder, Dr. Ali N. Syed, a chemist with 45+ patents who has been developing formulas for the care of textured hair for decades.
Interview with Dr. Syed
JAKE BELL: Your background story is incredibly inspiring, do you mind elaborating a bit on your journey to found As I Am? How did you overcome seemingly obstacle after obstacle to get to where you're at today?
DR. SYED: So we migrated when I was 2 years from India to Pakistan. 1-2 million people died during this migration in 1947. We left with 2 items of clothing on our bodies. The train journey brought us to Pakistan and they would stop the trains on the way and murder everyone. Somehow we survived and wound up in a refugee camp. From the camps they sent us to a remote village. My mother was from the city so the rural area was a huge change for her. This was about 200 miles away from the camp. We had to walk 7-8 miles to get to the next destination. I started school at 5 years old and finished 8th grade in that village. During that time there were food shortages and I contracted Kwashiorkor due to malnutrition. Somehow I survived. When I was in 5th grade I had typhoid fever which lasted 40 days. There were not medicines available, especially in the villages. My maternal uncle had to travel to a distant city to get medicine for me. After middle school I went to high school which was 8 miles away. I biked there each and every day. The temperatures there were usually 115 degrees. I finished high school (high school there was two years). From there I went to intermediate college where I did my 2 year science degree in chemistry/physics and math. My parents had limited money so my mother would make and sell clothes to provide for us. My father had been in the army and police which was corrupt, so my father later became a trainer in the village for physical education. My mother would also counsel women of domestic abuse. I then finished another 2 years of college with my bachelor degree. There was no money left. My father decided to sell our land so that I could go to university. I completed my BSc honors and MSc in chemistry. I was fortunate to teach as a lecturer at the best college in Pakistan, run by american missionaries. The college was Foreman Christian College. I taught there for one year and was given another position at Aitchison College. This college was for the rich and elite of the country. I served there for one year teaching chemistry. Then I left the country to go to east Africa to teach there for a year and a half to get some money where they paid 4x as much as my previous job. In the process I had applied for an immigration visa for the US. I came to the US in 1972 as an immigrant. The obstacles in the US is that people would tell me I was not American educated and not American working experience so we cannot give you a job in your field. So I decided to take a lower level job manufacturing batches of cosmetics. Meanwhile my supervisors realized I was highly educated and gave me referrals to work as a research and product developer in downtown Chicago. We made skin products, hair products, color cosmetics, perfume, even cough syrups. In 1974 I decided to specialize in hair, particularly in curly hair. That’s where I spent about 10 years and had about 5 patents in the process for these companies. I flourished and moved up to laboratory manager. And then I decided to start my own business. The obstacles then were lack of money to start my brands, and my salary was cut in half. But I made a deal with the manufacturer to give me credit and I introduced the first avlon brand Affirm. The patent was introduced within a year. I started teaching and traveling all over the world teaching about the chemistry of hair and my Affirm products to stylists. My teaching experience helped explain the chemistry to hair dressers in a simple manner. The brand started to take off. 5 years later we were distributing our products throughout the US and the UK. As I Am later started when women were going natural and wanting natural hair care products. So by 2010 I launched the As I Am hair care brand which took off quickly. We were able to get into Sally, Walgreens, and Target quite fast. The As I Am brand is now an international brand and we sell to 60 different counties.
JB: Talk to me a bit about the inspiration to start As I Am? What whitespace were you filling when you founded the company?
DR. SYED:
Finding the natural and safest product ingredients was the biggest hurdle. Developing products for the natural hair
Many of the raw material suppliers were not geared to offer natural ingredients. At times we would have to make our own extracts and ingredients based on natural materials.
JB: How has customer feedback informed your products?
DR. SYED: Since we have had a tremendous following in Avlon, they would write to us about developing products for natural hair. We would engage them and find out what their needs were. With our knowledge of formulating products we then geared products for natural hair based with natural ingredients. I am always looking for feedback from the consumer and the hair stylist alike. Even today we have direct communication with the consumers and I personally view their direct feedback. This feedback helps in developing and improving the products. It is a continuous process. You have to continuously keep looking for new ingredients, new technologies and new techniques to develop new products.
JB: I tried out the Rosemary collection, can you talk to me about what makes it so special and the most suitable hair type its for?
DR. SYED: We researched all of the scientific literature regarding rosemary and its properties for helping hair grow healthier. After reading the previous research, we then developed our own strategy to mix rosemary water and rosemary oil together to get the best benefits for both the hair and scalp. In this process we used nano-technology (sub micron-technology) to convert the rosemary oil to smaller particles which are able to penetrate in the scalp better. We also added other ingredients that help to strengthen and moisturize the hair and scalp at the same time. We studied the properties of the Rosemary Collection in our dermatology lab, our research and development salon, and finally with the consumers for the best performance of this collection. After this we went to an independent international research laboratory to conduct a six month study on the consumers and the effects of the Rosemary Collection. Those results have been tremendous. The Rosemary Collection is for all hair types.
JB: As I Am has never taken on any funding, talk to me about the intentionality behind staying independent?
DR. SYED: Once you take funding from a venture capitalist, you lose control of your organization because they have only one goal in mind, and that is to build up quickly, and sell. We are in it for the long haul. We do not wish to sell our organization or lose control of the organization.
JB: As I Am is a boutique brand compared to larger companies, what wisdom can you share on how small, startup brands can gain market share and find their niche?
DR. SYED: For us, we are a scientific research company based on my area of expertise. It is difficult to have quality products made from private label manufacturers. Many times private label companies share the same formulas with multiple companies therefore losing uniqueness. Also private label companies are not normally involved in high end scientific research. My advice is to have a unique vision or a unique product to fill an unmet need in the marketplace. Then create collaborations with various experts to fulfill their visions.
JB: What's next for As I Am?
DR. SYED: There are many frontiers of science which are still in the development as listed in my book (The Curly Hair Book) for example making sure that hair and scalp are moisturized, the hair is strengthened, and the scalp is made healthy with the use of unique natural ingredients. Another frontier is the healthy growth of hair and healthy scalp to prevent hair loss as our consumers age. We are constantly engaged in high end scientific research for the hair and scalp/skin of our consumers. We have a lot of new and exciting products currently in the works.
Learn more and purchase As I Am here.
Jake Bell is a brand consultant, creative strategist, designer, and writer based in NYC.
He specializes in brand building, content strategy, creative direction, business development, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
Loved reading this!