Calling all Kings! We’re spotlighting a Black-owned brand that maintains Black male manes with satin-lined protection.
Source: King’s Crowning / King’s Crowning
Darrell Spencer is the visionary CEO/Founder of Kings Crowning, the premier hair and beauty brand exclusively designed for African-American men by an African-American man.
Per an official bio, Kings Crowning was birthed when Spencer noticed a void in the haircare industry when it comes to products tailored specifically for Black men. After seeing that there wasn’t an alternative to traditional bonnets typically worn by women to safeguard a Black man’s hair, he went to work and created his signature product; The Crown.
Now after disrupting the $100 billion hair and beauty industry, Spencer has grown the brand to more than 8 figures and he’s detailing his business to BOSSIP.
Below Darell Spencer talks Kings Crowning, entrepreneurship, and the importance of protecting Black male manes.
Tell us about your background and how you decided to join the Black haircare business.
So I thought back about how I even got the courage and audacity to create my own brand and get into this beauty space. I have a long history of working in the digital advertising space. So I’ve worked for the biggest tech companies when I was in corporate America. I worked for Facebook, I worked for Google, I worked for LinkedIn, I worked for Pinterest. I worked for all of them in digital advertising. So essentially I worked with many of the top brands and companies helping them advertise on the Google platform, on the Facebook platform, on LinkedIn. I did that for years, and I helped many businesses and brands generate millions of dollars, and I’m like, “Okay, I’m an intelligent person. I’m helping them all garner a lot of sales and revenue through advertising. Why shouldn’t I do it myself?”
I learned a ton working in that space, in the field, working in big tech and digital advertising, so I decided to put it to use. In 2020, a few years out, I was growing my hair out for a while, and I was waking up in the morning with my hair just all over the place and everywhere. I didn’t want to wear a bonnet because you know how it goes, right? Bonnets are gendered, they’re marketed to women. So I didn’t want to wear a bonnet. So I’m like, “There has to be a product out there that’s similar to a bonnet but catered and marketed to men.” I didn’t find it. I searched everywhere, all across Google, and Facebook, to find any kind of products there. But, at that time, there weren’t any products that were marketed towards men to promote healthy hair and to provide a viable product to wear overnight, to protect your hair, so I created it.
I initially rolled out our very, very first product, which was called The Crown, and it’s an adjustable satin-lined cap. Now, this is very key because, at the time when I rolled out this product, there were no kinds of products that were legitimately marketing for men, right? I was the very first, so, really, I had to figure out how to market this product because men weren’t wearing bonnets. That’s what it was. So I had to figure out really strategic marketing angles to really make this a thing. To my surprise, I wasn’t the only Black man or man of color that really needed a product like this.
We rolled it out and in our first year in business, we did a little under a million, second year in business we did well over a million. Now, we do multi-millions in one year, and we’re a multi-million dollar company. I said that all to say it started with a need for myself. It was a personal need, a personal necessity. I just needed product that I could sleep in to protect my hair. I wanted to wake up, take it off, and go to work. I was tired of having these long a** processes and that’s how it started. Then I utilized my background in digital marketing at these big tech companies to really pull the lever on my business. Then we invested heavily in paid ads for our business, too.
Source: King’s Crowning / King’s Crowning
The Crown is your signature product, tell us how it works. We noticed that the back of it has an adjustable band to make sure it’s not sliding off while you sleep.
Absolutely. At this point, we have two products. Our flagship was The Crown, and our second product is the satin-lined turban. For the Crown, essentially, what makes it unique is the fact that it’s adjustable and it’s lined with satin, premium satin, but there’s an adjustable strap. So whether or not you have a bigger head, a smaller head, we can adjust the cap and the crown to the sides of your head. So it’s very unique as I know that most times also, for men and women, when sleeping with a bonnet, it falls off overnight. Sometimes it isn’t as secure. I wanted to create a feature for the product that allows it to secure on your head so you can wake up, your hair’s intact, and it also didn’t fall off. So, yeah, it’s a very unique feature that we have that allows it to get as loose or as tight as you want overnight.
What other products does your brand offer?
Yeah, so we started out with The Crown, and The Crown did amazing, but The Crown was marketed towards men with afros, curls, and longer hair. Then it got to the point where we did so well, men with waves were like, “Well, Darrell, what can you do for us? We love Kings Crowning, but what products are available for us?” So then we rolled out satin-lined baseball hats, satin-lined brimless hats, satin-lined hoodies, and satin-lined turbans. Then, the next thing we knew, we just had a plethora of satin-lined products because one thing about us… And I created the brand because I never wanted men to sacrifice the health of their hair for style. So I wanted to create stylish products for men but that also kept in mind how to keep your hair healthy, and the piece is the satin. So our second product that honestly garners a lot of sales are satin-lined turbans. They’re satin-lined, and they’re pre-tied head wraps. Essentially, they’re satin on the inside, but it wraps up as if it’s a turban, and it’s already pre-tied. We’ve been doing that for a few years, and those have been flying off the shelves as well.
Black male-owned products are very rare in the beauty space, what has the reception to that been like?
Honestly, it’s been amazing. If I can tell you how many emails I get daily with people asking if we’re Black owned because, as you said, there is an issue with outsiders coming into the market and dominating the market and creating products that are made for us but you don’t look like us. I think that many people love me and my brand because I understand the struggle that they experience because I go through it myself. I created these products because, honestly, I know the solution that they fit because, honestly, they’re my own problems. So I can relate, and I can create this product.
I try to be as visible as possible with this brand. So, in many of the ads, you’ll see myself. On many Reels, many TikToks, you’ll see me because I think it’s important to show that there’s representation in this brand for you, right? A Black man created it, and a Black man know your struggles, which is the reason why I created all these products that I did create. So, overall, the reception, honestly, is overwhelming because they’re just very grateful that there was a Black man that thought about these products and thought about these problems and created these solutions for them.
What advice do you have for people who want to be entrepreneurs?
One thing that I would say is to start within your network. You only know what you know, so ask questions, start within your network. One thing that I did was look within my network, those that were close to me, did I know anybody who created a brand or even a similar brand or a smaller brand, and pick their brains, do your research. Honestly, it’s very cliche, but your network is honestly your net worth. I stand by that because there are so many people that came before me that have ran companies that I went to for knowledge, for notes on how to do this, how to release these products. They gave me so many gems.
So I would say, honestly, if you have an idea, if you have a concept, look within your network first and see if there anybody that’s done anything similar and take some time, even an hour, to pick their brains, learn what they know, learn from their mistakes, and then go from there. Because I think sometimes we’re so afraid to ask questions that we end up being further back from the finish line because we are afraid to ask questions. We have so much pride. But pride kills a lot of things. Pride kills joy, and pride kill success. So I think that if you’re able to get out of your head, you got to get out of your head and drop your ego and ask questions. I think that that can push you a lot further in your entrepreneurial career.
Lastly, tell us where to follow you, follow you and King’s Crowning.
I provide tips for success in entrepreneurship and everything E-commerce, so people can use me as a resource. You can find me personally at @df_spencer on Instagram. You can find the brand on IG at @kings_crowning and shop with us at KingsCrowning.com.