Picture Supply: Konnie Wells
Konnie Wells’s ardour for engineering began in highschool. “I used to be launched to the Nationwide Society of Black Engineers, and I ended up entering into that program,” Wells tells POPSUGAR. After fostering that curiosity, she was launched to 3D printing and design in school. “I went to the College of Missouri, Kansas Metropolis, and whereas I used to be there, these have been my favourite topics,” she says. “I did not actually take pleasure in any of the opposite stuff.” Noticing her affinity for the area, her greatest buddy purchased her a 3D printer, and he or she’s been merging her love of know-how and hair ever since.
Whether or not you are one in all Wells’s nearly 30,000 TikTok followers or simply one of many thousands and thousands who’ve stumbled upon her movies on the app, you already know that the engineer has an affinity for taking beloved magnificence merchandise and equipment up a notch. “I discovered the right way to braid once I was 12, however I do not actually take pleasure in it,” Wells says. “A lot of my 3D printing now comes from me questioning what I can do to make the method simpler, extra pleasing, and aesthetically pleasing.”
This curiosity has led to Wells creating braiding stands, gel wristbands, protractor combs, and even filters to assist individuals half their hair extra simply — the video that includes the latter has been considered greater than three million occasions and counting. Nonetheless, her preliminary expertise with the sweetness area was born out of necessity. “I needed to discover ways to do hair after my older sister left,” she says. “I might observe on my youthful sibling, and it resulted in me having to DIY so much as a result of we did not have a lot cash to go to the sweetness provide retailer.” Working with makeshift instruments and equipment inadvertently ready Wells to turn out to be a number one innovator within the magnificence area.
As she continues to merge the worlds of 3D printing and wonder, Wells not solely desires to create modern merchandise but in addition invoke change within the trade from the within out. “On the forefront of something that I design is a want to make magnificence merchandise extra useful for Black girls,” Wells says. “We should not need to repurpose home goods like thread racks to realize our desired appears, and we should not settle for that manufacturers have blatantly been disregarding our wants within the hair area, particularly after we are one in all magnificence’s largest customers.” It is true — in 2021, Black Individuals spent nearly seven billion {dollars} on beauty-related objects making up 11.1 p.c of the full US magnificence market, in line with McKinsey. Nonetheless, true fairness within the area continues to be an uphill battle.
Whereas she is conscious of how a lot of an enterprise this ardour challenge of hers might be as she scales her enterprise, Krysanthum, Wells says she’s up for the problem and hopes to encourage others within the course of.
@krysanthum I wished to design a hair rack that’s compact, cute and useful #braidrackstand #blackhair #3dprinting #3ddesign
♬ Gentle jazz bossa with reside alto saxophone(1392680) – PD Fashion
“I need to proceed to be a trailblazer on this area,” she says. “I do know I have been doing issues backward by getting the patents after disclosing my innovations, however I am hoping that the variety of people who find themselves concerned about my work and are supporting it may possibly present potential traders the worth in investing in this sort of magnificence know-how.”
Ideally, this path will result in her proudly owning a magnificence provide retailer, a dream that Wells says is for her neighborhood as a lot as it’s for herself. “I need to personal and assist others personal Black hair shops with merchandise which might be designed for us, in an area made by us,” she says. “I would like the people who work in these shops to be educated and assist to foster a way of actual neighborhood for magnificence lovers, no matter your talent or expertise degree.” Given the extent of ingenuity and grit that she’s already displayed, it is clear that Wells is on her solution to doing simply that.
Picture Supply: Konnie Wells