Community Highlights: Meet Rachel Blistein of Original Moxie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Blistein. 

Hi Rachel, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I began creating natural hair products in my kitchen in 2009. My educational background is in gardening and landscape design, and I’ve always had a strong interest in working with plant-based remedies for health and wellness. I have extremely curly, coarse, thick hair and could never find any products (natural or synthetic) that would work for my hair. As a result, my hair was chronically misunderstood, dry, and damaged for most of my life. Like many with curly hair, I suffered from poor self-esteem and obsessed over how to straighten my hair in order to fit in. In my mid-thirties, I discovered the ‘Curly Girl Method’ and slowly began to embrace my natural texture and to see it as a gift instead of a curse. But without the right products, I struggled to make progress. My kitchen experiments with natural ingredients eventually led me to dive deep into the science of hair to try and understand how to build hair health from the inside out. As I learned more and began to find success with a few formulations for my own hair, I reached out to friends and family to apply the same problem-solving approach to their issues. Within two years, I had 18 different products, ranging from shampoos to leave-in treatments. Those products still today form the backbone of our collection and are used in our flagship curly hair salon as well as in salons across the country and as far away as Norway and Australia! I’m still astounded that what began with my own hair story has grown into the business it is today. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I started my business during the 2009 Recession and struggled to get funding for several years. When I did finally obtain a small loan, my husband and I had to heavily supplement the start-up with personal funds and the generous support of family members. With no formal business training, I learned a lot of things the hard way and made many mistakes along the way. As a small company without major investors, it is extremely hard to compete in the marketing and image-driven beauty industry. We briefly partnered with Sephora in 2015 and had to adapt in a very short period of time with a staff of only 3 team members. It was an exciting and highly stressful experience and we eventually opted out after realizing we simply lacked the resources to compete in such a major global marketplace. We were finally starting to make major inroads in marketing online, and then the Pandemic hit, and all the rules changed again. But through it all, we always come back to our local roots and the support we have from the community. I firmly believe that keeping the business human-scaled and grounded in our commitment to sustainability and in our customers. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Original Moxie?
We are one of the only Owner-Formulator hair care brands and are proud to be entirely based in Ypsilanti, MI, a small city with a rich and varied tradition of manufacturing. Our specialty is curly hair, and our passion is empowering others to love and nurture their natural texture! We spend almost as much time on educating our customers as we do on handcrafting our one-of-a-kind organic products. Our small manufacturing facility is literally next door to the our curl-centric salon and shop, giving us an intimate and vital connection to what our customers need and the ability to provide fresh, high-quality, and handcrafted products on demand. We provide free education and services to underserved communities through our outreach with Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ann Arbor Public Schools, and our Red Door Program. We also have a highly developed Professional Education Curriculum and are actively working to collaborate with our local cosmetology programs to provide more in-depth curly education to new stylists. 

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
I am a risk-taker by nature and have never shied away from bucking convention and going against established industry standards (hence, the ‘Moxie’ in our company name). That has served me well in some ways and has made our path more challenging in others. Our company launched at the beginning of the curly hair movement in 2009 and was one of just a handful of brands catering to tighter textures. In 2015, we undertook a four-year study to more fully understand diverse hair types and launched one of the first data-based hair type quizzes in 2019. Our study included over 1,000 participants and is to my knowledge, the longest and largest of its kind. But perhaps the riskiest move was our switch during the Pandemic to sustainable packaging. In 2022, we partnered with Ouila Care, a new, local, woman-owned business to introduce an innovative reuse and refill system. When you are at the cutting edge, there is always a great deal of risk, particularly if you are a small company. I am slowly learning that gradual change and smaller steps can be just as effective, and that patience and consistency will win the race in the end. Ultimately, every entrepreneur must take risks, both personal and professional, if they’re going to be successful. Running my own business has given me even more appreciation for how much our society benefits as a whole from the investment and risk-taking of small businesses everywhere. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.originalmoxie.com and originalmoxiesalon.com
• Instagram: @OriginalMoxie
• Facebook: @Original Moxie
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKpd3kfZ2LPZFaGN-F6N2mw

Image Credits
Jason Walker Photography Sophie Negi Photography Zara Creative