Global Black Voices: News from around the World
- Spence credited his late mother and women’s sacrifices as the emotional inspiration behind Samir Grey's purpose.
- Fragrance chosen over haircare after research found haircare saturated while fragrance offered white space for new narratives.
- Self-funded initial production run, with gratitude for the personal finances that enabled the brand’s launch.
- He leveraged his marketing experience and industry connections to grow the brand without overspending, using his name and network as assets.
- Use of ONE by Kelly Rowland and Tina Knowles caused sellouts, a 5X site traffic spike, and over $500,000 in sales.
Celebrity hairstylist Kahh Spence, renowned for his expertise in hair and beauty, has successfully transitioned into the luxury fragrance and personal care industry as the founder of Samir Grey.
He told Entrepreneur, “I want to make sure what I’m bringing to the marketplace is actually going to be valuable, and I didn’t think I had anything, at that moment, valuable to say in haircare. But I did have something valuable to say in fragrance and in personal care.”
He attributed the inspiration for Samir Grey to his late mother, who passed away from colon cancer, and to all women.
“Watching women and how they sacrifice themselves to take care of the world, essentially,” he told the outlet.
In August, he marked the first anniversary of his fragrance, as reported by Essence.
He shared with The Root that rather than launching a haircare line, which appeared to be the most straightforward path, he explored the market to discover a distinctive approach for his business.
“I think it’s about doing research and figuring out what the white spaces in the market are,” Spence told the outlet. “What are the stories that you can tell? I feel like entrepreneurship is a lot around storytelling.”
Having a marketing background, he saw that the haircare market was saturated, while the fragrance sector offered opportunities for new narratives.
Before the launch of his brand, his team performed a thorough analysis to identify gaps, determine how to differentiate his brand, and assess if there was a potential audience ready for it.
He explained that the feedback confirmed his original thoughts.
“I’m seeing that come to life in the brand that I’m building and the feedback that we receive from the sales numbers, the metrics, and the data,” he said.
Spence and his team financed Samir Grey’s initial production run themselves.
He recounted, “We just went into our bank accounts, and we funded it that way. There’s a privilege in that. I am so grateful to God for being able to have the finances and the resources to be able to do such a thing.”
To maintain his brand’s profitability, Spence relied on the connections he built over his career, understanding that his name, experience, and network were valuable resources that could elevate the business without overspending.
Some of the stars who helped grow his business were Kelly Rowland and Tina Knowles, who were both part of the Destiny’s Child family, a legendary R&B girl group that featured Rowland, Michelle Williams, and Knowles’ daughter, Beyoncé.
Spence received a message from Rowland’s assistant expressing interest in his fragrance. He sent her the product without any expectations.
Later, he noticed Rowland using his fragrance in a video shared by Knowles, which sparked a flurry of comments asking about the scent. After Spence revealed it was Samir Grey’s ONE, the product sold out within two hours. When restocked, sales in one month equaled what had taken five months previously, according to Entrepreneur.
“It boosted things tremendously,” Spence told the outlet. “Our spike in site sessions that day was about 5X. Our email list had grown 3X to 4X during that time. We were sold out for about five weeks, and our traffic was some of the best it’s ever been.”
“Every partner that I work with, from public, consumer-facing to back-end, takes a chance on this company, which I’m so grateful for,” he expressed to The Root.
Spence revealed that his business continues to benefit from the video. Samir Grey has exceeded $500,000 in sales and is expected to reach over $1 million by 2026.
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