Strumming of a guitar plays in the background. A black book depicting a Black woman with a vibrant smile and newly shorn hair appears. “Journey to Big Chop” is written across the book. Pictures of the woman emerge one at a time, showing the variety of hairstyles before the chop — straight, big curls and weaves. Then the viewer sees a haircut on camera.
This is Philomina Kane’s first YouTube video. She is a Ghanaian American entrepreneur.
The video showcases the start of her natural hair journey, which led to her business KIN Apparel. KIN stands for “keeping it naturally.” Kane is from the Bronx — specifically East 180th Street and Tremont. She was raised in Ghana for the first five years of her life by her Grandma Mary, who she said instilled a sense of Ghanaian culture and pride that shaped Kane’s whole life.
“Ghanaians are really hospitable. So I was just raised to be really kind and it was my grandmother that raised me that way … she also raised me to never forget where I come from. So a big part of KIN apparel is our kente. Every collection has kente in it somehow,” Kane said.
Kente is a textile of rich pattern and bold colors such as red, green, yellow, black, purple and blue. The culturally significant fabric originated in Ghana during the time of the Asante (or Ashanti) Kingdom and was worn by royalty. From kente patterned-lined hoodies to satin-lined car seats, the 27 year old has been an innovator from the get go. Before making YouTube videos, she started a dance group in high school called Azonto Madness and one in college called DoroBucci. Kane went to Princeton University in New Jersey, where she majored in ecological biology.
Princeton was the catalyst for Kane going natural. She found it difficult and expensive to maintain her relaxed hair at college. A perm at Princeton cost $100, so Kane decided to return home for the treatment. The women in her family all knew how to do hair, they had previously styled hers. And the whole journey back home cost less than the price of a Princeton perm.
But she knew it wouldn’t be possible to always return home so she decided to do the big chop — cutting all her chemically processed hair off — in March 2014. With the big chop came the obsession with taking care of her hair — she started documenting the process on Snapchat and then soon YouTube to a bigger audience.
She saw the impact she was making through the number of subscriptions and comments. The online comments were filled with people telling Kane how fun and informative she was. They also mentioned how she motivated and inspired them to go natural.
“I started the (YouTube) channel. Eventually, people started subscribing and commenting. … So then I was like, ‘Oh snap, this is bigger than me. Alright, I’m gonna do this. We’re building a community here,’” said Kane.
The community she built from YouTube is called the KINfolk, which inspired KIN Apparel’s name. In 2018, her idea of satin-lined hoodies became a reality. In college Kane wore satin scarves underneath her cotton hoodies during dance practice, since cotton sucks out the moisture and leaves hair frizzy.
An agency reached out to her after watching her YouTube videos, asking her to make a product for her followers. She suggested creating satin-lined hoodies — which dropped in January 2019 — and after her six-month contract with the agency was up, she was free to have complete creative control.
Kane ordered more hoodies individually in December 2019 and began to think about quitting her day job, which she did in March 2020, to focus on KIN Apparel.
She took the risk and it soon paid off with a successful appearance on “Shark Tank.”
Although Kane’s mother was the one to suggest the long-running TV series in 2020, her family was not particularly happy with the entrepreneur’s decision to pivot in that direction early on. They have always supported Kane’s more arts-based extracurricular activities, such as paying for acting school, but always with the notion she would become a scientist.
Kane was set to become an epidemiologist at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health before she fell in love with making content, natural hair and digital marketing. Her family soon came around after seeing Kane’s passion and commitment. Grandma Mary is now always rocking a KIN Apparel hoodie — and already asking Kane for her own satin-lined onesie.
Fast-forward to March 2021, when a casting producer for the show contacted Kane — a dream come true for the satin mogul who watched “Shark Tank” to learn business jargon. She appeared on Season 13, Episode 1, where she made a deal with judges Emma Grede and Lori Greiner — officially closing with Grede. Grede is the co-owner of the denim business Good American with Khloe Kardashian and the founding partner of Kim Kardashian’s Skims.
From that moment, Kane’s life changed. She dubs “Shark Tank” as one of the best experiences of her life. Since being on the show and closing with Grede, her audience has grown.
She has learned a lot from Grede, especially, as a Black businesswoman, she said.
According to the Pew Research Center, just 3% of businesses in the U.S. are Black-owned. But Black women entrepreneurs are increasing, with about 2.7 million businesses nationwide.
While it was Kane’s goal at the time with KIN Apparel to aid others in their natural hair journey, she has realized that hair is not always the reason, as some people with sensory issues, for example, buy KIN Apparel hoodies.
Some parents have specifically commended the size of the hood, with one parent mentioning how it’s big enough to cover her ADHD son’s head and earphones, which he uses to block out noise. For her son, the parent said, the hoodie brought him comfort.
Kane is happy to see how her hoodies have become more than just a symbol for the natural hair community.
“I’ve realized that even my reason for starting this brand isn’t the only reason why people buy the product,” Kane said. “It’s been great to grow the audience even past natural hair. So it’s really a need in itself. I think that’s what makes KIN Apparel different – building an actual brand that keeps community at the forefront.”
She continues to live by this motto that she heard at a panel in high school from a woman who worked at MSNBC — “Don’t go through life trying to prove people wrong, go through life trying to prove the people that believe in you right.”
And Kane will continue to do just that as she builds her satin empire.
Reach Demetria Osei-Tutu at oseitutud13@gmail.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
