KBSS Boycott Planning Thread

[Mo to the...]

I think we should also hand out fliers too! If we could get a basic flier written up/designed, it would be nice to pass them out to women in shopping centers before they enter the BSS. We can also give them out at local beauty shops and wherever women come together to shop. College campuses are good too!

THIS, yes dear Lord. I so down for this. Handing them out and asking women how satisfied they are with their hair based on the products they buy as Asian BSS and how satisfied they are with the level of customer service they receive from Asian BSS stores.

 

[ingenious_mind]

I'm a graphic designer. Let me know where I can help .

 

[tiffers]

ingenious_mind Oh heck yeah! I'm sending you a pm NAO!

 

[yorkpatties]

I say let's stick with StopTheBSS. Now don't stone me but StopTheBSS sounds less black powerish. Now I'm all for black power, however the community at large has been brainwashed into believing that black power movements are lame and disgruntle.

We have to consider the larger audience and how best to reach them.

I have to agree with you on this point. I think these are two important but DIFFERENT issues. Yes, in my opinion "Buy it Black" sounds a little Panther-ish to my ears, nothing wrong with that, but a time and place. And it kind of conveys the idea that our focus is getting more black women to support Black owned businesses when that's only the half of it. I think we have all agreed, we would pretty much exclusively support black owned business if the black businesses carried the products we want! According to the ORIGINAL topic at hand, we learned that the reason the black owned businesses can not get their hands on these products is because of the KBSA. So our issue isn't with the fact that we aren't showing support to black owned businesses, it's that black owned business (and other small businesses in this field that aren't owned by Koreans) aren't getting the opportunity to stock a wide range of products on their shelves! I think we need a title that reflects our outrage at this issue. Buy it Black, to me, sounds like a mission to get our people to support black owned businesses, which only addresses a by-product of the problem, not the root of the problem. Also, it's something that's been done many times before. Anyone else in their high school, church, girl scouts, sorority, women's group come up with a campaign to "Support Black Owned Businesses"? I am sure some of you have. And "Buy it Black" is broad, if someone only heard the title, for all they know, we are trying to get people to buy FUBU!

I also like the idea of this movement branching out into OTHER areas, but we need to tackle the issue at hand FIRST!

Just my $0.02. And no, I don't have any other ideas aside from what's been laid out at this time.

 

[Honey Bee]

I think stay away from negative theme. Instead of stop the BSS, have something positive - BBSM - (Black Beauty Stores Movement) - Giving back to our community.
Stay positive. List what you want to give back to the black, hispanic, etc community.
Jobs, afternoon community center, trade knowledge, black ownership, entrepreneur, donations, stimulating the economy by putting money back into our hands etc...

I say let's stick with StopTheBSS. Now don't stone me but StopTheBSS sounds less black powerish. Now I'm all for black power, however the community at large has been brainwashed into believing that black power movements are lame and disgruntle.

We have to consider the larger audience and how best to reach them.

I think we should also hand out fliers too! If we could get a basic flier written up/designed, it would be nice to pass them out to women in shopping centers before they enter the BSS. We can also give them out at local beauty shops and wherever women come together to shop. College campuses are good too!

The debate about whether it should be 'Stop The BSS' or not is interesting. It made me think about an experience my mother had yesterday. She was at (or near?) a bss and mentioned the boycott to some regular, non-hairboard folk, black women, and they were 100% down. They were fired up and these are not people who normally join protests, lol. Why? Because of how the Koreans treat us, plain and simple. Now, of course, they didn't seem to consider where they'd get their weave hair or whatever in the interim, but based on the degree of their fervor, I'm gonna assume that, in that moment, their anger and offense was enough to drive them. I think that's the case for most of us here: we came to this point out of anger and offense. I think the name should reflect that which is why I'm co-signing 'Stop The BSS.'

On another note, fliers would be an excellent idea, especially in situations like the one I recounted above. It would have been helpful for my mother to have been able to hand them a piece of paper with the twitter/fb info and our website. Maybe somebody could create a pdf with all the info and post it to the new site.

 

[calmsensual1]

I mentioned in the other thread that we should do a twitter campaign but I see y'all are already on it! lol

I would love to be responsible for getting in touch with WHOMEVER we need to get in touch with via phone. I don't want to be the spokesperson per se but just the person who gets the word out to businesses, people, whatever about our movement.

I think I would be qualified to do this because I currently work as a Marketing Admin where I have to call businesses such as GE, Whirlpool, Ford Motor Company; get in touch with their Maintenance/Plant/Purchasing Manager (or whatever) to see if they have any old equipment they'd like to sell.

The problem is I work everyday until 4 (central time) but I do have the weekends off. Maybe if we can get one other person in charge of calling people we can split it up. I can call maybe the West coast and they call the East coast.

 

[princessnad]

Ok so I'm totally on board. But I'd like more information on our ongoing goals and our end-point.

Can we come up with a list of:

1) Black OWNED (not fronted) BSSs (I see we already have a list on that website. But there are a few that aren't on there like Nicholas in BK that was mentioned in this thread so maybe we can come up with a more comprehensive list that includes ones that people know of personally. We could also send this info to that website so they can also be up to date.)

2) Black OWNED hair AND skin care products. Even if people do end up slipping up and going into a Korean BSS, they should at least buy the black owned products.

3) Black distributors. We need to know the names of the larger companies that could be buying out the smaller black companies so if all of a sudden we see a different distributor name on the label, we know we have to research and change brands if our money is no longer going into black pockets. For example, ORS used to be owned by Namaste (owner was black Gary Gardner) but was sold to Dabur (Indian company). Once we can readily recognize these distributor names, we can know who to support.

4) That leads me to my next point: Maybe a long term we can come up with a sticker on products and even on the door of brick and mortar stores that will tell us that they are black owned. This is kind of like how on kosher foods for Jewish people, they have the circle K or circle U. Perhaps we can work with the Black Business Association to figure out a way to independently evaluate companies that want to officially be Buy It Black approved ti verify their black owned AND run status. This would have to be something that is thoroughly researched so not just any company or product with a black "front" would be able to earn this sticker/ stamp of approval. Hopefully our boycott can be strong enough to earn black consumers as a whole some respect so that companies will really covet getting the B.I.B. approval...Just dreaming long term here.

5) In general, we need to encourage the public to read labels. Nothing too deep or we will lose the majority. But just basic things like looking for high quality ingredients (just the basics, nothing that even we on here can't agree on) and how to take the time to scan the distributors to see where our money is going (both the company and distributor's name AND the country that the product is manufactured in).


I understand all of these things will not necessarily be immediate. However, the first 2-3 are things that we need to put in our fact sheet so the supporters are aware of the full issue. We don't want people saying that we don't even know what we are boycotting for.

So excited to get this started!

 

[ms-gg]

4) That leads me to my next point: Maybe a long term we can come up with a sticker on products and even outside of businesses that will tell us that they are black owned. This is kind of like how on kosher foods for Jewish people, they have the circle K or circle U. Perhaps we can work with the Black Business Association to figure out a way to independently evaluate companies that want to officially be Buy It Black approved. ....

You never noticed the silhouette of a black lady with wavy braids on a product? That means it is black owned

Here is their association:

http://www.ahbai.org/

They also list out other black owned products (of course it is not comprehensive).

Thanks for the reminder, I soooo forgot about that!


But that is another beef that I have: a lot of these big names don't even recognize Oyin and the like. I know they KNOW they exist. They can't be ignorant of their competition.

 

[Honey Bee]

4) That leads me to my next point: Maybe a long term we can come up with a sticker on products and even outside of businesses that will tell us that they are black owned. This is kind of like how on kosher foods for Jewish people, they have the circle K or circle U. Perhaps we can work with the Black Business Association to figure out a way to independently evaluate companies that want to officially be Buy It Black approved. This would have to be something that is thoroughly research so not just any company or product with a black "front" would be able to earn this sticker. Hopefully our boycott can be strong enough to earn the black consumers some respect so that companies will really covet getting the B.I.B. approval...Just dreaming long term here.

princessnad, I feel like this exists already, or used to. IIRC, it was the silhouette of a black lady with cornrows.

 

[princessnad]

I also think boycotting until we see changes versus a set time will be more effective.

Agreed!

I think one of our objectives should be to have the Distributors end their discriminatory practices and to provide fair service and pricing to all beauty supply vendors/stores.

Yes!

Hey ladies

I haven't read all 4 pages yet but I just thought of a hashtag name.

How about #BuyItBlack?

Loving that!

princessnad, I feel like this exists already, or used to. IIRC, it was the silhouette of a black lady with cornrows.

Oh wow! Sorry about that. Didn't know that.

If I didn't know, maybe some others didn't know. Maybe we can also put this out there so people can be on the look out for that.

 

[Honey Bee]

If I didn't know, maybe some others didn't know. Maybe we can also put this out there so people can be on the look out for that.

@princessnad, I've been trying to look it up for the past few days, since the first thread was started, but my google-fu is shabby so I haven't had much success.

eta: This is a general question: do we know for sure that texasbeautysupply.com is black-owned? I don't know anything to the contrary, I'm just asking to make sure.

 

[ms-gg]

@princessnad, I've been trying to look it up for the past few days, since the first thread was started, but my google-fu is shabby so I haven't had much success.

eta: This is a general question: do we know for sure that texasbeautysupply.com is black-owned? I don't know anything to the contrary, I'm just asking to make sure.

You are correct. The symbol is on the website I linked to

 

[Honey Bee]

You never noticed the silhouette of a black lady with wavy braids on a product? That means it is black owned

Here is their association:

http://www.ahbai.org/

They also list out other black owned products (of course it is not comprehensive).

Thanks for the reminder, I soooo forgot about that!


But that is another beef that I have: a lot of these big names don't even recognize Oyin and the like. I know they KNOW they exist. They can't be ignorant of their competition.

Wow, ms-gg, I don't know how I missed your post. Thanks for the link. I checked them out, and I notice they still have the ORS guy on the list (even though he sold to Dabur) and they also included Soft-Sheen- Carson, which they then go on to note is a division of Loreal. These companies are listed under 'industry associates,' I think, so maybe they aren't considered full-fledged members, idk... but I kinda find the list a lil suspect myself. I'm willing to be wrong, though.

 

[ms-gg]

Here is what I have to say about that-

I don't know what is going on lol!!!!

The last time they updated that site was in 2011-fact
So that means that the organization is still active. Why they are still listed, I do not know. It is perfectly fine in my eye to list the contributing members to the group even though they no longer own them, but please be honest and take your ex-company off the list. The purpose of that symbol is to denote current black businesses. The site should reflect the same.

Maybe that is what our movement/organization can address-who is REALLY a black owned company, and who is perpetrating. Get to the nitty gritty of it all through investigative research and sleuthing.

I don't know what is going on with that jawn...

 

[Honey Bee]

Here is what I have to say about that-

I don't know what is going on lol!!!!

The last time they updated that site was in 2011-fact
So that means that the organization is still active. Why they are still listed, I do not know.

Maybe that is what our movement/organization can address-who is REALLY a black owned company, and who is perpetrating. Get to the nitty gritty of it all through investigative research and sleuthing.

I don't know what is going on with that jawn...

One of my homegirls from college used to say that.

But, uh, yeah, I think these are the details we need to pin down. I'm pleasantly surprised (if it's true) that Design Essentials is black-owned, though. I use their amino-acid moisturizing poo and it smells .

 

[Mo to the...]

Ok so I'm totally on board. But I'd like more information on our ongoing goals and our end-point.

Can we come up with a list of:

1) Black OWNED (not fronted) BSSs (I see we already have a list on that website. But there are a few that aren't on there like Nicholas in BK that was mentioned in this thread so maybe we can come up with a more comprehensive list that includes ones that people know of personally. We could also send this info to that website so they can also be up to date.)

2) Black OWNED hair AND skin care products. Even if people do end up slipping up and going into a Korean BSS, they should at least buy the black owned products.

3) Black distributors. We need to know the names of the larger companies that could be buying out the smaller black companies so if all of a sudden we see a different distributor name on the label, we know we have to research and change brands if our money is no longer going into black pockets. For example, ORS used to be owned by Namaste (owner was black Gary Gardner) but was sold to Dabur (Indian company). Once we can readily recognize these distributor names, we can know who to support.

4) That leads me to my next point: Maybe a long term we can come up with a sticker on products and even on the door of brick and mortar stores that will tell us that they are black owned. This is kind of like how on kosher foods for Jewish people, they have the circle K or circle U. Perhaps we can work with the Black Business Association to figure out a way to independently evaluate companies that want to officially be Buy It Black approved ti verify their black owned AND run status. This would have to be something that is thoroughly researched so not just any company or product with a black "front" would be able to earn this sticker/ stamp of approval. Hopefully our boycott can be strong enough to earn black consumers as a whole some respect so that companies will really covet getting the B.I.B. approval...Just dreaming long term here.

5) In general, we need to encourage the public to read labels. Nothing too deep or we will lose the majority. But just basic things like looking for high quality ingredients (just the basics, nothing that even we on here can't agree on) and how to take the time to scan the distributors to see where our money is going (both the company and distributor's name AND the country that the product is manufactured in).


I understand all of these things will not necessarily be immediate. However, the first 2-3 are things that we need to put in our fact sheet so the supporters are aware of the full issue. We don't want people saying that we don't even know what we are boycotting for.

So excited to get this started!

Yes, this is what I was talking about with the icon (I still have no idea what's really called) similar to the cruelty free rabbit >>>>http://www.google.com/imgres?q=crue...tart=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=56&ty=39 that shows this site/blog/vlogger/etc is black owned. I love the sticker idea too. That would be so unifying if suddenly there was an image that started showing up on t-shirts, stores, bummers, everywhere. LOVE IT! I am so ready for this. Also, have you guys heard of kickstarter.com? It would be a great way to get those fund together so we can start support (financially) those black owned business and communities. Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/

This is an excerpt from their site:
Kickstarter is the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. Every week, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

A new form of commerce and patronage. This is not about investment or lending. Project creators keep 100% ownership and control over their work. Instead, they offer products and experiences that are unique to each project.

All or nothing funding. On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

Each and every project is the independent creation of someone like you. Projects are big and small, serious and whimsical, traditional and experimental. They’re inspiring, entertaining and unbelievably diverse. We hope you agree... Welcome to Kickstarter!

 

[ms-gg]

Okay yeah, they really are being dishonest. Damn shame. I use to love looking at that symbol when I was child.

 

[Honey Bee]

Okay yeah, they really are being dishonest. Damn shame. I use to love looking at that symbol when I was child.

Me too. What else did you find?

 

[princessnad]

Hey ladies, just wanted to say that there are some black owned alternatives for weaves.

1) Arijuni. It's a little expensive and has a few bad reviews but the lady who owns it is a black lawyer (Janice Wilson) and she even lived in Cambodia to set up the team that harvests the hair so it's totally black owned through and through. http://www.youtube.com/user/ArjuniLounge#p/u/16/ER6itmPVeTc
http://arjuni.com/shop/custom-orders/pricing-chart/

2) ONYC is also black owned (Thelma Okoro) but I'm not sure how they get their hair. This is also a little expensive and has great reviews. https://www.onychair.com/ http://blog.fabmagazineonline.com/?p=10938

If you guys know of any more (maybe they do on the other forum) and we can add to the list and hopefully do some organizing. We can have the black BSSs and the weave company owners work together. They both win with more revenue and expanding their respective companies and consumer bases.

Maybe we can reach out to these companies and see if they are interested in expanding to a lower tier/ bss quality sub-brand. They can sell to the black owned BSSs (maybe at a better price). If the black customers buy exclusively from those BSSs because of their better prices, then BAM! We lock out the non-black BSSs. Beat them at their own game.

 

[Honey Bee]

If you guys know of any more (maybe they do on the other forum) and we can add to the list and hopefully do some organizing. We can have the black BSSs and the weave company owners work together. They both win with more revenue and expanding their respective companies and consumer bases.

Maybe we can reach out to these companies and see if they are interested in expanding to a lower tier/ bss quality sub-brand. They can sell to the black owned BSSs (maybe at a better price). If the black customers buy exclusively from those BSSs because of their better prices, then BAM! We lock out the non-black BSSs. Beat them at their own game.

This is a really good idea!

 

[Mo to the...]

Okay yeah, they really are being dishonest. Damn shame. I use to love looking at that symbol when I was child.

Me too. What else did you find?

Maybe we need a different symbol? Something that reflects this movement and the voice behind it?

 

[princessnad]

Wow, ms-gg, I don't know how I missed your post. Thanks for the link. I checked them out, and I notice they still have the ORS guy on the list (even though he sold to Dabur) and they also included Soft-Sheen- Carson, which they then go on to note is a division of Loreal. These companies are listed under 'industry associates,' I think, so maybe they aren't considered full-fledged members, idk... but I kinda find the list a lil suspect myself. I'm willing to be wrong, though.

This is what I'm talking about. We need to have an icon that is only given to companies that are thoroughly researched and we have to keep the list current.

 

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

Oh, those sneeky, racist Korean beauty supply businessmen… ...lol at this title


Why Do Koreans Own The Black Beauty Supply Business?

 

[Mo to the...]

This is what I'm talking about. We need to have an icon that is only given to companies that are thoroughly researched and we have to keep the list current.

I know this is probably premature but these companies (maybe not at first) need to contribute to this cause in a meaningful way. Whether that be how they wholesale, discount, donations, etc. It's just like any other elite organization. Companies want to be apart of it because of the tight communications, good connections, and everything else. Kinda like Black Wallstreet. They help the Black Community and in turn get more exposure.

 

[ms-gg]

Me too. What else did you find?

Angela Guy
Senior Vice President & General Manger of Soft Sheen and Carson (I'm sure you saw it too). I guess they gave her a pass because she is a sista girl over their

Okay here are other members. The heck is going on:

Sally Beauty Company
3001 Colorado Blvd.
Denton, TX 76210


The Walgreen Co.
200 Wilmot Road
Deerfield, IL 60015


I wonder why? I'm just curious.
ETA: I guess we can't take them at their word 100% either. Although I will say that Soft Sheen and Carson DOES NOT to my knowledge, put the "Proud Lady" symbol on their products. At least not on my rusty bottle of Stay Soft Fro

It is however, on my dudley "grow oil" and as we know, dudley is owned by a black mayne .

 

[SmilingElephant]

smiling elephant,

You said, "What if we got SO successful that we started raising funds to help remodel or rebuild unfortunate schools....things like that? It's bigger than just hair."

The Black hair care industry generates billions, not millions, but billions of dollars. So much money, that we can demand community reinvestment off the hair care industry alone from non-black businesses as well as provide an opportunity for AA to open and hire AA in our neighborhoods. I think this is a good start, and I agree if we are successful at this movement, then we can concentrate on other issues. But for now, this idea if successful can serve as a model to tackle other issues in our community.

Exactly....thats basically what i was trying to say

 

[NaijaNaps]

Wow, how did I miss all this activity? Kudos to you ladies who have already been organizing! This is such a positive effort. Let me know where I (and others) can help

 

[princessnad]

I know this is probably premature but these companies (maybe not at first) need to contribute to this cause in a meaningful way. Whether that be how they wholesale, discount, donations, etc. It's just like any other elite organization. Companies want to be apart of it because of the tight communications, good connections, and everything else. Kinda like Black Wallstreet. They help the Black Community and in turn get more exposure.

I agree that eventually this should be a goal. But before we go asking for people using their resources, we need to prove that we are worth while. So it's going to be a little while of thankless work for a minute before we become elite, if you will.

Just prepare to work to the bone on organizing this for now and once we show we are a force to be reckoned with, they will come!

 

[naturalmanenyc]

http://www.ujamaadeals.com/?gclid=CN-KkJiEl6wCFUGo4AodWycwOg

This is a website dedicated to buying from Black owned Businesses.
I think it popped up on LHCF and other sites I visited today since I have been reading the boycott/buy Black threads.

I never heard of this company until tonight and cannot say if they are legit.

The Ujamaa Difference for Black-owned Businesses

Buy Black!
Daily discounts from Black-owned companies

It's simple. Black unemployment is at least 2x the national level (the official estimate is about 16.7%, but the real rate is closer to 30%). Black-owned businesses are 85% more likely to hire Black employees than non-Black-owned businesses. So the most efficient use of our consumer dollars to increase Black employment and decrease the wealth gap is to support Black-owned businesses.

Support cooperative economics and job creation

Apply now to run a deal and have your business promoted by Ujamaa Deals

 

[princessnad]

Ok.
So how are we going to get black owned weave companies into black owned BSSs which are stocked with black owned beauty products to be marketed and bought by black people?

Complicated question that's basically asking… after we raise awareness, how do we create a sustainable alternative that dissuades people from returning to their old, bad-attitude, racist BSSs?

Do we have a list of black hair products anywhere? I see the black BSSs, but what about products? This is important because if BSS owners stock black owned products, they shouldn't have the problem of dealing with higher prices for the same product.

I'll start. Add to it if you can or direct me to a list if it's already created.

1) Shea Moisture- Richelieu Dennis
2) Kinky Curly- Shelley Davis