Firefighter and entrepreneur Gregory Shepherd, 38, is the founder of Kultivated Hair Care, a natural hair care brand created with Black men, women, and children in mind.
“For me, when I’m going into the firehouse and leaving the firehouse, I want to look my best,” said Shepherd. “I want to smell and feel good, wash all that grime off from a long day and reset. That’s my way of resetting mentally.”
Kultivated products contain all-natural ingredients meant to promote length retention, smooth and soften strands, define curl patterns, and lock in moisture. The brand is plant based, vegan friendly, and handmade with no parabens, phthalates, mineral oils, sulfates, or petroleum.
Shepherd grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn. As a young child, he had a dream of being a firefighter. “It kind of ties into growing up into a less [well]-to-do neighborhood,” said Shepherd. “I would always see the firefighters in action, unfortunately. There were always fires in Crown Heights and Flatbush.”
His path to becoming a firefighter wasn’t direct though. Shepherd took to working at a Chase Bank to make ends meet before attending college in Bowling Green, Ohio to study sports management. After his graduation, he decided a sports career was no longer for him and returned to banking. A chance encounter with a FDNY battalion chief at the bank one day inspired him to return to his childhood dream. He studied and trained for the city’s arduous firefighter test and passed at age 28.
He’s been a firefighter for the last decade and is currently stationed at Brooklyn’s Engine 234, the firehouse with the highest number of Black firefighters in the city.
Shepherd said he’s never lost his entrepreneurial spirit through his years of saving the city. But he decided to pursue a hair care business specifically for his grandmother, Monica Alleyne, who was struggling with her own hair maintenance.
“She was allergic to a lot of different things and it was hard to find products that would work for her hair. So I started toying around with all-natural ingredients, trying to see what would work as well as not cause her a reaction. I formulated my hair butter and my hair oil,” said Shepherd. “From there it grew into 20 other products.”
Shepherd said that his first responder colleagues helped Kultivated become what it is today by testing and buying his products. His goal is to grow his business enough to be in larger retail establishments. Eventually, he wants to own a haircare storefront.
Kultivated Hair Care products can be found at www.kultivatedhaircare.com/store and on Etsy.
Can I please have your email address. I received my hair butter today, I want to send you a picture,. How do I define myu curls. I have naturally curly hair. How di I make the hair butter define my curls. I used a leave in condioioner before I used the hair butter,
How do I define my curls. I have naturally curly hair. I used a leave in conditioner on my hair befor I used the hair butter,