A woman's quest to treat her daughter's chlorine-damaged hair evolved into a line of shampoos and conditioners.
By SHERYL KAY
Published August 13, 2004
HUNTER'S GREEN - Its title was Recipe Book, and it did contain mixtures of mayonnaise, eggs, oil, goat's milk and more. But this volume, penned by Winifred M. Bate-Pope of Hunter's Green, did not contain even one edible final product.
Bate-Pope, 43, was recording her recipes for natural shampoo and conditioner.
"There are a lot of things just in your kitchen that you can use for hair conditioners," she said. "The protein from the eggs and mayonnaise - that's really good protein for the hair."
It has been almost two decades since Bate-Pope, then a full-time pharmacist, first started making her own shampoos and conditioners. She was frustrated with her 3-year-old daughter's hair, which was perpetually dried by chlorine from the pool. Familiar with compounding pharmaceutical drugs, Bate-Pope began mixing natural moisturizing compounds into already manufactured products.
"My stylist knew what I was doing, and she said, "Why don't you just make your own shampoo?' " Bate-Pope said.
Now, as chief executive of Naturceutics, Bate-Pope oversees the distribution of her Nature's Prescription line of shampoos and conditioners, manufactured by a plant in Texas. Her products no longer contain mayonnaise, but rather hydrolyzed vegetable oil. And she no longer stands over glass beakers in her kitchen concocting the latest shampoo formula.
At the height of her kitchen production days, she was selling about 200 bottles of product a week. Today, having moved manufacturing to the plant, she sells about 500 bottles a week. The original sale price of a 6-ounce bottle of hair conditioner was $8. Today, she sells an 8-ounce bottle for $17.
She credits the success of her products to one key compound: aloe vera.
"Most products are water based," she said. "Aloe is much more moisturizing, and our hair really does suffer in the sun down here. If you burnt your skin, would you want to pour water on it, or would you want to put aloe vera on it? Well, your hair is no different."
Ann Kato, owner of Merle Norman Cosmetics in Temple Terrace, has carried Naturceutics shampoo and conditioner for the past year. Sales were slow at first, she said, but they have doubled over the past year.
"I think these items sell because they're good for all women's hair," Kato said. "Women of color, Latinos, white women, they all like it because it makes their hair more manageable with a natural shine."
Kato said the Silky Control Cream, used to detangle and condition, is her biggest seller. "I can't hardly keep those on the shelf," she said. "When someone finds a product they really like, they're willing to pay for it."
Rubye Nelson, 81, of Lake Magdalene, agrees.
"I've always felt like my hair was my crowning glory, and therefore I want it to look nice any time I go out," said Nelson, who met Bate-Pope at a class that taught how to make porcelain dolls. "The price does not bother me because I love the conditioner - it makes my hair look alive again."
At first Bate-Pope was not very aggressive in marketing her product. Kato said Bate-Pope shopped and had her nails done at Merle Norman more than a year before she even mentioned she was formulating her own products.
Now, that is all about to change.
"I've done great with word of mouth, but it's more difficult to get into salons because, as a rule, salon owners like to know about the product before their customers do," she said. "I have not been to the traditional hair shows, but I'm just about to get into that."
She's willing to stack her product up against the better-known labels.
"I challenge anyone to compare the ingredients in our products to others on the market, and I know I'll come out on top," she said. "We just need to get in there and show the stylists what our products can do for their customers' hair."
