Dermatologist's natural hair journey inspired her entrepreneurship: 'No one thought about how Black women were doing their hair'

My Beauty, My Way is a video series hosted by Yahoo Life beauty director Dana Oliver, where women of different ages and backgrounds break down their beauty routines to explain what beauty truly means to them and how it represents their cultural identity.

Back in 2006 and 2007, Dr. Camille Howard-Verovic was chemically relaxing her hair and wearing sew-in extensions to create longer, straighter styles. However, she started to notice severe hair breakage. Frustrated with the thinning appearance and attempts to make her strands “grow and flourish,” Dr. Howard-Verovic did a Big Chop — she cut the relaxed hair into a short natural hairstyle.

“Whenever you do the Big Chop, like most girls who do that, they get super obsessed and super neurotic about what you're putting on your scalp and what you're putting on your hair. So I was equally as obsessed about it,” she tells Yahoo Life.

While rocking a teeny, weeny Afro that was much healthier, Dr. Howard-Verovic decided to get a sew-in weave again. But there was one problem: she couldn’t find a shampoo or conditioner that would help her wash her hair quickly and was formulated with quality ingredients to nourish her natural hair while wearing a protective style.

“I just couldn't understand it how [with] these huge companies here, no one really thought about how Black women were doing their hair,” Dr. Howard-Verovic says. “I had friends who had braids, friends who had weaves, friends who had wigs, natural hair friends, relaxed hair friends... we all, at some point in the year, would have two or three different protective styles. So I didn't understand why companies weren't paying attention to the life cycle of our hairstyles.”

Having firsthand knowledge that this was “something very intimate to Black women that no one was paying attention to,” the dermatologist was inspired to create Girl + Hair, a line of products to help care for your hair and scalp, in and out of protective styles.

The haircare system includes a sulfate-free shampoo, apple cider vinegar rinse, hair milk and balm. These products are also purposefully designed with a brilliant cap that disperses the right amount of product and allows you to get in between hard-to-reach areas when wearing braids, twists, locs or hair extensions.

“I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out because I wanted a product where utility met science and beauty at the same time,” says Dr. Howard-Verovic about the cap design. “I feel like a lot of the products on the textured haircare aisle didn’t really meet a utility demand at the time. You know those shampoos and conditioners with really great butters, really great creams. But I don’t really think anyone thought about the utility of the product and how that product fit into our lives as busy moms and professional women.”

The coronavirus outbreak has certainly impacted the amount of time many Black women can dedicate to caring and styling for their hair at home when having to balance work, parenting and just life. Girl + Hair products have become even more essential to Dr. Howard-Verovic’s daily routine, as she refreshes the box braids hairstyle she’s worn during the pandemic. The Restore+ balm is one of the items that is currently taking up real estate on her vanity.

Dr. Howard-Verovic also revealed that during the pandemic her patients have become more interested in “aesthetics.” We may be spending more time at home, but there’s been an increase in the hours spent connecting with colleagues, family and friends digitally. So it’s no surprise that people would start to “zoom” in on their appearance.

Acne, skincare routines and skin checks (or skin screenings for cancer) are among the top three topics patients wish to discuss with the dermatologist during telemedicine appointments. Dr. Howard-Verovic has made it even more imperative to use this time and social media apps like TikTok to educate people on healthy skin practices, such as the proper way to cleanse your face and masks to prevent maskne, what to look for when perusing the drugstore aisle and why sunscreen is absolutely non-negotiable even if you’re not going outside.

While having the right products and routine for your unique needs can certainly do wonders when it comes to taking care of your hair and skin, Dr. Howard-Verovic’s personal beauty mantra is a universal prescription.

“I think that it's important for our soul to extend grace when it comes to beauty and find something other than the exterior that we find beautiful,” she says.

Follow Dr. Camille Howard-Verovic on Instagram and keep up with Girl + Hair on social media.

Read more from Yahoo Life

• 1 powerful lesson from Carol’s Daughter founder Lisa Price on being successful in business and life

• 'Pretty Shouldn't Hurt': New film explains how hair loss for Black women results in physical and emotional pain

• 'As Black women, we've been doing a lot. It's time that people honor us': 241 Cosmetics co-founders Feven and Helena on shaping the beauty industry