How Winnie Awa Created Carra for Textured, Curly, and Wavy Hair

Girl with blonde hair, wearing a floral shirt and rep lipstick smiling with face rested on a hand

Carra is an ultra-personalised service for textured, curly and wavy hair.

There is so much noise around curly hair and even after wading through all the youtube videos, opinions, lists and articles, it can still be so hard to find the perfect routine and products for your texture.

Carra solves this by focusing only on you. Your personal hair coach will find out as much about your hair as possible - your specific texture, your hair history, what's been working for you so far and what hasn't - and then provide you with a uniquely tailored hair routine and product recommendations. Stylist magazine did a rave review where they called Carra a "unique prescription service".

We spoke to Winnie Awa, the founder of this service that's set to disrupt the textured hair market. She tells us why she founded Carra and how Carra is going to cut through all the confusion.

What inspired you to start Carra?

Everything I learned in running Antidote Street (our e-commerce destination for textured hair) has brought me here.

I started Antidote Street because I wanted to make it easy for women with afro, curly and multi-textured hair to access products specific to their needs.

This meant we had front row seats to the biggest challenges faced by our customers - they were often very overwhelmed and did not understand how to care for their hair or how to choose the best products. With Carra, we are on a wild and exciting journey to create the world’s most personalised hair care platform.

Why does textured hair need a personalized service?

No two heads of hair are the same - what works for one person will often not work for the other, even if they identify as the same type e.g. 4B.

There are soooo many other factors to consider such as the structure of the hair, condition of the scalp, prior treatments, etc.

This is further complicated by the fact that there is so much noise around afro, curly textured hair which often causes so much more confusion - people are tired of going down an endless youtube rabbit hole without results.

Our approach cuts through the noise and provides personalised/expert advice which not only helps our customers rock their healthy hair but also saves them time and money!

How does Carra work?

Discovering you: The Carra experience kicks off with a brief but thorough questionnaire which allows us to hear your unique hair story - your specific texture, characteristics, hair goals and concerns, whether you have product preferences (e.g. vegan, organic etc).

Meeting your personal hair coach: After this, we connect you to a personal hair coach for an in-depth video chat where we analyse your needs and provide you with an expert custom hair care routine complete with product recommendations all matched to your unique hair texture!

Ongoing support: You can continue to access your custom routine and recommendations from your secure personal profile and the best part is that it does not end there! Your personal hair coach is on hand to continue to provide support for as long as they need. Think of it like a BFF that is backed by science and data!

How in-depth does the advice go?

For us, it is really important that this is an uber-personalised experience.

We go super-deep with each customer, understanding how their hair behaves, learning about their current routine to specifically understand what might be working or not working for them.

All these data points go into enabling us to create a unique hair care plan that is personal so our customer can meet their goals. We are available for as long as our customers need - they will be able to ask their personal hair coach questions following their video session anytime, continue to get expert-led tips and tricks and personalised product recommendations.

Why did you choose the name Carra?

I drew inspiration from the name ‘Cara’ means darling, beloved, dear, loved one… whilst ‘Kara’ is a Cornish word meaning Love.

For me, this is about reframing the narrative about textured hair. It’s about pouring love into oneself, into one’s hair. You could say it runs deeper than self-care.

And finally, can you share your personal hair heroes?

My hair is coloured pink which means it is often super dry. This means the products on arsenal need to pack the punch when it comes to moisture.

Love the Holy Curls shampoo because it makes my hair super soft. Its got the almighty Baobab which is the most moisturising ingredient ever!

The Dizziak Deep Conditioner is my jam because it has Quinoa Protein which is great for strengthening the hair.

I think the Hic et Nunk balm is really an unsung hero. Sometimes I use just this after washing and conditioning to retain my moisture long after wash day.