Courtesy of Candera Thompson
Candera Thompson, founder and CEO of Bask & Bloom Essentials
Candera Thompson is a mom of three and the founder and CEO of Bask & Bloom Essentials, a Bridgeton-headquartered company that manufactures all-natural hair products. Thompson was born in the Bahamas and came to Missouri at age 16, thanks to an athletic scholarship from Lindenwood University. She later discovered an entrepreneurial passion that grew from trying to solve a problem: After becoming a mother, she was losing her hair. She wasn’t just losing a little bit; she experienced severe shedding after her second child was born.
Thompson founded Bask & Bloom Essentials in 2017 after years of product development, and the company manufactures high-quality hair care products for a diverse global customer base. All products are non-toxic and full of natural ingredients specially designed to help restore hair to its original health, addressing issues like shedding, thinning, breakage, and dryness. Thompson's Caribbean roots inspired the company’s colorful and sunny branding and tropical scents found in the products.
St. Louis Magazine spoke to Thompson from her home.
How did Bask & Bloom start?
I'm a mom of three, so the brand was centered on motherhood and being a new mom. I had my first daughter in 2010. Being a new mom, I was researching all things pregnancy- and postpartum-related. I kept hearing about how you can possibly lose a little bit of hair, but it'll grow right back. After my first daughter, I experienced normal postpartum shedding, but after my second daughter was born in 2015, it was like full hair loss. My hair fell out in clumps in the shower. There were a lot of Facebook groups centered on beauty, and I was part of them. A lot of them dealt with hair texture, and I posted a question: “For those that are moms, did you experience postpartum shedding and hair loss to this extent? And what did you do to get your hair back healthy again?”
Did other women relate to your hair struggles?
Yes. And that’s when I got the idea for Bask & Bloom. A lot of the women on the Facebook groups were like, “People just expect you to push out a baby and go back to normal, but we’re not going back to normal.” My hair color changed, the feel of it changed, everything changed. And a lot of people in the group said the same thing, and that they were trying products, hoping they would work. I had a background doing work at a few different colleges so I started talking to the chemistry teachers and learning about the different ingredients that are out there—learning about what ingredients you can use to help get your hair stronger and fuller. Of course, we can’t do anything about pregnancy hormones; your body has to go through that phase.
Courtesy of Bask & Bloom Essentials
Bask & Bloom products
Tell us about your hair care products and your customer base.
Taking care of hair is part of our self-care routine [for women]. We have to wash and style it always. I learned about herbs and proteins that will help strengthen your hair as it grows, so you can keep more hair versus experiencing more hair loss. That’s what led to formulating two of our products we still carry today. In 2017, we launched the moisture cream and herbal oil. Today, we have a full line of 11 products. We use all-natural, nontoxic ingredients that are ethically sourced, are fair trade, and aren’t on any banned ingredients lists in the U.S., the Caribbean, Canada, or Europe because we plan to grow and expand into those markets. Even now, we have customers buying from overseas. So, we keep up with all the raw materials that are considered safe and not safe.
All our products center on giving that volume, that fullness, and reducing hair loss. We help our customers along their hair journey and help them to feel good while they’re taking care of a newborn. That’s our target audience, but we’ve grown to where people who have experienced damage from color treatment or heat. They can still use our products and help get their hair back to its healthiest point.
What’s it like managing your own business and being a mom?
You know, it was crazy at first. My youngest is 6 years old, and once I had him, I went full force into entrepreneurship and just like buckling down, knowing I have something great that people want. My husband is amazing and helps with scheduling and things like that. So he’s very hands-on. He comes through for me often when I have to stop or change the scheduling or go do something for work. My mother-in-law is also really helpful. I have a great support system. But it all boils down to good time management—making sure that everything I do is important and that it’s putting into the business, and not taking away from the overall growth that we’re trying to achieve with the company.
How do you like being a business owner in St. Louis?
I grew up on a small island, so I was never a big-city girl. I like the Midwest and how I can move at my own pace here. Nothing feels fast or rushed living here. I always tell people I met my husband so I’m pretty much stuck in St. Louis because he’s born and raised here. [Laughs.]
What do you love about being part of the St. Louis-area business community?
I have traveled to New York, Atlanta, Texas, and L.A. a lot because those are big hubs for the beauty industry, but it's always like you get lost in the sauce there. I'm able to make a bigger impact here in St. Louis. I'm much more successful here because there's not a million hands in the pot. So here, I can build those relationships, and people remember who you are. Not only that, but they also look out for you; they mention your name in rooms. When opportunities come up, I wouldn't be able to do that other places because there, there will be so many people. I love the fact that St. Louis is growing in areas of entrepreneurship, tech, and manufacturing. Just last year, I was part of the Arch Grants co-hort. You realize how much we have available here that we still haven’t tapped into yet. There’s so much opportunity for us to grow, and we’re able to keep our costs down here. What I’m paying for my warehouse here would be triple the cost in another city. I love the fact that everything is more hands-on here, and we’re more like family, just trying to help each other, continue our businesses, and grow those partnerships.
