A simple want may just turn in to a blossoming business for Oakdale High School alum, Kylee Black.

The Class of 2018 graduate has tapped into her entrepreneur side by recently launching Powder Baby Dry Shampoo.

“I would love to run my own business and do my own advertising for the rest of my life. That sounds most fulfilling to me,” Black said, “but if it makes more sense for me to work in a business, I would be an account manager.”

Currently a junior attending Brigham Young University, Black is an advertising major. Since leaving Oakdale and while attending BYU, she shared she took a year-and-a-half leave to serve a mission in Detroit, during COVID.

Yet while her sights are set on completing her education in advertising, her recent discovery of a non-aerosol dry shampoo may bring her closer to her dream than she initially may have thought.

Black admitted she is not one to wash her hair daily, so she’d taken to the practice of using dry shampoo on the off days. Four years ago, she stopped using aerosol dry shampoos, as she noticed her hair was drying out and had a chalky, still feeling as result.

Looking to something more natural, she began using baby powder.

“It worked really, really well,” she said of the baby powder discovery.

As her hair darkened the baby powder no longer worked as well. Black began researching colored baby powder and came up empty and so she began doing research on making her own.

“Again, I’m an advertising major. I’m not a chemist or anything like that,” she said, chuckling.

Black continued, noting she started mixing starches, clay powders and light ingredients that are both absorbent as well as good for your hair. As she mixed ingredients, she learned there could be different colors from the different clay powders.

“Instead of just coming out with a brown one, I was able to come up with five different colors,” she said. “From there I just decided to make it a business, because I was sure there were other people dealing with the same stuff as me.”

Weighing it all out, she decided to plunge in.

“It was kind of one of those risks,” the Mustang alum said of launching a business. “I’m a poor college student, I don’t make a ton of money, I have a basic college student job. For me the learning experience, whether it was going to succeed or fail, has been worth it.”

With a longtime interest in having her own business, as well as a commitment to creating a sustainable affordable product, Black continues to work on her business while attending BYU.

She estimates spending about 15 hours a week at least on the business, whether it be marketing, design or working with the manufacturing company which is in China. She currently produces the hair care items from home, but is also looking to work with a lab for future production of her product.

“The powder is awesome. I just need to keep selling and advertising it, as customers recognize this isn’t just a hair care product. There’s meaning to being a part of the Powder Baby Dry Shampoo family,” she shared.

Selling her first product in November of 2022, Black is excited about the growth of her small business. While sales are currently through her website powderbabydryshampoo.com, along with two physical locations in Oakdale – Cotton & Sage and Trendsetters Salon – her five-year goal would be to be in Trader Joe’s.

“I’m not hoping to have my product be only retail, I think on-line is the future for businesses like mine,” she shared. “I think Trader Joe’s and/or Target would be realistic and great places for my product to be, just because it’s all natural and has a nice clean look to it.

“I really would like to push toward the idea that it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to buy things that are good for the environment and naturally good for your body and hair,” she continued.

Reflecting back on her time at Oakdale High School, the entrepreneur shared she felt OHS guided students to believe their future could be anything. They need not be restricted to pursue a traditional college path to be successful. Now, attending school in Utah and meeting people from all over, she said that encouragement seemed to be a bit unique.

“Oakdale was really, really good about showing you that there’s other options,” Black said. “They pushed the trade school route, which I think is super valuable. I feel there’s a good entrepreneurial amount of people in Oakdale and so that’s always been something on my mind. It’s a very self-sufficient, hardworking town.”

Black’s products can also be found and ordered on her Instagram page: powderbaby_dryshampoo.