Shelby Wild Has Bottled the Secret to Natural, Beach Waves with Simple Hair Care

Have you ever wondered how to turn your dreams of owning your own business into a reality? We can help. Each week, as part of our Self Made series, we showcase female entrepreneurs-as well as their quality, handmade goods-and share their best advice related to starting, maintaining, and growing your own business.

Anyone who's running out the door in the morning to work knows it can be quite tricky—especially with kids in tow. If you decide to spend time styling or blow-drying your hair, well, that's a whole other ball game (that may even require you waking up even earlier). Some days you may just forfeit doing your hair altogether, opting to run out of the house with wet hair, and hoping that it eventually looks perfectly air-dried.

As someone who was always running out the door in a hurry to get to her fashion styling jobs at Vogue Italia and Intermix, Shelby Wild, the founder of Playa, wanted a solution for simple styling that required little to no effort. "I saw this white space for an essential line of hair care products that all worked together seamlessly to give you effortlessly beautiful hair without the need for heat styling or sacrificing the safety of ingredients." From here, Wild decided to start her own business.

The Inspiration

"After years in the fashion industry, I decided it was time to trade my fast-paced life in New York City and relocate to Venice Beach where I focused my energy entirely on creating a hair care line for people like me who were after a more natural, fuss-free approach." The line itself started with five SKUS, suitable for every hair type. Since its creation, Playa has since expanded into more specific treatments for both the hair and scalp.

Playa means "beach" in Spanish, and Wild chose it as it's representation of laid-back spirit of the Californian coast. Much of her inspiration comes from beach life—it's simplicity, relaxation, and slow paced way of living. "When I moved to Venice Beach to start the line," she recalls, "I was surfing every day and studying herbalism with the goal to bottle up that effortless look into clean, easy-to-use products that performed just as well as any other salon brand."

Easy, Effortless Styling

Each product is unique in the fact that they are made simple—with high performance ingredients that are actually good for your hair and scalp, something that can be hard to come by nowadays, mentions Wild. "In addition to this, the products are truly clean from the inside out, and we are working towards making all of our packaging from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic to reduce our carbon footprint."

The brand was built to be a combination of clean, multifunctional essentials and treatments made from the highest quality ingredients to help you achieve the best natural version of your hair—meaning no heat styling, dying, or heavy-duty drying required. "It's constantly evolving as a brand, and my team and I love finding ways to push to be more sustainable and environmentally-friendly."