This episode has been such a long time in the making and I cannot tell you how big of a fan of this brand, this individual I am, I have been for many, many years, long first

in Karricky even came to fruition and to this day it's literally like one of my all-time favorite hair care lines, absolutely obsessed. So without me

ranting too much, I would love to introduce you guys to Frederick Fokai from Fokai Hair Care. Welcome to the show. Frederick, thank you so much for the honor of coming on to our show.

Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be part of this great podcast. Thank you.

No, thank you. It's my honor and I'm really excited because like I said, I'm such a fan and you know your products are just, I mean, there's nothing like them out there. So I can't wait to learn about that, but I really want to, I want to learn about you and your wonderful career and just everything that led up to you creating the brand obviously, but just your own journey, you know, into this into, you know, just good hair care and how things have changed over the years. So if you could kind of started by walking us down memory lane, that'd be a really great place to start.

Well, thank you. Well, you know, you know, I was not meant to be in the in the beauty business, when I grew up, you know, I wanted to be an architect or designer, an artist, and my dad opposed,

opposed my way to go to a finance school. So I went to law school to start to law school and didn't like it so much. And I was fortunate to do some modeling on the side and to earn some money. And that's where I met an amazing talent.

A woman who was incredible, a stylist and makeup artist on photo shoot and film. And that's how I discovered this, this business. And she invited me, knowing that I was not happy in law school to, to assist, which I did. And there was an eye opening for me because it was a world I didn't know, I didn't understand. And then I was like a kid in a canister.

In all this incredible, you know, beauty around and fathering all over the world and learning from the best. And that's how I discovered you then.

Then I was lucky again to meet the creative director of a big salon firm in Europe, Corjardo Sange. And they invited me to work with them. And, and that's where the opportunity to come to New York.

Came when they opened their first branch, their first flagship in New York City. And so I came in New York in 1983. And it was very excited to discover the city.

And I realized that, you know, New York, because I couldn't say the US, I didn't know the US, but New York, you know, the beauty was very different than France.

It was all about really groomed, really prepared. Everything was still paid for the details from the morning to the night.

But the French had more of what we call an effortless beauty, something that was more, you know, what we call to their French beauty.

It's beautiful, but it's not, it's not overdone. So I introduced, basically, this French beauty, which is a focus casual chic, but hairstyle and look and haircut, there was more,

a subdued, more subtle, more sort, and I would say more universal. And by doing that, you know, I introduced a casual chic, a casual elegance that did go very well with the fashion, because that's also when the brand, like Laura Piana.

And, you know, Armani and all this way, they had a casual, you know, elegance clothing. So that was a perfect timing to come with this, with this look.

Absolutely. I mean, I think that's why I still, like, I mean, I'm a huge fan of your products. And I think there's still such standout products, you know, that are timeless because of that. What you just described is this idea of, like, beautiful.

You know, the products are creating beauty, but it doesn't feel like you have all this to do all this homework, you know, that you have to get done to get ready. And I love that. I love that that's so tied into the DNA of what you've created, because it really shows, you know, it's like, even if we jumped forward to the brand and we look at how Fakai hair care is, like for everyone listening, if you haven't tried the brand already, I mean, you really need to first of all, but if you have tried it, you know what I mean, it's kind of like a one in done deal with the products as well, Frederick. I mean, they're just so good for your

hair, regardless of what kind of hair you have, I know that in the industry, we have so much hype now with different types, right, of hair, like, coily, different, you know, curly hair ties, different types of straight and but with your products, I feel like when you use them, they just work, you know, and there's not this huge amount of homework, I have to do, you know, to figure out, like, what do I need to know about my hair, so that it works the right way, but I mean, it makes sense to me after hearing you, you know, explain that the background.

Yes, yeah, go ahead, no, go ahead, please go.

So, so for me, the idea was always, you know, from the salon to the product is, how can I help my customer?

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