Former Celebrity Hairstylist Kahh Spence Dishes On New Perfume
Kahh Spence Calls Brand Samir Grey A Love Letter To Women
When former celebrity hairstylist Kahh Spence set out to create the brand, Samir Grey, he knew it would require him to sacrifice his time and the venture would test his mental fortitude. The craft he had mastered through work with celebrity clients like Kehlani, Kelly Rowland and Victoria Monét, would have to take a back seat to make room for his new goals to flourish. He set out to create a lifestyle brand that honors women. And for his first magic trick, a potion in a bottle enticingly titled One the Parfum.
“I think the celebrity world comes with a lot,” Spence explained about his departure from hair styling, during a candid Zoom call. “I think from the outside looking in, it looks so glamorous. It looks so well polished, but I think when you really go behind the surface, you end up giving up a lot of yourself, and you end up chasing things that you might not have originally wanted to chase or wanted to be around. And I slowly realized I just wanted a different quality and pace of life.”
Spence embarked on a journey to launch his unisex fragrance brand and got validations along the way from his guardian angel, his late mother, who came to him in a dream. “One of the things I told my perfumer was, I wanted it to feel like my last memory of my mother. We were all supposed to take a trip to Hawaii. Kehlani was going to bring her to Hawaii for one of her shows and we were gonna just vacate out there and have fun. But my last dream of her was we were on the beach, just us two, me and my mother walking on the sand. My mom was in a wheelchair when she passed. So us walking really meant a lot.”
The dream reassured Spence he was on a divine path. And gave inspiration to the scent One the Parfum. “That moment, that feeling, that escape, that sense of relief, like you can just unshrug your shoulders and place them down and sit softly in this moment, like that’s what it feels and smells like.”
Kahh Spence Perfume
It was essential to Spence to be hands on with One the Parfum. He worked closely with a team to create a formula that spoke to his heart. He even funded the venture himself because he believed in it so much. “It’s an entirely new world and I knew I wanted to fully submit myself.”
He added, “I was very specific on like what I envisioned. I want this to feel like you’re on a boat, whether it be south of France, Miami, Cape Town, wherever. Middle of the ocean, loved ones, you’re in your swimwear or you have this cozy sweater wrapped around you. It’s September, the breeze is nice. Like that’s the feeling I want you to feel.”
The young creative may have shied away from his hairstyling career, but he is still in the business of serving women. When asked the inspiration behind the luxury brand, he called it a “love letter to women.”
“I watched all the women in my life really sacrifice so much of themselves to raise us and the children. And show up for everyone without getting any sort of recognition or any sort of praise. And I wanted to build a company that really centered stillness, and that ability to pause and really slow down in a world that often makes you feel like you have to be running at lightning speed.”
According to Spence, One smells like nothing that is on the market. “We created something that doesn’t smell like anything on the market. It opens with this super creamy feeling then it moves down into fruity with the the peaches. But then it has that jasmine feel with a little floral and dries really deep. The musk, the amber, the vanilla; it’s a very rich scent.”
Purchase Samir Grey, on August 25, here.
Kahh Spence Calls Brand Samir Grey A Love Letter To Women was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
