Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes, and that’s true for Kylee Black, who decided to create a non-aerosol dry shampoo with clean ingredients after she says other brands drained her wallet and damaged her hair.

Her innovation, Powder Baby Dry Shampoo, recently earned top honors at the 2024 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, including the $30,000 Simon Gibson Grand Prize sponsored by Zions Bank.

This student business competition is hosted by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business at The University of Utah, and sponsored by Zions Bank.

We sat down with the BYU senior from Oakdale, California to talk about her entrepreneurial journey and how she plans to leverage the prize money to continue to grow her business.

Why did you create Powder Baby Dry Shampoo?

“I was always interested in entrepreneurship and had been complaining for years about dry shampoo eating up all my money as a college student and ruining the texture of my hair. I decided I was going to create a better dry shampoo.”

“I spent the first couple months trying to figure out how to make it since I’m not a chemist. I stayed up until 1 a.m. researching the finest powders and colors that were clean. I was obsessed with the idea of creating it.”

What differentiates Powder Baby Dry Shampoo from other products?

“A lot of moms want to have clean products in their house and have started looking around for healthy options. Our product is food grade and is made with ingredients that you would find in a face mask so it benefits your scalp.”

“Our powdered dry shampoo lasts three times longer than aerosols and naturally absorbs in the oils in your hair. We are the only one that comes in five colors. It lays in your hair a lot smoother and doesn’t leave a chalky, grainy, itchy feeling.”

What was your biggest challenge starting your small business?

“I made the product for the first year and it was taking up so much of my time. We did no advertising since I was just trying to nail down the formula. It’s hard to dispense powder in a clean way so finding the right bottle was important. I tried fancier powder spray bottles and all of them would clog after a week or two. We finally came up with all paper bottles. They dispensed well and are eco-friendly.”

“The last step was finding a manufacturer and that was really hard. A lot of manufacturing companies want to formulate the product for you. We interviewed with a lot and found one that will stick to our formula and our bottle.”

How have you funded the growth of your small business?

“The funding was completely me in the beginning. Later I applied for and received $25,000 through the Roland Center at BYU – and that was instrumental for me. Manufacturing was really expensive the first round.”

What’s next for Powder Baby Dry Shampoo?

“The prize money is going to allow us to finally start advertising on Amazon. When you search powdered dry shampoo, we want to be one of the first 15 spots. We’ll also start working with influencers on Instagram and spend a little on Meta advertising.”

“We have a goal of $100,000 in sales for this year and I think we could surpass that. We also want to obtain a major angel investment by the end of this year.”

If you’re a student with a startup idea or an aspiring young entrepreneur, you can learn more about the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge and the Utah High School Entrepreneur Challenge on the Lassonde Institute website.  

Zions Bank’s Business Resource Centers in Idaho and Utah offer counseling and training for entrepreneurs and our online tools include business templates, columns, videos and financial calculators.