How These Sisters Turned Their DIY Traditions Into a Natural Hair-Care Brand

There are a lot of things sisters can say they shared throughout their lifetimes — clothes, old textbooks, that one family car on its last leg — but few can add a successful beauty brand to that list. Unless you're Ione and Ellen Rucker, of course.

Ione and Ellen, co-founders of Rucker Roots, were raised in a close-knit, Southern family as the youngest of eight children. As adults, they can fuss and fight but always forgive and forget because "it's never that serious," Ione says. Even so, it took some adjusting to navigate their new roles as business partners, not just sisters. "Ellen and I had arguments all the time about different things," Ione says. "But once we figured out our strengths, it has been a very smooth road. It wasn't easy at first because, being the little sister, Ellen would tell me, 'Ione, do this and do that,' and I'd be like, 'That's not my lane. I'm going to stay in my lane and you stay in your lane.'" Once they understood their roles — their strengths and weaknesses — Rucker Roots took off.

In its 10th year, the natural hair-care brand has hit its stride. Recently, Rucker Roots landed a spot on Walmart shelves, joining the ranks of hundreds of other Black-led brands spotlit by the retailer's Black & Unlimited: The Shoutout platform, which aims to fuel the power of word-of-mouth support to amp up the visibility of Black business owners, artists, and creators. Though Rucker Roots is still fairly new to the mass market scene, Ione and Ellen are dedicated to maintaining the versatility of their products, something we had the chance to ask them about, ahead.

Rucker Roots didn't take form until Ione was going through a major life transition and, with her three young children, moved in with Ellen. Ione and Ellen's daughters (Katherine and Kai) are best friends, growing up almost like sisters, and Ione and Ellen would spend a lot of time in the kitchen creating hair concoctions from scratch to style the girls's hair — just like their mother did with them. Then, one day, Katherine and Kai said to their mothers, "Y'all need to do this as a business."

At the time, neither one of their careers had anything to do with beauty. Ione majored in child development education while Ellen practiced chiropractic medicine. Then both of their lives called for something new — they were both divorced, Ione was ready to do something for herself, Ellen was experiencing burnout, and they were both thinking of what should come next in their lives. It was Kai who shed some light on her mother's future, suggesting that if she did leave her job, she might have more time with her. So, as Ellen says, she stepped out on faith and started Rucker Roots.

Most of Ione and Ellen's beauty experience came from their childhood — their roots. When they first launched their products, the goal was to stay true to what they experienced growing up in Lancaster, South Carolina. Their father's day job was dentistry, but he was passionate about farming and gardening. Whenever he would bring produce home, their mother would use the fresh ingredients to create hair products for the kids. Even today, ginger, turnip, and carrot root are three ingredients at the heart of Rucker Roots.

These roots are what set the brand apart from its competitors, especially when Ione and Ellen were first starting out. They both noticed that retailers and sales teams would regularly ask for something different — niche. Using their roots to fuel their product development gives them an edge. "We do not play about our formulations," Ione says. "We take years and years to test and sample our formulations on different hair types and textures. We really take pride in them."

But before Ione and Ellen could blaze their own trail, they followed their mother's lead. While everyone was getting relaxers or perms, their mother insisted they didn't. She encouraged both sisters to embrace their natural hair. " "Our mother was way before the natural hair trend," Ione says. "She was the trendsetter." And when the sisters had their own children, they wanted them to love their natural hair just the way they were taught.

Ellen and Ione launched Rucker Roots with a four-step system — including a shampoo, conditioner, heat protectant, and anti-frizz silkening growth serum — which they still carry today. "At the time of our launch, a lot of natural hair-care companies were only focused on curly styles, women who wanted to wear their hair wash-and-go, in twist sets, or braid-outs," Ellen says. "We wanted a line that was still natural, that still focused on healthy hair and natural hair, but also gave women the versatility of wearing their hair blown out or straight." For Ione and Ellen, you can be natural and silk press your hair.

Because Rucker Roots offered versatile products that worked for women with natural hair, especially "straight natural" hair, Ione and Ellen found success in salons, where they initially pushed their products. "We wanted that kind of street cred of being a professional-grade product, and we got that through the salons and the professional stylists, because they absolutely fell in love with our four-step system," Ione says. With this, the sisters felt confident going to trade shows, which was where they were approached by retailers looking to fill their shelves with Rucker Roots.

Parenthood is also a full-time job, so how do Ellen and Ione manage to be full-time co-founders at the same time? "I like to use grace a lot," Ellen says. "I truly believe that you have to allow yourself grace and space to do all those things." With five-year-old twins, Ellen has become a pro at using her time wisely. "I truly try to focus on work while they're at school so that when they come home, I have that space and that time to devote to my family."

It's only fitting that a brand so deeply influenced by family roots is run by two sisters. And an added bonus of your brand co-founder being family is that, well, they're family. "When Ione and I lived in the same city, we would really lean on each other for help with the kids so that one of us could focus on doing something for the company," Ellen says. "Having a strong partner in business is the best thing ever, and I think that that has really helped us be able to balance it all, because we do have different times in our lives where she can focus more on the business and I have to focus on my family."

For other entrepreneurs out there balancing parenthood, Ione has some advice: "Just keep going every day. Don't quit. It's just as simple as that. Just keep going."