How Keisha Wagner-Gaymon Innovates Skincare For Women Of Color

Board Certified Nurse Practitioner Keisha Wagner-Gaymon founded Peach Fuzz Skin Studio to provide a safer space for Black women and women of color to receive laser hair removal.

Both she and her sister, Peach Fuzz co-founder, Kristin Wagner, suffered from excessive, stubborn hair growth growing up and turned to laser hair treatments for a more effective remedy to remove the hair. She advocates for the benefits of laser hair removal through sharing her personal story, explaining the advancements of laser technology to include melanated skin types, and educating folks on hormonal disorders that cause excessive hair growth, like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and hirsutism. With their original location in Brooklyn, NY, Peach Fuzz Skin Studio has expanded to their second location in Valley Stream, NY.

Her Agenda spoke with Keisha to hear more about her journey battling excessive hair growth, turning a community need to a viable business, and her advice to budding entrepreneurs who want to take a leap of faith in their careers.

Her Agenda:  Can you talk a little bit about your experience with laser hair treatments and how that led you to start Peach Fuzz Skin Studio?

Keisha Wagner-Gaymon:  I started getting facial hair around 16, and I was completely devastated by this. I [was] plucking it, shaving it, those were the only things I knew [to] do. I was completely destroying my skin in the meantime. By the time I was 17, 18, my skin looked terrible. I even remember my posture being different because I was trying to hide my neck. I went to an endocrinologist before that and found out I had PCOS. There must be something that I can do about this. I found out about laser hair removal and found a place in New York that did it. Honestly, it was a really shady place, and I didn’t care. I just wanted this [hair] gone because I found it so embarrassing. I went ahead and did it and got burned. But in my desperation, I was like do whatever you gotta do, just get this thing gone.

It eventually did go away. The hair subsided in terms of growth. My skin started to look better, the bumps went away, and I’m like, wow, ‘This is so transformational.’ Years later, [I noticed] my sister had the tell tale signs of unwanted [hair because] she was removing her hair. I introduced laser to her and she did it, and it was better for her. This was years ago in my early 20s, and I went on to become a nurse. I’ve actually worked in advertising and marketing. I have a degree from FIT. But, I wasn’t making money or getting the jobs I wanted in advertising or marketing. So I went ahead and became a nurse. I’m glad I did, because literally everything that you do culminates to a moment. Becoming a nurse [and] having that background in marketing has helped me where I am now in this journey as a founder of a service business and also a product business that has come full circle. 

Her Agenda: How much time passed between getting that idea and then actualizing it?

Keisha Wagner-Gaymon:  Two years. Prior to COVID, I was looking for a commercial space to do it. COVID happened, and I had an empty apartment in my building. And I was like, you know what? I’m gonna do it here. It’s free, number one, and I can do what I want to do. It doesn’t feel as heavy because I don’t have to pay somebody rent. So I’m like, I’m just gonna do it. I’m gonna use what I got. I live in a brownstone. I had a construction crew come in and we made it look like an office. Very professional, super clean, super neat, and people came. It blew my mind how much people were coming. I couldn’t physically do it anymore by myself. I had to hire someone, and that’s [when] I hired my first esthetician. I trained her and she’s still with me to this day. It’s been a ride. 

Her Agenda:  How was the familial support during this time?  Venturing into entrepreneurship, as exciting as it is, it does require more of you.

Keisha Wagner-Gaymon:  It was a bit of a struggle in the beginning. My daughter’s now 11, my son is 14, so they [were] probably like 8, 9, [at the time]. When we opened, I had a full time job, and so did my sister. We worked this business Thursday through Sunday. My husband pulled his weight in terms of helping with the children and my mom. It was fun and tense. It becomes tricky when you’re in a marriage when someone starts a business. If it kind of does well [and] it exceeds your expectations, that definitely changes dynamics in a lot of ways. So many women, Black and white, could relate to this when you are in a relationship and then you become the one making money. But, for the most part, everything has been working out well. 

My husband is supportive. He helps a lot with the finance side and taxes, which I completely hate. My sister has more of an operations background than I do. What I didn’t know, clearly she knew. Now, we’re much bigger. We have a digital ads team that we work with [and my sister] does all the meetings. We have a staff of, including myself, 12. This is like a real thing now, and [we’re] trying to scale and make it even bigger. But yeah, my family has been there for me, and I come from a family of entrepreneurs.

Her Agenda:  How do you use your mission to take care of melanated skincare to continue to advocate and inform folks about laser hair removal?

Keisha Wagner-Gaymon: I would say my personal mission and part of our mission is just being an advocate making women feel good [and] confident, and I take that very seriously. A woman I can think of right now, she’s in her 30s, she doesn’t date, doesn’t really go out. She has heavy facial hair. Cute girl, but she’s not living her best life because of this thing. It feels like such a burden to her. She’s one of many where unwanted hair has really affected her life in such a way it can consume you. Thinking about who can see your five o’clock shadow, or you don’t want to go on a date because somebody’s going to rub your chin. I’ve been there, I know what that feels like. Part of our mission is making women feel good, making them feel confident. I feel like this is a transformative treatment when done the right way by people who know what they’re doing. I got into this because I knew it helped me and I figured it could help other people. I [wasn’t] thinking, we’d be where we are now. That’s really the mission that’s important to me especially [for] Black women [to] feel good about themselves [because] we’re in such a crazy time right now. I wanted the space to look comforting and warm because you want to feel good every time you come here.

Her Agenda:  For other folks that have an idea they believe in that they believe will serve the needs of a community, what are some steps [you would give] to somebody else that wants to do the same thing?

Keisha Wagner-Gaymon:  You really have to get your mindset right when you’re about to do something that terrifies you. I had to think about it. ‘What is it? Why do I not feel confident about doing this? Why do I feel like I have imposter syndrome?’ Things that [helped] me was [listening] to podcasts. There’s a couple of podcasts that I, to this day, thank these women. They would interview women talking about their businesses and if she did it, I could do it too. I would listen to this in between driving to different patients’ [houses] when I was working as a nurse practitioner in palliative care. Sakita Holley, she’s a publicist, and she had a podcast called The Sakita Method that was helpful. So, number one, mindset. You can [get] that [through] podcasts, books, going to church, going to therapy, [and] trying to figure out what it is that’s holding you back from actualizing your true self. Also, [be] around people that inspire you. I think that’s helpful. If you don’t know anyone, then read about people that inspire you or listen to books about people that inspire you. 

Research your idea. Make sure that it’s a viable idea that makes sense. A lot of people have ideas and sometimes they look grandiose and it doesn’t make any sense. Make sure you have a legitimate customer in mind. Would you buy this service? Does it make any sense to you? [I’d also] ask somebody else who you feel like you can trust and tell an idea to. It doesn’t have to be family, it could be someone totally random. There’s so many people who want to be entrepreneurs, make sure you have an idea that makes sense.  

Her Agenda:  In terms of what you see next for your journey, and [we really love] your mission to balance marriage, motherhood, and entrepreneurship. How do you see that mission being amplified as you go along in your journey, um, with Peach Fuzz and as an entrepreneur in general? What other growth do you see for your business? 

Keisha Wagner-Gaymon:  It’s so funny because I just I had a call today with another entrepreneur [who] does content and I need to do more content on myself as a founder and tell my story and share my story and she’s going to help me with that. I have so many good gems I like to share with people. But besides that, product development is really where I would like to evolve as a creative. [I’m] coming up with products specifically with black women in mind when it comes to hair removal. I’m excited about a product we’re going to introduce this spring/summer. It is a brightening body oil. [We’re also introducing] hyperpigmentation pads, a shave oil, [an] exfoliating cleanser, I’m coming out with too for our customers. After having so much facial hair and doing a lot of hair removal, they have a lot of post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. They ask me all the time what [to] use. This is [an] opportunity here to give them something that I think will be great. I use it every day myself, so I love it. So that’s where I want to be in the next couple years, really working more on product [line,] Fuzz Clinic.