Waeve Manifesto: how we came to be
by Mary Imevbore
We started Waeve because it is a company that should have already existed.
Four years ago, in the summer of 2017, I was shopping for a wig, and found my self struggling. I was switching tabs between a sea of vendors on AliExpress - it was never ending and with wildly disparate prices, yet somehow the exact same pictures of the exact same black women, some of whom I learned were not even wearing a wig at all, much less the wig being sold. I was also searching on YouTube, where wig review videos told me to deeeefinitely buy this wig, but the comments below warned me that if I actually bought it, the wig I would receive would be a much worse wig than the one in the video.
My mother got her wigs from a hairstylist who made them custom, but her stylist was notoriously hard to get a hold of. I had a looming birthday aka a tight deadline, and to be honest I just didn’t have custom wig money. I just wanted to be able to buy it online! In a style that I wanted, for a price that made sense, from a company that I felt good about shopping from. And I wanted it to come quickly, and I wanted to be safeguarded from regret, which seemed unavoidable in the wig space. These wants did not seem like so much to ask, considering the fact that it was the standard for every other friken thing I bought online.
Yet the experience I was looking for did not exist for wigs. And I wasn’t the only one struggling to shop for a wig—so many black girls I knew had expressed the same feeling. Wigs were great, but it was very hard to buy them. Frankly, it was unacceptable. So Waeve was born, to be the solution to this problem.
But Waeve is much more than just the best place to buy your wig. It is a community centered around black women, inclusive of all black femmes who want to come together in recognition of the power that wigs represent, the larger meaning of agency behind being able to change your look and express your current-moment self. The joy that comes from a knowledge of that power, and the peace generated as a function of that agency.
Because here’s the thing, wigs are actually about power, and control, in a world where black women are meant to spend hours, which roll up to weeks, months, YEARS of our lives sitting in chairs getting our hair done. Or standing in showers, arms aching from detangling sessions that we thought would just carry us through one Drake album (we’re now on the third), the disappointment of yet another failed twist out, the trips to Target to stock up on the latest curly mousse trend. Wigs FREE us. A wig lets you say hey, I’m actually not going to do my hair today, because I can literally just slap this mf on and go. Yes of course there are edges to be laid and parts to be plucked and it can be it’s whole thing as well, but, we move.
So reclaim your time girl, and swing some inches in everyone’s face while doing it!!
As a final word, we created Waeve with love. We encourage you to consume it in a way that sparks joy -- shop with us, engage with us online, connect with the people in our community. In whatever way works for you, we encourage you to ride the waeve and create your own.