TAMPA, Fla. — A Bay area cancer survivor is hoping to hit the shelves of stores soon with her new product aimed at helping others dealing with hair loss during treatments like chemo.

It’s an idea that came to Monica Smith out of necessity. She was diagnosed with stage two colon cancer during the pandemic.

What You Need To Know

Monica Smith didn’t have a lot of options for haircare that didn’t contain harmful chemicals
She created her own product, Sober Roots, using essential oils

Smith said she had a chance encounter while driving for Uber, and the idea went from there

Smith sells her products at different pop-ups in the Tampa Bay area, but she says with her fundraising efforts, she is close to opening a storefront of her own

She said that when she started losing her hair, she didn’t have a lot of options for haircare that didn’t contain harmful chemicals. So, she created her own product, Sober Roots, using essential oils. 

“This is what it started from after losing my hair to cancer and being suggested to avoid products that have alcohol and couldn’t find any,” Smith said. “So, I met with a manufacturing company, we came together and created this awesome formula of alcohol-free ingredients.”

Smith said she had a chance encounter while driving for Uber — one of her passengers was a professor at the University of Tampa. She talked about her product, and that led to her getting into their business incubator program and officially launched her haircare line.

“If you have hair loss, you definitely want to avoid products with chemicals. So, keeping it in its natural state is what’s going to keep further hair loss from happening and help promote the hair that’s coming in. It works depending on what you need it for,” she said. “Like I said, if you have fine hair, you might just want to stick to the ends. If you need hydration for curls, you rub it through your hair, and it will help keep your curls hydrated without weighing down that curl pattern.”

Smith sells her products at different pop-ups in the Tampa Bay area, but she says with her fundraising efforts, she is close to opening a storefront of her own.