For a long time, textured hair has existed in a strange space within the beauty industry. It has always been there, obviously, but often treated as something separate, specialist or even niche, despite the millions of people who have been buying products, wearing protective styles and spending money on their hair for generations.
If you have textured hair, you will probably know exactly what I mean. You know which shops to go to, which products to look for and which brands you can trust because, historically, the mainstream beauty industry hasn't always been particularly interested in making sure those products were readily available to you. That is why I paid attention when I saw that Ruka had launched at Sephora in the US earlier this month.
Ruka, founded by Tendai Moyo and Ugo Agbai, has become the first Black-owned hair extensions brand to launch with Sephora in the US and, interestingly, the first hair extensions brand Sephora has carried in more than 20 years. That alone is a pretty big deal, but I think the significance goes beyond simply getting a product onto a shelf
For years, the hair extension market has been dominated by products that were not necessarily created with the experience of people with textured hair at the centre. Ruka has approached things differently, developing its own Synths fibre as an alternative to traditional Kanekalon and focusing on some of the very real issues people experience with synthetic hair, including weight, tangling and itching.
And perhaps this is why the timing feels important.
We are in a period where textured hair is no longer something the beauty industry can comfortably treat as a small corner of the market. There is a much bigger conversation happening around representation, hair health, scalp health, protective styling and the products people actually want to use. Consumers are also much more informed and much less willing to accept the idea that something isn't available simply because the market is "too niche".
The market was never too niche. The industry just wasn't always looking in the right direction. I also can't look at this without thinking about my own experience through Kulture Kurls. Running a braiding business has given me an even greater appreciation for how much thought goes into something that can easily be dismissed as simply putting hair into someone's head. The type of hair matters, the weight matters, the texture matters, the technique matters and, most importantly, the culture, history and person sitting in the chair.
So when I see a brand like Ruka making its way into a mainstream beauty retailer, I'm interested not just because it is a Black-owned business doing well, but because of what that visibility represents. Imagine someone who has never had to think twice about whether a beauty retailer stocks something suitable for their hair walking into Sephora and seeing extensions specifically created with textured hair in mind. It changes the conversation about who beauty products are actually being made for.
One brand making it into Sephora doesn't suddenly mean the beauty industry has figured out textured hair. There is still a lot of work to do, from the products that are developed to the availability of those products, the representation behind the brands and the people making decisions about what gets put on shelves in the first place.
What I do think it shows is that things are moving. The businesses being built within our communities are getting bigger. The products are getting better. Consumers are asking more questions and the mainstream is slowly catching up with what many of us have known for a very long time.
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