Photo-Illustration: Jordan Moss There were the bra-strap-length box braids I wore off and on during high school . The braided-bob phase I went through in college. Most recently, I got Tracee Ellis Ross–inspired cornrows before a trip to Hawaii. All of these styles amounted to a lot of synthetic hair being woven into mine. And I’m not alone: The global wig-and-extensions market is expected to generate $10 billion in revenue by 2023.
So further down the rabbit hole I went. I turned my attention to Kaneka’s North American dealings. A LinkedIn search served up 268 Kaneka employees based in New York, California, and Texas. I zeroed in on seven people working in marketing, R&D, and product development, figuring they would have the most relevant information. Five messages later, I received three responses. Two redirected me to other contacts in the company , and the third agreed to talk off the record.
Like Ciara Imani May, who earned a master’s degree in social entrepreneurship from USC in 2018 and founded Rebundle in 2019 to offer Black women a healthier, environmentally friendly alternative to plastic synthetic hair. At $20 per pack, Rebundle is on the high end of the price spectrum, but it is biodegradable and compostable and contains only nontoxic, organic banana-leaf shampoo and conditioner, protein treatment, and grapeseed oil.
Latched & Hooked Pre-Stretched Braiding Hair From $12 Tiffini Gaitlin founded Latched & Hooked after her daughter had a bad experience with Afro Beauty Collection synthetic hair . Gaitlin’s braiding hair is entirely nontoxic, and in addition to classic blacks and browns, it comes in two-toned and even three-toned color combinations.