This Celeb Hairstylist Owns Two Beauty Patents & An Award-Winning Hair Extensions Brand

Celebrity hairstylist LeAna McKnight is not leaving any crumbs on the table. The serial entrepreneur is eating up the beauty business — and eating well. Not only is she the founder of SL Raw Virgin Hair, but she is also one of a dozen or so Black women to ever own a beauty patent. In fact, she owns two: one for a leather carrier for freelance hairstylists, and another for a thread-weaving tool to prevent tangles and keep needles in place. 

[SEE ALSO: 9 Black Inventors Who Made Hair History]

The reason why is simple: she is a consummate problem-solver and her attention to detail is prevalent throughout her 15-year journey as a hairstylist. All of her innovations stem from simply listening to her clients and other hairstylists’ pain points. “I’ve prioritized taking my years of beauty industry knowledge and packaging it in an informative way.” 

For example, nowadays, it seems like everyone has a hair extensions business. A simple Google search can lead you to a laundry list of online (or WhatsApp) wholesalers to give you your fill of imported hair from China, India, and other South Asian countries. 

And it makes sense. We imported $1.75T worth of hair (not products, just hair) into the U.S. last year. That’s 20% more revenue than 2020 — and the numbers are only growing higher.

What you can’t easily search for, however,  is quality or how it’s sourced. Many have heard (or experienced) horror stories of everything from hair falling apart the moment it’s washed or being swept up off salon floors to not matching the promise of being virgin or unprocessed.

That was a big issue for McKnight, who has styled such celebs as Ari Lennox, Deborah Cox, and Dawn Richard, and ran a top-rated salon in West Hollywood.

“I noticed that customers were wasting a lot of money on extensions that were low-quality while claiming to be human hair. There needed to be a better solution,” says McKnight.

After years of researching and testing, McKnight shares that her company, SL Raw Virgin Hair, is “one of the few hair companies that produces its own premium hair extensions at the source.” 

“Our hair is ethically sourced from donors in India and Southeast Asia and has never been processed or altered,” she says. The hair has “undergone a lifetime of careful grooming using traditional natural herbal oils.” All of the extensions are “handcrafted with a machine weft” for minimal shedding and matting. 

Her extensions brand offers up everything from bundles and clip-ins to lace fronts and u-part wigs. And the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Her business grew more than 500% from 2020-2021 and she’s continuing to expand. Her newest addition is I-Tip Hair extensions that can be used for microlink, hot fusion, and Brazilian knot installs. They come in four different textures, even offering options for kinkier curlier 4A-4C hair types

McKnight is not just focused on the quality of hair, but also on the quality of care as a hairstylist. The moment you sit in her chair or become a customer, she wants you to have a luxe experience. 

“You are no longer the single owner of your hair,” she jokes. “Your hair is my hair.” And she wants you to feel good about it. “Luxury is not putting a hefty price tag on a product; it’s the experience and quality of the goods provided.”

Beauty wasn’t always her go-to career. “I always imagined I would be a big-time dentist working on teeth,” she once wrote on Twitter. “But life gives you twists and turns.” And, in those twists and turns that she hopes to have a far-reaching impact beyond beauty.

“Success means being part of something bigger and greater than myself,” she explains. “[It] means having the opportunity to provide shelter for those who fell on hard times. It is being able to provide educational resources within my community [and] being able to empower women from all walks of life —  from the lady in retail to the lady partner at the top firm.” And, of course, “being able to share my beauty knowledge in hair schools around the world would be a plus, as well.”