Black Beauty Spotlight
This Dallas Braider Is Serving Up Holistic Haircare With TuffBaby’s Organics Essentials
Vanna Collins is helping her clients’ edges flourish with all-natural healing.
Dallas-native Vanna Collins is looking to make a national mark on beauty. Over the past 20 years, Collins has earned renown for her braiding skills, serving up looks for influencers and celebs, including Summer Walker, as well as for brand partnerships. Now, she has set her sights on the beauty product game with TuffBaby’s Organics Essentials.
Over the past few years, Collins had been introducing her clients and coworkers to innovative feel-good scents and naturopathic formulations to help their hair flourish. Like most hairstylists-turned-entrepreneurs, she first started mixing up products to help address her clients’ main pain point: hair loss.
“I had a lot of clients complain about the loss of edges,” she shares. “As a braid stylist that was one of the most common conversations I had in my chair,” But she, says, “nothing on the market moved me when it came to a lightweight product that actually works.”
She needed something different.
“I began to research natural herbs and oils sensitive enough for babies, but tough enough for adults,” she explains. “Studies have shown how harmful sulfates and parabens (often found in hair and skin products) can be to the hair and body,” says Collins.
In fact, some of the most toxic hair and beauty products are marketed toward Black women. That’s why “it’s important for my business to [create] hair products that are all-natural and organic,” she adds.
TuffBaby’s offerings are infused with nutrient-rich ingredients like hemp seed and coconut oils, as well as peppermint oil, which research shows calms and cools the senses, while stimulating the scalp for faster, thicker-growing hair.
“It took me about two years to play around with the formulation and come up with a recipe and smell that I liked,” she says. “But, the biggest challenge was learning the business of haircare production. It’s a totally different beast from providing a hair service because you really have to learn inventory and marketing.”
Collins launched the brand’s initial two products in the midst of the pandemic: a quick shine Intensive Growth Mist and her star product, a hemp-based Growth Oil.
Once she got going, her customers’ responses made her journey that much more rewarding. “Seeing the joy and just how much they love using TuffBabys is very heartwarming.”
When asked what makes it stand out, she says, it’s because the products are “made with love,” and they actually work.
“It helps thicken, strengthen, and minimize hair shedding. It’s great for protective styles as it also fights against buildup, itching, and dandruff.” She also loves the “cooling effect it has on the scalp.”
The products aren’t just for women, either. Her male clients swear by the oil for their beard care.
Collins recently hosted a private launch party to celebrate the growing brand’s success, including a new retail partnership with Walmart. “Business is about to rocket!” she told us of the new placements. “It also is a reminder of dedication and faith.”
TuffBaby’s Organics is available now on Walmart.com and will be available in select stores beginning this fall.
