Dosso Beauty Founder Talks Making Braiding Hair Safer For Black Women

CURLFEST was a whole vibe last month, with thousands gathering at Randall’s Island in New York City to celebrate the beauty, creativity and culture of Black hair. The park was packed with beauty lovers and some of your favorite brands, including Carol’s Daughter, Black Girl Vitamins, Bask + Lather, Mielle Organics, Taliah Waajid, DHair and more.

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One of our booth stops included Dosso Beauty, where we chatted with founder Kadidja Dosso about her non-toxic alternative to traditional braiding hair. The clinically tested brand recently made news as the only one of 30 synthetic braiding hair products tested by Consumer Reports with no detectable levels of lead, arsenic or cadmium.

For Dosso, creating a safer alternative isn’t just about what’s in the hair. It’s also about protecting a beauty practice deeply rooted in Black culture.

“Braids have literally been around for centuries and centuries and centuries,” she said. “This is a part of our identity. It’s a part of our DNA.”

But Dosso’s journey to creating her braiding and extensions brand began with a much more personal experience.

“My ‘aha’ moment … was me having a severe allergic reaction to braiding hair,” she said. “I actually bought a pack of hair that said that it was already pre-cleansed.”

The experience sent Dosso looking for answers about what was in the hair she had purchased and whether pre-cleansing was enough.

“What I realized after doing further research is the compounds of the hair cannot be cleansed out if it has heavy metals in it. You can [only] lift off whatever is on the surface,” she said.

That experience became the foundation for Dosso Beauty.

“I created Dosso Beauty to be three times clinically tested, non-toxic, and hypoallergenic so that people get peace of mind that the hair that they’re putting on their head won’t affect their health, their womb health, their skin health, or anything like that,” she said.

For Dosso, safer braiding hair isn’t simply a product innovation. 

“We’re not only being more conscious about what we’re putting on our body and how it affects us, but we’re celebrating our culture,” she said.

And that mission felt right at home at CURLFEST, surrounded by the curls, coils, locs, braids and beauty innovations that continue to move Black hair culture forward.

“It’s important to celebrate Black beauty because it’s a part of our culture. We have to embrace it,” added Dosso. “I’m excited to have a small impact on such a beautiful, large, and global industry.”.