While extensions can be a great protective style for Black women, oftentimes, we end up doing more harm than good to our hair as we attempt to alter our hair texture to match that of the extensions. Hairstylist and founder of True + Pure Texture, Pekela Riley, hopes to change this.
“What inspired me with True + Pure Texture is that in my mind, beauty is always about enhancing, and all of our extension options before required us to literally alter and pulverize our hair so it didn’t really enhance our beauty. It was counterintuitive,” Riley told MadameNoire.
That is where True + Pure Texture steps in. The company, which has been selected to participate in Sally Beauty and Cosmo Prof’s Cultivate Cohort of Women Entrepreneurs initiative, offers luxury human hair extensions that seamlessly match the natural hair textures of Black women.
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“True + Pure Texture intends to disrupt because hair extensions have never been an aid to healthy hair and they should be,” said Riley. “When textures match your natural hair, that in itself is inherently protective because I have prevented all this extra stress, heat, and duress on the hair and so then myself attribute to better hair care because you are allowing it to be in its natural state to blend with these textures. You are applying less trauma to your hair in order to extend it. It is conducive to a healthy here regimen and not counterproductive.”
Here are five stand-out products from the collection.
Jasmine Coil Ponytail (4B/4C)
“The Jasmine Coil is our hero texture,” said Riley, “but the Jasmine Coil ponytail is contending to be our hero because it has so much versatility. People have the ease of installing it. It’s instant. It’s gentle. Then they have the ease of uninstalling and I think that’s an unspoken plus. We could take things off but Jasmine texture in itself is the most versatile. So people wear it as it is. People brush it out, fro it out. You can stretch it out. You just stretch it out and he has something. It has so many versatile qualities.”
Jasmine Coil Clip-ins (4B/4C)
Sew-ins can be great protective styles when installed properly, but they can also be extremely limiting, which is why the Jasmine Coil clip-ins are popular.
“It gives the option to opt-out,” said Riley. “We all love makeup, but we do get to opt-out, we get to wipe it off at night, you know there is no, there’s no commitment costs to wearing lipstick.”
Relaxed natural wig
“The relaxed natural wig is amazing. Again, super versatile. This is for the girl who is really identity-centered,” Riley explained. “She loves the aesthetic of straight hair but it must read of her natural texture. People love the Relaxed Natural wig because it gives them all of those blowout features without compromising the natural aesthetic of their own hair.”
Sasha Curl (3B/3C)
“It was important for me to create products where you actually took control of the way you wear extensions,” said Riley. “Not only in what your extensions look like, but how you wear them. Maybe you’re like, ‘Hey, I’m kicking it, I’m working with my laptop on the sofa all week. I don’t want to feel any points of tension on my hair.’ And then you’re like, ‘I got things to do this weekend. Let me pop my ponytail on then so I can have a glamorous weekend and that is a way of really managing your self-care and enhancing your beauty.”
Layla Curl (4A/4B)
Riley also shared that her desire to offer high-quality textured hair extensions to Black women is deeply personal.
“I remember having my first experience with extensions. My grandmother did this braided ponytail for me and I felt so proud of it. I went to school and one of my girlfriends said was cute and this little boy was like, ‘That’s not your hair’ and I was like, ‘Yes, it is.’ And he was like, ‘No it ain’t. It don’t match,'” she recalled. “I was nine years old and I had no idea that I would go into hair and become a stylist and really have these intersection points in my career where you know, grown women were experiencing these same things. They’re having to really cause damage to their being and to their hair in order to enhance it.”
