Why Are There So Many Curly Hair Brands? The Rise of the Natural Hair Industry
Walk through the haircare aisle today, and there are products for seemingly every type of curl, coil, styling method, and hair concern.
But it wasn’t too long ago that finding this many options wasn’t nearly as easy.
The growth of the natural hair industry can make it seem like dozens of curly hair brands suddenly appeared overnight. In reality, some of these companies had been serving textured-hair communities for years, while others emerged as demand for natural hair products increased.
What really changed was visibility.
The natural hair movement, online communities, social media, and mainstream retail all helped transform a market that once existed largely within specific communities into a major part of the beauty industry.
Curly Hair Products Didn’t Suddenly Appear
Long before today’s natural hair aisles existed, Black communities had their own products, salons, beauty supply stores, and haircare traditions.
Many ingredients that became popular during the modern natural hair movement, including shea butter, castor oil, aloe vera, coconut oil, and African black soap, also had histories that extended far beyond social media.
The brands weren’t all new either.
Companies serving Black and textured hair had existed for decades, while newer companies continued entering the market throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
What was different was where consumers could find them.
Before online shopping and social media became part of everyday life, product discovery often happened through family, friends, hairstylists, salons, or local beauty supply stores. If a product wasn’t sold where you lived or used by someone you knew, you might never hear about it.
What Changed the Natural Hair Industry?
There wasn’t one event that suddenly created today’s natural hair market. Several changes were happening at the same time.
More consumers began embracing their natural textures and looking for products that could help them cleanse, moisturize, style, and maintain their hair without relying on chemical straightening.
That change showed up in consumer spending. As the natural hair movement grew during the 2010s, sales of styling products within the Black haircare market increased while relaxer sales declined.
At the same time, consumers were becoming more connected online.
Instead of depending entirely on brands or hairstylists for information, people could discuss their hair with one another. They could compare techniques, ingredients, products, and results.
That gave consumers something the traditional beauty industry hadn’t always provided: access to a much larger community of people trying to understand the same hair.
| Category | 2008 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|
| Relaxers | $206M | $152M |
| Styling Products | $220M | $268M |
| Shampoo & Conditioner | $211M | $257M |
The Internet Made an Existing Community Visible
Before YouTube became the center of natural hair content, forums, message boards, blogs, and other online communities were already connecting people with textured hair.
The internet didn’t create natural hair knowledge; it simply made generations of existing knowledge easier to find and share.
Someone who didn’t have a natural hair specialist nearby could search for information from people experiencing similar problems. Someone struggling with a particular style could find instructions from another person who had already figured it out.
As these conversations moved online, people could exchange experiences far beyond their local communities. They also became more vocal about what was missing from existing products, making the demand for better options increasingly visible.
How YouTube Changed the Way Hair Products Were Sold
YouTube changed product discovery by allowing consumers to see products in action. Instead of relying on advertisements or written reviews, viewers could watch someone with similar hair apply a product, explain their technique, and show the final results.
Natural hair creators documented everything from wash days and twist-outs to big chops and long-term hair journeys. As their audiences grew, their recommendations became increasingly valuable to brands trying to reach the same consumers.
This created opportunities on both sides. Brands could send products to creators, sponsor content, and reach highly targeted audiences without relying solely on traditional advertising. Creators, meanwhile, gained opportunities to build partnerships, earn income, and eventually turn their influence into their own businesses.
That relationship helped reshape beauty marketing. Creators helped drive the growth of the natural hair industry by connecting brands directly with the communities they were trying to reach.
Why So Many New Curly Hair Brands Started Appearing
As demand grew, the market expanded with it. Established companies introduced new collections, while entrepreneurs, stylists, influencers, celebrities, and larger beauty companies launched products designed for increasingly specific textured-hair needs.
Social media made it easier for smaller brands to reach consumers, while industry events such as IBS New York (now the Beauty & Wellness Show), the Bronner Bros. International Beauty Show, and CurlFest created opportunities for education, product discovery, demonstrations, and direct interaction between brands, professionals, creators, and consumers.
Together, these changes gave brands more ways to reach their audience and consumers more ways to discover what was available. A market that had long been underserved was becoming increasingly visible, connected, and commercially significant.
From the Beauty Supply Store to the Mainstream Hair Aisle
Retail expansion also changed how large the natural hair industry appeared. For years, many textured-hair products were most easily found in beauty supply stores, salons, or stores serving predominantly Black communities.
As demand grew, major retailers began giving textured hair more shelf space.
Suddenly, consumers could walk into mainstream stores and see products from several curly and natural hair brands sitting next to one another.
Some of those companies had existed for years. Others really were new.
But putting them all in the same highly visible retail space created the impression that an entirely new industry had appeared almost overnight.
In many cases, the products hadn’t suddenly appeared; access to them had.
The Brands That Helped Shape the Natural Hair Industry
Textured-hair brands entered the beauty industry at different points in its evolution. Some were established long before the modern natural hair movement, while others emerged as consumer demand and visibility increased. The timeline below shows when several recognizable brands entered the market and how the industry expanded across generations.
| Brand | Established | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Dark & Lovely | 1972 | One of the longest-running brands created specifically around the haircare needs of Black consumers. |
| African Pride | 1982 | Became a longstanding name in Black haircare, offering products for styling, maintenance, and textured hair. |
| Mizani | 1991 | Developed as a professional salon brand focused specifically on textured hair. |
| SheaMoisture | 1991 | Grew from its Harlem beginnings into one of the most widely distributed textured-hair brands. |
| Carol’s Daughter | 1993 | Grew from a small, founder-led business into a nationally recognized natural hair and beauty brand. |
| DevaCurl | 1994 | Helped popularize curl-specific products and salon techniques as curly hair education became more mainstream. |
| Miss Jessie’s | 2004 | Became closely associated with the emerging natural-hair movement and products specifically marketed for curls and coils. |
| Kinky-Curly | 2003 | Became known within the natural-hair community for products such as Knot Today and Curling Custard. |
| Camille Rose | 2011 | Represents the generation of independent natural-hair brands that grew during the social-media era. |
| Mielle Organics | 2014 | Grew rapidly through the modern natural-hair and social-media ecosystem before later being acquired by P&G. |
The Curly Hair Boom Created a New Problem: Too Much Choice
Having more options is generally a good thing, especially after decades of limited mainstream attention to textured hair.
But the explosion of curly hair products created a different problem.
Now consumers may find themselves choosing between dozens of shampoos, conditioners, creams, gels, mousses, oils, masks, leave-ins, scalp products, and specialized collections.
Then social media adds another layer.
One creator recommends a product for “low-porosity hair.” Another says you need a completely different routine for your curl type. A viral product appears everywhere for a few months, followed by another product promising something new.
It becomes easy to assume that finding the right product is the key to finding the right routine.
The challenge shifted from finding products to figuring out which ones actually made sense for your hair.
More Products Don’t Necessarily Mean Better Hair
One of the biggest changes in the curly hair industry has been the amount of information available to consumers. While that access can be helpful, it has also created new ways to market products around categories such as curl pattern, porosity, or specific hair concerns.
Curl pattern, however, is only one characteristic of hair. Density, strand thickness, porosity, length, condition, environment, styling habits, and cleansing frequency can all influence how a product or routine performs.
This helps explain why two people with similar-looking curls can have completely different experiences with the same product. As the number of curly hair products continues to grow, understanding individual hair characteristics can make it easier for consumers to navigate an increasingly crowded market.
Related:
- Hair Density Explained (Coming Soon)
- Hair Porosity Guide – Hair Porosity Explained (And Why Yours May Have Changed)
- Hair Strand Thickness Guide (Coming Soon)
Where Is the Curly Hair Industry Today?
Today’s textured-hair market includes everything from small independent businesses to brands owned by some of the world’s largest beauty companies. Consumers also have access to products far beyond what is available in their local stores.
Social media and online shopping have made it easier to discover brands, ingredients, and haircare practices from the Caribbean, Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and many other parts of the world.
That increased access also makes where products are purchased more important. With products now sold across brand websites, major retailers, online marketplaces, and third-party sellers, checking whether a seller is an authorized retailer can help consumers avoid counterfeit, expired, diverted, or improperly stored products.
Related:
FAQs About Natural Hair Industry
Why are there so many curly hair brands now?
Growing demand for textured-hair products created more opportunities for existing companies to expand and new companies to enter the market. Social media, online shopping, and greater retail distribution also made brands much more visible than they had been in the past.
When did the natural hair movement become popular?
Natural hair has a much longer cultural history, but the modern natural hair movement gained significant momentum during the 2000s and early 2010s. Online communities and platforms such as YouTube helped information about natural hair reach a much larger audience.
Why did mainstream stores start carrying more natural hair products?
As demand for textured-hair products grew, major retailers expanded their selections. This gave established brands greater distribution while also creating opportunities for newer brands to reach consumers outside traditional beauty supply stores and salons.
Final Thoughts
The natural hair movement increased demand. The internet made existing knowledge and communities easier to find, while YouTube and social media changed how people discovered products. Retailers expanded their selections, and more companies recognized an opportunity to serve consumers who had historically been overlooked.
The result is an industry with more choices than previous generations of curly and natural hair consumers had access to.
With that growth, the challenge has shifted from simply finding products made for curly hair to understanding which products actually make sense for your individual hair and routine.
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