Braiding is a manual task, and a single style can take eight hours to complete. Many professionals deal with issues like cramping and carpal tunnel syndrome after long days standing behind a chair weaving hair into patterns.
Diallo started braiding in college at Northeastern University in Boston, where she found limited access to braiders and textured-hair specialists, and launched a small business of her own to fill the gap. "Throughout that experience, I was very close to some of the pain points in the styling process and complained about it constantly," she said.
"I stopped braiding, and one of the reasons that I stopped braiding was due to the physical toll it has on your body," she said. She wanted to find a way to make braiding less painful and wondered whether new AI technology could automate part of the process.
Tressfecta's first project is Plait Pilot, a tool that helps braiders with the initial process of separating hair from packs before braiding begins. That process alone can take hours, especially when a client wants small braids. According to Diallo, the device works by having a stylist place braiding hair on top of it, set the size they want the hair separated into, and the device separates the pieces and dispenses them back to the stylist to grab while braiding.
Building hardware for braiding is expensive, difficult and complex, which is one reason there have been few innovations in this space. The textured hair market has also long been overlooked by the mainstream. "It's very challenging to build this kind of tool in this space," Diallo said, citing the nuance and complexity of the braiding style process and the need to account for different types of textured hair.