Ruka Hair inks major deal as the first-ever braiding hair brand to land in Sephora 

by Dollita Okine, Face2faceAfrica.com

Ruka Hair, a biotech beauty brand behind lab-grown hair extensions, will be on the shelves of major beauty retailer Sephora. 

Tendai Moyo and Ugo Agbai founded the company in 2020 after Moyo struggled to find high-quality hair extensions. As reported by AfroTech, she aimed to create a meaningful change that would make Black women feel valued and seen.

In an interview with Translate Culture, Moyo, the CEO and co-founder of Ruka Hair, described how, at the age of 17, she went to a corner store in Swindon, England, looking for hair extensions. She remembered seeing cheap hair extensions and then understood that not much had changed in the industry over time.

“I was a strategy consultant prior to this, and the industry hasn’t changed very much. It’s still really hard to find high-quality hair extensions that work for Black women. Success for us is about creating a brand that brings Black women joy,” Moyo said

She added, “For too long in this space, getting your hair done is painful. When you’re a kid, it comes with a lot of tears. It’s expensive, you’re spending money on products that don’t work, and oftentimes, you don’t really know what you’re doing because you haven’t had that expert access. So success is about bringing joy, it’s about bringing education and learning in a fun way, and it’s about treating Black women with the high value and respect that they deserve.”

Agbai was born in Nigeria, but Moyo was born in Zimbabwe, according to HelloBeautiful. They founded the business focused on women who have had to settle for whatever hair was available for far too long.

“We know what it feels like to have to make do because it doesn’t seem like what’s out there is created for you,” the founders noted on the company’s website. “And that’s exactly why we have decided to make the outsiders our insiders.”

Ruka Hair has a collagen-based, lab-grown fiber called Synths 2 that’s patent-pending. It is said to perform like real hair and was created with curls, coils, and kinks in mind. Options include bone-straight, braided, and kinky Afro hair.

Its most recent achievement is the upcoming launch at Sephora North America in August.

“When we started Ruka, hair extensions weren’t part of the mainstream beauty conversation. But this was always about more. I wanted to build a fibre technology company. When retailers told us we could only launch online, I said absolutely not. Our customers need to experience hair in person, with a premium experience. Many said no,” Moyo wrote on LinkedIn.

“For the first time in 20 years, we’re relaunching a whole new category in Sephora. We’ll be the ONLY hair extensions brand in Sephora, bringing bio-engineered fibres everywhere from Harlem to Times Square. The first-ever braiding hair in Sephora. This is the biggest moment in our history because accessibility has always been fundamental to the store. We invested in the R&D to reach millions, and now we can. But as we know, the hard work begins here. Retail isn’t a saving grace. It’s an opportunity to keep building bigger,” she continued in the post.

Co-led by Freedom Trail Capital and Henkel Ventures, Ruka Hair has $4.5 million in funding. According to data provided to AfroTech, it is also on track to achieve 101% year-over-year revenue growth by April 2027.