After struggling to search out non-irritating braiding hair for a protective style in preparation for a vacation, Osahon Ojeaga ordered from a higher-quality brand online. Or so she thought.

“My scalp was on fire,” she told ESSENCE, admitting she’d turned to the web to buy the hair after failing to search out a beauty supply store in her Silicon Valley neighborhood that catered to ethnic hair types. “It was a extremely terrible experience, not only due to the hair itself, but the client service was poor as well.”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“It was identical to, what? We don’t deserve this. I can do higher than this,” she said. “I’m just going to go make my very own hair extensions. And so I did.”

Ojeaga said she began making regular synthetic hair extensions using traditional materials, and still was experiencing the identical issues from an irritation standpoint, but additionally “from a sustainability standpoint.”

“Repeating the identical thing, doing the identical thing, that’s causing the problems will not be going to unravel the issue, whether it’s a Black one who’s sourcing and making synthetic care, if it’s anyone overseas who isn’t acquainted with the patron. And that was the moment I noticed the fabric goes to must change completely—from the molecular level up.

“What else looks like hair?” Plants.

Ojeaga said she began researching foliage and its fibrous makeup to reimagine the synthetic hair materials.

“Plants make fibers,” she said. “You have a look at the skin of a brown coconut, it’s very fibrous. You look inside a tree or a tree trunk, same thing. From there I made a decision to make use of nature as my inspiration.”

In early 2023 she launched Nourie, the flagship product from her company Aja Labs, a materials engineering startup creating plastic-free synthetic fibers for the patron beauty space. She together with Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder, Dr. Mary Moore, a materials and polymer engineer are aiming to create pathways for Black women to stake some ownership over the $13 billion global hair extension market.

Now, lower than a 12 months later, Ojeaga has scaled the corporate and is one step closer to reaching much more customers who’ve long yearned for higher.

In November 2022, Aja Labs raised $2.5MM in a seed round of funding led by Impact America Fund, Higher Ventures, and SOSV’s IndieBio.

“Black women still represent lower than 1% of all employer businesses in America,” Kesha Money of Impact America Fund told ESSENCE. She added: “Yet, Black business ownership is a proven path to wealth and job creation that concurrently stimulates the U.S. economy. In accordance with the Path to 15|55 initiative, Black business owners were 12x wealthier than their peers. And if just 15% of Black-owned businesses are capable of hire another worker, the American economy could grow by $55 billion.”

Nourie is exclusively available online now, but Ojeaga has huge plans for the brand.

“Those that have pre-ordered are so excited concerning the brand and we’re thrilled to serve them. This is just the start.”