“One of the greatest aspects of black hair is its versatility—you can do anything to it, so my friends and I, like many black women, love experimenting with our hair,”

“But we got frustrated with the lack of information. Where to go, what hair to use, what styling technique. Tress makes that information more accessible.”

These are the words of Tress CEO Priscilla Hazel talking about why her, Esther Olatunde and Cassandra Sarfo launced their hair care and stylist app.

The app aims to showcase and stylists, help people find them, find new styles and tips to work with their own hair.

Tres hopes to make money from the billion dollar industry with sponsored ads and maybe later ecommerce.

Akinyi Ochieng reported for Okay Africa

As I flip through the profiles of users and stylists, I also note with surprise the high number of natural hairstyles. Despite being majority-black, it often feels that natural hair in Accra is the exception rather than the norm. For years, in Africa’s major cities, hair extensions have been seen as a mark of status among the nouveau riche that have internalized Western beauty standards. But increasingly, like many other places in the world, the natural hair movement has started to gain momentum. On the Tress platform, the diversity in hairstyles is both astounding and refreshing.

Read more on Okay Africa and pick up the app here for Android (iOS coming soon).