Back to Consult CHiC Pros Main page

Curly Girls Rule

Owners & Sisters of Miss Jessie's Salon Miko and Titi Branch

Once chastised for their hair texture, curly-haired women, many of mixed heritage have taken control of their tresses and self-esteem thanks in large part to the availability of specifically-formulated products and banding together in curly pride.

Sisters Titi and Miko Branch opened Miss Jessie's Salon, formerly known as Curve Salon, in 1997 in a Brooklyn brownstone. The salon soon became the go-to place for those with kinky, curly, wavy hair offering unique and workable solutions. As COCOACHiC is a collective online exchange that personifies the legacy and future of black beauty, we were thrilled to sit down with Titi to discuss the history and the future of Miss Jessie's Salon and their influence in black hair care.

CHiC: Tell us about Miss Jessie

Titi: A proud southern matriarch, Miss Jessie was, the most "tell-it-like-it-is" woman. She was also the "cookinist" woman in Poughkeepsie. Never one to hold her tongue, Miss Jessie reserved her most colorful commentary for two subjects: good food and good grooming. It wasn't uncommon that her food and hair preparations contained some of the same ingredients. If Miss Jessie couldn't find what she wanted in a local shop, she'd figure out a way to make it herself (right at her kitchen table). Miss Jessie never worked from recipe books and had excellent dexterity. She was a "common sense" type of person. Able to identify a problem and create a solution, Miss Jessie use to whip up an egg and mayonnaise treatment when my sister, Miko, and I complained about our hair. Many of her preparations included remedies for hair and beauty which she shared with the entire family.

CHiC: How did you and Miko end up in the hair business?

Toddlers Titi and Miko

Titi: We were born to an African American father and a Japanese mother. That left us with a head full of hair that was neither straight nor kinky with a combination of different textures. Back then both of our parents worked full time and attended school. This left no time to care for our hair. I loved going to visit my grandmother Jessie because she took a special interest in our hair when our parents could not. We lived 3 hours away from Jessie and she would send her preparations home with us in jars. So when "Picture Day" at school came and we wanted to look cute, we relied on her preparations to do our hair.

It was natural that we would open the doors of Miss Jessie's Salon formerly known as Curve Salon in 1997 to respond to the demand for expertise in curly, kinky and wavy hair. We found that the right products are so critical when dealing with curly hair. Their salon became the "workshop". We have a live and direct circuit to this misunderstood hair type!

CHiC: What is your hair type and how do you handle it?

Titi: Our Japanese mother has wavy, wiry, heavy gauge, coarse texture. Our African American father has a kinkier texture. What this left us with is a wavy, curly, slightly kinky, wiry combo. Quite simply a head full of hair! I remember as a child on special occasions my mom would take us to the hairdresser to get our hair done. None of the hairdressers knew quite what to do with our hair because it was so much hair! We never went to a Japanese salon. Most of the African American salons at that time wanted to use greasy products or just straighten it with a "hot comb" which I was terrified of!

The only hairdresser that knew how to really handle our hair was a friend of my grandmother's named Miss Vivienne. She had a cute little beauty shop set up in her home kind of like the one in "Steel Magnolias". My grandmother was always complaining that our hair was so dry. So she concocted egg and mayonnaise conditioning treatments at her kitchen table, packaged them in mason jars and sent them with us to Miss Vivienne for hair treatments and roller sets. Miss Vivienne was the first hairdresser that understood how to handle our hair. It was at that time that we learned that hair care for our kind of hair meant good deep conditioning treatments for softening and smooth setting for styling.

This concept of deep conditioning and setting is one that we have carried with us and is the crux of how we handle our own curls and those of our clients. The approach is start with the proper haircut. This is critical because it determines shape. After you have the proper shape the right products are important. Wash once a week with a detangling shampoo. Deep condition at least each time you wash. This will help preserve the elasticity and tensile strength of the hair making it more responsive to styling. Detangling is a must! We must remove snarls and knots in order to prepare the hair for styling. Styling is all about the SMOOTH! Smooth on styling product so that the curl that is produced is smooth.

CHiC: What were the first years like when you opened Curve Salon in 1997? Why the name change to Miss Jessie's?

Titi: The early days of Curve Salon can be summed up in one word: FUN! We had a lot of fun getting together to open our first salon. It was tiny, on a charming little street in the historic section of Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. We had just 2 chairs, so it was intimate, cozy, and warm, a place where you could feel comfortable. We knew everyone in the neighborhood. We did everyone's hair, whether curly or not. Although it was tiny we had a big picture-like storefront window. By the end of the day my arms were tired from waving to everyone that drove by and said hello.

The name change came about naturally as has everything else in our business. Two years ago we started a product line and named it "Miss Jessie's". It seemed natural to want to connect the product line to the salon because they live and breathe from one another. In homage to my grandmother it just felt right, which really guides a lot of what we do. Curve Salon officially changed to Miss Jessie's Salon in 2006.

CHiC: Your salon prides itself on its intimate, low key, natural atmosphere. How do you compete in a world with high profile hair stylists?

Titi: Exactly! You described our salon experience to the 'T'. However, we do not compete. Our product line, our salon and everything we do has always been and will always be focused on the customer. We are not really concerned with anything else but our customer. So staying in tune with our customer, just as COCOACHiC.com gives it members what they want, has kept us here!

CHiC: Our CHiC Clique members would love to know about your product line.

Titi: The product line came about because we realized that there were few products available that performed on curly kinky and wavy hair in a very specific almost prescriptive way. As hairstylists or I like to say hairdressers we never had any off the shelf solutions for products to use in the salon. We often had to mix different products together in order to get close to the results that we were looking for. So in the spirit of Miss Jessie we decided we are going to launch "Miss Jessie's" the product line to respond to the specific needs of curlies, kinkies, wavies and anything in-between. Right now we have 4 products:

Curly Pudding Most popular, top-selling conditioning styling crème to turn kinks to curls

Curly Meringue High gloss styling crème to boost limp and droopy curls and define them

Curly Buttercreme Hydrator for dry curls, hair growth stimulator, refresher for bed-head and fuzzy hairline edges

New! Baby Buttercreme A gentler formula without peppermint similar to Curly Buttercreme

This was by no means an overnight process. It took many years to research and develop products for the Miss Jessie's line because we needed the product to perform in a very specific and meaningful way.

CHiC: What is the No. 1 hair complaint of your clients?

Titi: No. 1 is dryness. Screeching in at a close second is frizz. Then, unpredictable, unmanageable curls followed by shrinkage and then length. I know you asked for just one, but I could not help myself because we hear the same complaints over and over again!

CHiC: What are suggestions for CHiC Clique members that struggle with kinky, curly, wavy hair?

Curly girls can represent in the Black Curly Tee ($30)

Titi: First embrace your curls, embrace yourselves. Curly, kinky and wavy hair is beautiful. I am always intrigued when I see curls because it shows me texture, depth, personality and expression. I am not only describing the hair but also the person!

Ask yourself what do you like about your curls?

What would you like to tweak about your curls?

Once you start focusing in on this you start to have a clearer idea of what you want — a huge step! Once you know what you want, then you can focus on a plan of action of how to get the desired look. Outside of that, use the proper products. It's all about deep conditioning, detangling and smoothing. The proper haircut is key. Contain your curls at night when you sleep. Silkening which is a chemical process to elongate and balance textures may be an option. The bottom line is that everyone's curls are different. The most important advice I can give is first figure out what you like about your own curls and then what you may want to change. This will guide you in determining solutions.

CHiC: Explain the process of fingerstyling, of shingling?

Titi: Fingerstyling is the process of applying Miss Jessie's products in order to get a smooth curly result. Quite simply, it is applying product usually with your fingers to wet freshly detangled hair section by section.

Shingling is a more detailed version of fingerstyling because product is applied to smaller sections at a time and the product is dragged and smoothed down the shaft with a comb.

CHiC: Any tips for bad hair days?

Titi: Well, bad hair days usually happen because of poor preparation. So if you can prep your hair at night so that you don't have to rush out the door in harried confusion in the morning, that would be a plus. If your hair gets really out of control at night, sleep with two low pig tails so that it doesn't get all flattened out. Rewet only the ends of the hair in the morning and apply product to the ends mainly. Avoid too much manipulation of wet hair in the morning and just focus on the smooth application of product on the ends. Try to let the hair set a bit, undisturbed, before diffuse drying it a bit. Or let it air-dry and just know that yes you are leaving the house with damp hair but it will look just how you like it by noon.

If a case of a bad hair day creeps up on and you had no clue of how to deal with it, you can always go into your bag of tricks and pull out a brush, one of Miss Jessie's products (of course carry a small emergency dose) and that trusty pack of non-pinching elastics. Run to a bathroom. Wet the offending pieces of hair and smooth everything back into the forever reliable ponytail!

Visit the girls at www.missjessies.com.

By Ellen Rosner Feig

Back to Consult CHiC Pros Main page