Brazilian beauty authority, Beleza Natural, opened the doors to their first state-side hair salon in New York City.
A longstanding champion of haircare in Brazil, Beleza Natural stands out for its unique cocktail of hair treatments and styling services for natural textures, including the Beleza Curlify Smooth, a service that manipulates the volume of curly strands while making hair more malleable, shiny, and defined without straightening it.
The salon’s grand opening comes 25 years after its co-founders Zica Assis and Leila Velez built their business from the ground up. The two had always dreamed of expanding internationally, and after mastering their craft they decided that it was finally time. Their new 6000-square-feet full-service hair salon in Harlem is located one block away from the Apollo Theatre.
“New York and Harlem especially, being a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities with all kinds of curls is what immediately drew our attention [here],” the founders told ESSENCE. “We saw hundreds of girls walking on 125th street looking for products in one of the many beauty supply stores available.”
As a curl expert, Assis began developing a treatment to create softer, more manageable curls for her hair and others with similar Afro-Brazilian textures. Inadequate hair products for kinky curls is what led her to create a revolutionary formula and technique to transform the way women in Brazil care for their naturally curly hair. Assis joined forces with Velez, an award-winning entrepreneur, and has since expanded the company’s offerings, which now include beauty institutes, product stores, kiosk, a cosmetics factory in Brazil, and their very first international salon in New York City.
Beleza Natural’s mission is to encourage women to feel proud of their curls rather than quieting them down. Beleza hopes to give customers the chance to discover what hairstyles work well for them and will make them happy in the long run by active listening, keen observation, tireless test, and the knowledge and creativity its expert team.
“By offering the best client service experience and education [for] naturally curly hair, [we hope to] empower our clients,” they explained. “Our goal is to show [them] how to love their naturally curly hair while offering the best cuts, styling, and at home products imaginable for them to use. We want to bring awareness and share educational tools to celebrate the beauty of curly hair everywhere.”
Send an APB out to your curl friends because this is one place every curly girl should have on their radar.
