What if the beauty rituals trusted by millions carried hidden costs no one warned us about? This simple truth is the foundation of Rebundle founder Ciara Imani May’s film, Reclaimed: Beyond The Braid, about the normalized harm Black women face with braiding hair. “As Black women, we’re not always prioritized, our health and our needs are not always prioritized,” May says at Essence Film Festival. 

Directed by Myesha Evon, “this story really started off as something we didn’t imagine would evolve into this large screen,” she says. The film follows May through the process of building Rebundle, from the scalp irritation synthetic hair causes to how she makes hair from recycled banana fiber and the emotional weight of being a Black brand founder.

The film begins with May explaining how she jumpstarted the recycling of banana fiber in Uganda, the largest producer of banana in Africa. “The stems typically go to waste,” she says in the film. “This is because once the trees bear fruit, they’re cut down so that more fruits can grow.” As a result, the stems often lay unused in the gardens they’re chopped down in. 

That was, until Rebundle. Partnering with Jakana Foods, they turned the waste into value by extracting the banana fiber to make plant-based braiding hair. From processing the fiber to coloring, packaging, and distributing, May has been disrupting a harmful norm in the beauty industry. However, raising the standard hasn’t been easy. 

With an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 beauty supply stores in the US, “a very small percentage are Black-owned,” she says. She’s walked into a number of beauty supply stores to get her products stocked so Rebundle is a more accessible, convenient option for Black women. Now, Rebundle is stocked in 12 beauty supply stores across New York, Canada, and London, and even lowered their prices to $36 dollars per pack. 

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While progress has been made, “there are a lot of disparities that prevent Black people from entering the market and being able to distribute products,” she says. “I’ve talked to a handful of store owners who have said they are not allowed to have accounts with certain brands.” To the point, she’s had to pick up 9 to 5 jobs to afford her living expenses and continue her investment in making braiding hair safe. 

“After we fundraised in 2021, I didn’t start paying myself until September 2022 and I last paid myself in May of this year,” she says. In addition to the financial weight, she admits the emotional weight is just as heavy. “I need to figure out how to do it in a way that is not at my own expense.”

Despite her struggles, advocating for Black women’s health is her calling. From supporting the Beauty Justice Act to showing her film at Essence Film Festival and revolutionizing Uganda’s banana fiber industry, as May says, “we are just so happy to be sharing this project amongst an audience that just gets it. “