My daughter, Madison, started getting braids when she was about 3 years old. Within a month, I was researching ways in which to neaten braids. As much as I wanted to say to my wife, “Don’t you wanna re-braid her hair?” I knew I shouldn’t, as she had just gone through the painstaking process 4 days prior. With her being a career woman, it would have been unreasonable for me to think she’d want to spend an additional 3-5 hours per week re-braiding Madison’s hair. As time drew on, this issue became overwhelmingly frustrating to me. There had to be a way to keep her braids neat between braiding sessions. I made it my mission to find a solution.

As a creative in the advertising field, problem solving is my life, and comparatively, this was a simple problem… or so I thought. Three years passed with no progress. I didn’t work on a solution daily, but I certainly worked on it enough that I should have stumbled on a solution. I visualized, and sketched complex machines, some with tubes that would slid through the hair pattern, which would suck the loose hairs into the braid by way of a vacuum-like attachment. Downright crazy stuff… clearly impractical. By year 5, there was still no solution in sight, but it dawned on me that if I could solve this problem, many people in the world would benefit from it. There had to be tons of moms and dads, just like me, who struggled with this issue. I knew instinctively, that my solution had to be very simple, something people wouldn’t be afraid to try. So I kept working on it, motivated the most by the times when I picked her up from school and her hair looked like she wasn’t well cared for.

This crazy Rubik’s Cube of braids, cornrows and loose hairs twisted and turned around in my head for the next 2 years. I came to the conclusion that the solution rested on finding a way for the loose hairs to go back through the braid like a needle. One day in late 2017, it dawned on me… “The hair is the thread!” and so the concept of a needle with a flexible eye was born. Now that I could visualize the solution, I needed to figure out how to make one. With sketch in hand, I started speaking to prototyping companies and learned it would cost me roughly $25-$35K to develop the prototype, and produce 10K units. Since the needle was just a concept and had not been tested, I was not willing to make that level of financial commitment.

After two months of failed attempts with resins, molds, dies and casting, the first prototype was made! It worked better than I could have ever imagined. Madison't Needle not only cleans up edges, it can also reattach box braids or kinky twists that have completely fallen out in seconds. It can also create an infinity braid where there is no tail at the end of the braid, which will revolutionize the way crochet foundation braids are done in the future. Additionally, the needle can also be used to add design enhancements to hairstyles, like writing words, and drawing characters or patterns. Little girls will certainly enjoy that. Little boys have been able to do this for years. I can’t wait to see some of the hairstyles that are designed with Madison's Needle.

-Kevin