A Hair-Braiding Robot Is Coming to Salons This Fall

23.06.2026, 18:38 allure.com

It takes most people years to land on a signature look. Yinka Ogunbiyi solidified box braids as hers when she was just five years old. That’s pretty early to settle on a beauty uniform, yes, but as a young Black girl—and a Nigerian at that—getting braids felt like a natural part of life. Ogunbiyi enjoyed her regular visits to the salon: She’d settle into the braider’s chair with some snacks and a good show to make the time pass quickly.

​But the 2020 lockdown forced Ogunbiyi (then an engineering student at Harvard) to attempt doing her own braids. No longer a passive participant in her styling sessions, she realized that the process is “really hard and mechanically repetitive,” she says. “It took me four days to do small, waist-length, knotless box braids.”

By the second day of braiding, a light bulb went off in her engineer's brain. Reflecting on how long the process was taking, she wondered, Where's the machine to make this faster? Ogunbiyi saw similarities between the process of braiding and sewing—a meticulous and repetitive action that could be automated—and began to envision a solution. This experience led to the invention of HaloBraid: a device that assists stylists by finishing the braids they’ve started.

Excitement about the device spread online after a clip of Ogunbiyi winning the Harvard Pitch Competition went viral in 2025. The win secured Ogunbiyi’s brand, Halo, $75,000 in funding, and its inaugural product, HaloBraid, will be launching in September 2026.

The “braiding robot,” as the internet has dubbed it, is more accurately described as a braider’s assistant that’s attached to the salon chair. “Each braid is started by hand,” says Ogunbiyi. “The stylist does just a small portion of the braid, then they transfer [the braid] to the HaloBraid device.” How much of the braid makes up that “small portion” varies, but the stylist needs to at least finish adding in all the braiding hair, since the robot can't feed in extensions.

Because there is so much variation in styles, the brand isn't making any time-specific claims about how fast the robot works. However, Ogunbiyi says, “HaloBraid can complete each braid up to five times faster than a stylist.” Ogunbiyi gives one example: With traditional box braid styles that can take six to eight hours, a stylist working with HaloBraid could theoretically bring that down to about two and a half to three hours.

The device is limited in what it can do, though. If you’re a fan of intricate cornrow styles, the HaloBraid can’t help you there since it can’t braid close to the scalp. The robot can only handle mid-lengths to the ends of the hair, plaiting a classic three-strand braid. “It's not as complex as a human hand, and it can't do everything a human hand can,” says Ogunbiyi. She adds that the team is already brainstorming ways to enhance the device to support more advanced styles.

The journey to developing the final version of HaloBraid took over three years and 600 prototypes—a process that began by examining toys that braid dolls’ hair and machines that create three-strand cords. “We've looked at every pattern on a braiding machine and looked at the different problems there to solve,” says Ogunbiyi. For example, the team needed to figure out “how to get hair into this device as quickly as possible and easily for the user.” Most of the toy braiders use a little crochet hook to feed in the hair, but on humans, this method could cause painful pulling and yanking of the hair. Ogunbiyi says she figured out how to create an automated device that can finish a braid with little to no tension—no matter the hair type.

According to Ogunbiyi, Halo has a broader mission of “creating technology for textured hair and improving the process of getting your hair styled for people with all textures.” HaloBraid is the brand’s first attempt to achieve this goal.

The reduction in appointment times will, in theory, also reduce strain on stylists' hands. This will allow them to take on more clients, if they want, and increase their earning potential, or work fewer hours with about the same take-home pay, creating more time for themselves. These prospective benefits are what drew entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian to invest in the brand and raise $7 million for the company and the device. “I immediately saw the value for HaloBraid,” says Ohanian. “I've sat through and tried to help during these marathon braiding sessions for my daughter and wife.” Ohanian adds that at a time when there are such rapid advancements in robotics and AI, “It's shocking someone hasn't built this business yet.” “There was clearly a massive gap in the market, so [the decision to invest] was a combination of founder, product, and market fit,” Ohanian says.

This is a pro-exclusive device, and there are already stylists on a wait list who will be able to receive a HaloBraid at no cost. “Customers can book through us [on the Halo website] or through their stylist directly and then have their HaloBraid appointment,” says Ogunbiyi. Though the device is free, Halo will receive a percentage of what the stylist makes per appointment. The brand isn’t sharing the exact percentage of profit it will take from stylists, but Ogunbiyi maintains that the goal is to “make HaloBraid as accessible as possible for stylists and clients.”

While an automated braiding device sounds like it would make both stylists’ and customers’ lives easier, there’s the now-familiar wariness around any implication that a robot could do all or part of a human’s job just as well. After all, many people have close relationships with their stylists and braiders that go beyond hair care. “Will the robot chat and spill the tea?” wrote one commenter under Harvard Innovation Lab’s Instagram post highlighting Ogunbiyi’s winning pitch.

The founder says she’s thoroughly considered this and wants to reassure the public that the machine can’t replace braiders: “We've really built this to serve stylists,” says Ogunbiyi, who adds that the HaloBraid team consulted with a group of pros to learn the biggest issues they face in their work. “Many stylists mentioned dealing with carpal tunnel and early onset arthritis,” Ogunbiyi says. The HaloBraid is meant to be only an assistant.

The device can’t part hair, map out artistic cornrows, or, of course, act as a friend and therapist. Its role is purely mechanical, doing the repetitive work of creating a three-strand braid. “Every time we've brought a stylist in to test, we've learned something new that's radically changed the device,” says Ogunbiyi. Stylists' insights influenced the basic design of the HaloBraid, which initially was handheld, but transitioned to being mounted on a chair after the stylists said that holding the device would obstruct their process.

The HaloBraid is one of those “you’ve got to see it to believe it” kind of things. And come September 2026, when it will roll out in salons, customers will be able to witness the device in action. “We have 6,000 stylists signed up to receive the HaloBraid, and there are 5,000 stylists and salons on the wait list,” says Ogunbiyi, who adds that these stylists are spread between major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.

“I’m excited about what we're building,” Ogunbiyi says. “We believe that enhancing life experiences, like braiding, has real meaning.”

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