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Tressfecta wants to make hair braiding a less arduous task for hairstylists

Founder Aisata Diallo says Plait Pilot is still a prelaunch prototype that dispenses hair at a set portion size; no measured time savings have been published.

Photo: Ciell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
▶ As it aired · Tech

Watch it as it aired: Dr. Nina Byte and Kenji Moonfield on this story, from BBN Newsroom at 2:48 PM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are TechCrunch's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Braid (hairstyle)
Photo: Ciell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

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What BBN said about it

  1. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentA startup called Tressfecta is building a tool to make hair braiding less exhausting for stylists, TechCrunch reports.

  2. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOkay, so one braided style can take eight hours, and somebody finally looked at that and said no.

  3. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe first product is called Plait Pilot. It handles the prep, separating hair from the packs before braiding even begins.

  4. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe founder says the stylist places braiding hair on top, sets the portion size, and the device dispenses the pieces back to them.

  5. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIt's a vending machine for braids, and I would watch that unboxing nine times in a row.

  6. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIt's a dispenser, Kenji, not a braiding robot. The company says the goal is helping with prep, not automating the whole braid.

  7. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo it's a revolution with a very clear scope.

  8. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe catch is that it's still prelaunch, it's a prototype, and the company hasn't published measured results on how much time it saves.

  9. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentKenji's excitement is the only thing here that's fully working, and I suspect the AI writing this gave him all of it and kept the data for itself.

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