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There’s a reason Quani Burnett named her brand Soft Rows. It’s a nod to self-care, but it’s also a manifesto. “How you feel about your hair is an extension of how you feel about yourself,” she explains. “So, my mission is to create products that make it easier for you to do your hair,” she tells ESSENCE.
She adds that it’s also a portmanteau between soft life and cornrows. “We wanted to reference that and honor that deep ancestral knowledge of what braids or cornrows have signified,” she says.
In a world that rarely makes room for Black women to rest, Soft Rows is the brand, the movement and the community giving us permission to be soft and gentle—with ourselves and our hair.
Below, Burnett opens up to ESSENCE exclusively about why she prioritizes science in her product formulations, the importance of building a loyal community, and why she is building a brand rooted in softness.
From Burnout to Breakthrough
Before founding Soft Rows, Burnett built community behind the scenes—first as a physical therapist, then as a marketing leader in beauty. But it wasn’t until she launched an Instagram account called Drunk Elephant Brown that her voice began to shift the industry.
“After spending a lot of money at Sephora to try and find products that worked on my dark spots, I finally found a brand that did,” she says. “But when I looked on their social media pages, it wasn’t as inclusive as I wanted it to be, so I created [Drunk Elephant Brown] as a way to foster inclusivity in a space that I didn’t see it,” she continues. That evolved into Beauty for Brown Skin and led to her first consulting role with Nancy Twine of Briogeo who would later become her Sephora Accelerate mentor.
But even as brands brought her in, Quani saw the same patterns. “They still weren’t getting it,” she says. “We’re still having launch events with no Black people. We’re still hearing the word ‘nappy’ in training rooms. At some point, I realized: maybe they’re not supposed to get it. Maybe I’m supposed to build it.”
Softness as a Science
The debut Soft Rows collection includes three hero stylers: the All Set Soft Touch Styling Foam, Supreme Strength Moisture + Repair Deep Conditioning Mask and the Velvet Slip 3-in-1 Hair Lotion, each rooted in intentional and science-backed formulation. “I built these from scratch, not private label,” Quani says. “I see Soft Rows being the authority of styling texture-rich hair—and it’s not just for natural hair, I was thinking about the versatile consumer who wears two stand twists, blow outs, silk presses and braids,” she explains. “Our products were designed to keep hair healthy throughout however you choose to style your hair.”
She describes the deep conditioning mask, which she credits as the most versatile product, as a single-step treatment that blends protein and moisture without the risk of protein overload—swapping out traditional hydrolyzed proteins for amino acids. The velvet slip hair lotion draws inspiration from the nostalgic pink bottle we all grew up with, “but better—soft, light, fluffy, not greasy or weighed down,” she says. As for the styling foam, Burnett says it’s a modern nod to the classic Nairobi salon staple, reengineered to stand up to humidity and frizz while staying gentle on curls, braids and even wigs.
“I’m really proud of the [products]. All of our formulas were created in partnership with Black and women of color chemists and cosmetologists,” she says.
A New Kind of Luxury
With this launch, Burnett emphasizes that Soft Rows isn’t trying to “elevate” Black hair – she’s intentional about rejecting that narrative. “Black hair care is already elevated,” she says. “But there’s a misconception that Black-owned brands have to be mass. [With Soft Rows], I wanted to provide a premium experience. Beyond product, we are focused on science, education and that relationship to softening yourself and your hair.
With clean, minimal packaging and pricing that sits comfortably in the mid-to-premium range ($28–$36), the brand challenges assumptions about where textured hair care belongs. But for Burnett, product alone isn’t the point — it’s about the feeling. “When you open that box and touch those products, I hope you feel the love, the joy and the ease and softness. And more than anything, I hope that every wash day and every styling day becomes softer for you because in the times that we live in, we could really use it.”
From Community, For Community
For Burnett, Soft Rows isn’t just a business. It’s the byproduct of years of showing up for others. “When I applied to Sephora Accelerate, I was unemployed. I had no budget, no PR, just a lab sample and a logo,” she says. “Everything I’ve built is off the strength of community and relationships.”
That authenticity is what has made people believe in the brand before they even touched the product. “I’ve brought the community on this journey from the beginning—before the formula, before the packaging, before the photoshoots,” she says. “They’ll continue to shape where we go next.”
Plans are in the works for Soft Rows pop-ups in New York, L.A., Chicago and Texas. There’s also a private broadcast channel on Instagram and future salon collaborations in the pipeline. But no matter how big it gets, the mission stays the same: “We are healing people’s relationship to their hair—and to themselves.”