---
title: "Why Tress shut down"
description: "Tress, a mobile app helping Black women discover hairstyles and connect with stylists, was founded in 2014 by Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde and Cassandra Sarfo and backed by MEST and Y Combinator with $120K+ raised. Despite early buzz and a 2018 partnership with True Moringa, the app and website went dark around May 2018, with co-founders moving on to unrelated jobs and no public explanation ever given."
canonical_url: "https://liners.com/graveyard/tress"
markdown_url: "https://liners.com/graveyard/tress.md"
type: "graveyard"
language: "en"
image: "/graveyard/tress/certificate.png"
published_at: "2026-07-31T17:41:07.836Z"
updated_at: "2026-07-31T17:41:07.836Z"
---

# Why Tress shut down

Tress, a mobile app helping Black women discover hairstyles and connect with stylists, was founded in 2014 by Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde and Cassandra Sarfo and backed by MEST and Y Combinator with $120K+ raised. Despite early buzz and a 2018 partnership with True Moringa, the app and website went dark around May 2018, with co-founders moving on to unrelated jobs and no public explanation ever given.

## Breadcrumbs

- [Graveyard](/graveyard)
- [Tress](/graveyard/tress)

## Summary

Here lies Tress. It helped Black women find hairstyles, stylists and products, and grew a warm community across Ghana and beyond. Press and a brand partnership arrived, but funding and fit did not follow. In May 2018 the app went offline and its founders quietly moved on.

Tress, a mobile app helping Black women discover hairstyles and connect with stylists, was founded in 2014 by Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde and Cassandra Sarfo and backed by MEST and Y Combinator with $120K+ raised. Despite early buzz and a 2018 partnership with True Moringa, the app and website went dark around May 2018, with co-founders moving on to unrelated jobs and no public explanation ever given.

## Product history

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Fate | ShutDown |
| Primary cause | FundingRunway |
| Stage at shutdown | Seed |
| Lifespan in days | 2069 |

## Autopsy report

## What the product attempted

Tress built a mobile social-community app for Black women to discover hairstyle inspiration, find stylists, buy hair products and discuss hair-care needs, with a crowdsourced database of styles and product recommendations.

## What worked

Raised over $120,000 across two seed rounds (2014-2017) via MEST and Y Combinator (Winter 2017 batch); built a social following (~4,000 Facebook, ~6,000 Instagram followers); struck an early-2018 partnership with Ghanaian natural-oil brand True Moringa; received positive press from Newsweek, Refinery29 and OkayAfrica.

## Early warning signs

By the time Techpoint Africa investigated, the founders had quietly moved to other jobs (one co-founder joined getINNOtized as a software developer, another joined European legaltech firm Lexoo) with no public wind-down statement — a pattern the article says accompanies "ailing startups" that "shy away from letting the public in on their shortcomings."

## What happened

After building an engaged online community and completing its True Moringa partnership in early 2018, Tress's public activity stopped in May 2018 — the website and app went offline, and founders were found to have moved to unrelated roles at other companies. No shutdown was ever formally announced, and journalists' attempts to reach the founders for comment were unsuccessful.

## Sources

- [Failed Startups](https://techpoint.africa/2019/09/05/did-mest-portfolio-startup-tress-literally-stop-caring-about-black-womens-hair/?ref=startupgraveyard.africa): Techpoint Africa
- [17 Failed Startups in Africa in Recent Years](https://todayafrica.co/failed-startups/): Today Africa
- [A New App Wants A Cut of the $9 Billion Black Hair Care Industry](https://www.newsweek.com/hair-app-tress-africa-black-525830): Newsweek
- [Meet the African all-female team behind black hair app, Tress](https://trueafrica.co/article/meet-the-african-all-female-team-behind-the-latest-black-hair-app-tress/): TRUE Africa

## Related pages

- [Tress alternatives](/tress/alternatives)
- [Liners Graveyard](/graveyard)

## Access and citation

- [Canonical HTML page](https://liners.com/graveyard/tress)
- [Markdown route index](/sitemap.md)
- [Agent access guide](/llms.txt)