This story was originally published by The Coral Springs News on Oct. 3, 2025.

Charmaine James’ summers as a child were, as she describes them, “magical.” Growing up in North Miami Beach meant endless adventures — riding bikes and gathering fresh mangos from around the neighborhood were her favorite activities.

The new season also meant a new hairstyle — and, for James, freedom.

“Once I was able to braid my hair up, I could go swimming,” she said. “We would play tag, we would play flag football, and I wouldn’t have to worry about what my hair was going to look like.”

It’s part of why she started her Coral Springs-based hair care company, Locsanity, in 2017 — to celebrate styles like dreadlocks and braids. The business has since expanded to include hair care products for all Afro-hair types, including extensions, sprays and a patent-pending tool to help start and care for growing locs.

Locsanity products are manufactured and packaged in Coral Springs, near where Charmaine James and her family live.

Locsanity has also expanded to sponsor loc-centric events, including the Brooklyn-based Locnificent Festival, and created a community impact award to celebrate those doing great work in the natural hair community.

James didn’t grow up with that sort of support, she said. She lost most of her hair after a chemical straightening when she was in middle school, at a time when natural styles for Black hair were seen as inappropriate or unprofessional, even within her own family of Jamaican immigrants.

After that, she started braiding her hair, but years later, when she entered the corporate world, she said she went back to the straightening process. She didn’t think about the impact it had on her children until her oldest daughter, Alicia, started saying that she wanted straight hair, too.

Hearing that, James said, felt like a blow. She had taught her children to love their natural features, including their hair, but hadn’t been doing the same.

“Being able to embrace that little girl that was inside of me that I never really spent time addressing her, letting her know how beautiful she was – having that moment with Alicia forced me to do that,” James said.

It was a long process of unlearning what she had been taught as a child, she continued.

“She wasn’t white enough. She wasn’t pretty enough, her hair wasn’t straight enough, her nose wasn’t straight enough,” James said. “To my surprise, it wasn’t true.”

James and her husband started the now multimillion dollar business in their kitchen, where they mixed natural products to create their own hair care products. For years, that’s how the business continued operating, with everything done by hand, then they eventually expanded to a warehouse space.

Most sales came from e-commerce platforms like Amazon — James’ specialty in the corporate world. Everything was still being mixed and bottled by hand in a Coral Springs warehouse, a short drive from James’ home. Then, last year, Locsanity was one of 10 businesses across the United States to receive a $20,000 small business grant from FedEx.

That meant the company could invest in machines to automate the bottling process, while keeping their six warehouse staff members. With faster, more efficient manufacturing, they were ready to push into big box stores, James said.

That’s when Locsanity caught the attention of another corporate giant: Walmart.

After pitching them, the deal to sell on their shelves fell through, but she’s said she’s not letting a setback stop her.

“They saw the value in our products, and they saw that it’s something people are looking for,” James said.

The company is expanding to include a braid care line called “Braided by Locsanity” and continues to sell on Amazon, Walmart.com and its own website.

“At this point I’m on the train, and I’m not sure of the destination but I’m so excited to be here,” she said.