Lisa Price: From a Brooklyn Kitchen to Building Carol’s Daughter

Lisa Price started making lotions in her Brooklyn kitchen because she couldn’t find anything that worked for her hair. That was in 1993. Today, Carol’s Daughter is one of the most recognized Black-owned beauty brands in the world.

Price named the company after her mother, Carol. The name wasn’t a branding strategy — it was personal. She was making products her mother had taught her about, using natural ingredients, and it felt right to honor her. That authenticity — the sense that this was a business born from genuine need and family tradition — is why people connected with it from the start.

In the early days, customers would show up at Price’s apartment at 10 p.m. ringing her doorbell, asking to buy shampoo. She was working full-time at a production job at NBC while filling bottles in her spare time. The “going natural” movement was taking hold, and Black women were looking for products that wouldn’t damage their hair with harsh chemicals. Price filled that gap with body butters, shampoos, and hair creams made with shea butter, coconut oil, and other natural ingredients.

By the early 2000s, Carol’s Daughter had celebrity fans including Halle Berry, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith — who would later become an investor. The brand opened a flagship store in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and launched on HSN in 2008. In 2014, L’Oréal USA acquired Carol’s Daughter, a move that Price carefully considered. She wanted to ensure the brand’s soul stayed intact under corporate ownership.

And in 2025, the story came full circle: L’Oréal sold the brand back to a partnership that includes Price herself as President. She’s back in the driver’s seat, steering a brand that’s more relevant than ever. The natural hair movement has become a cultural force, and Carol’s Daughter was laying the groundwork for it decades before it hit the mainstream.

What Price built from her kitchen table wasn’t just a product line. It was proof that Black women’s hair care wasn’t a niche — it was a multibillion-dollar market that had been ignored for too long. She didn’t just enter the beauty industry. She helped remake it.

Photo: Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter, via carolsdaughter.com

Quick Facts

• Brand: Founder of Carol’s Daughter (est. 1993, in her Brooklyn kitchen)
• The name: Named after her mother, Carol — the business was born from family tradition
• Early days: Worked full-time at NBC while filling bottles; customers rang her doorbell at 10 p.m.
• Fans: Halle Berry, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith (later an investor)
• Big deal: Acquired by L’Oréal in 2014
• Full circle: In 2025, L’Oréal sold it back — Price returned as President