Titi Branch, Co-Founder Of Miss Jessie’s Natural Hair Care Line, Dead At 45 Of Apparent Suicide

Natural hair care fans might not know the name Titi Branch, however, chances are they’ve heard of Miss Jessie’s natural hair care products, and have even purchased the natural hair care products online on websites like Amazon – or have seen the Miss Jessie’s natural hair products filling the shelves of their local Target stores.

On Monday, news about the sad death of Titi Branch, co-founder of the natural hair care line, was published on the Washington Post. An obituary about the natural hair care maven, who can be seen in photos on Instagram and around the web sporting her own natural looking blonde curls – along with photos of others and their natural hair on the Miss Jessie’s Instagram page – was published to the NV Magazine Facebook account giving more details about the shocking death.

“Titi Branch, was the co-founder of Miss Jessie’s a leading company in the natural hair care industry. She created their signature Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding® for the Brooklyn hair salon, Curve, she ran with her sister Miko. As sales for the product skyrocketed the sisters decided to move the salon to the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where it was renamed after their family matriarch — their no nonsense grandmother Miss Jessie. With the renaming of the salon in 2005 came the additions of Curly Meringue®, Curly Buttercreme® and later Baby Buttercreme®. Branch was not a chemist but a creative spirit who used her kitchen as her laboratory to create these products.”

According to the Grio, the family will release an official statement by the end of the week.

“The Queens-native was a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in economics. She worked as a field producer for WABC-TV in New York City prior to Miss Jessie’s. Her entrepreneurial career started prior to delving into the hair care industry. Titi and her sister were taught by their father to be independent and their first business together was a Kool-Aid stand as kids. They also ran a cleaning business after graduating college. Later Titi launched a booking agency for hair and celebrity photographers called Icon Creative Artists. This led to her reconnecting with her sister, a hairstylist, in business. After adding her to the firm’s client roster and the success that followed the next step was the creation of the salon, which opened originally in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn and the launch of Miss Jessie’s — the products are now on the shelves of Target, CVS, Ricky’s, Duane Reade, Walgreens, Walmart and various other national retailers.”

When news about the cause of Titi’s death broke, pointing towards suicide as the reason for the death, a Facebook comment leading others who were considering suicide to contact the National Suicide Hotline (1-800-273-8255) instead for help were posted online.

“Born June 10, 1969 Titi Cree Branch died on Dec. 4, 2014 in an apparent suicide due to asphyxia. She is survived by her parents, sister, nephew and many loving relatives. She also leaves behind Anthony Spadafora, her boyfriend and business partner in her last venture Maestro’s Classic, a line of beard care products.”

Titi’s sister, Miko Branch, simply posted her sister’s name and a heart on her Twitter page. Prior to that tweet, the natural hair care maven retweeted a tweet about a Miss Jessie’s book coming in 2015 about culture and black entrepreneurs. As reported by the Inquisitr, even celebrities like Lupita Nyong’o have used the Miss Jessie’s natural hair care products.

[Image credit of Titi Branch, above left: RollingOut.com]