Jessica's Story
Charlotte Noire is a hair care brand that was born from a calling. After moving from the US to Switzerland, Jessica noticed that the offer for textured hair was lacking compared to her native country.
As she got used to life across the pond, she felt a deep longing to create a community for textured hair in Europe. She terms this as "a sanctuary for anyone whose hair bends, curls or tightly twists".
Jessica has been busily cultivating that very community for over a decade. Through her Salon, the Sanctuary and her social media, she shared her knowledge about styling and taking care of textured hair, enriching the lives of those around her.
Our Founder
Behind the haircare brand Charlotte Noire and the salon, the Curl Sanctuary is the founder Jessica Dupertuis.
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She hasn't always worked with hair, but her life included many key stages, such as working with fresh ingredients as a chef which lead her to embark on her journey as entrepreneur.
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Allow her to tell you in her own words about her interesting life and business story and get to know her a little.
Going out of the frying pan and into the Salon
The knowledge that she gained from working in professional kitchens and her love of working with fresh ingredients soon started to develop into an interest in cosmetics.
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She trained to become a California State board-certified trained hairstylist, with expertise in curly hair care and cutting.
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When she became a mother of two kids with curly hair, she only became even more committed to supporting others in their textured haircare. She describes her change of mission as "an opportunity to cultivate curl pride through education and service."
"Before it became my mission to serve the curly community, I was filling up bellies in fine dining restaurants in the United States."
Jessica Dupertuis
The future
On the future of Charlotte Noire, she says how happy she is that she has this platform, which brings quality and in her own words "brings a dash of American flavour to curly hair care in Europe."
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She welcomes you to the Texture community and looks forward to sharing this journey with you.
-Jess
Cooking up a (textured) storm!
As a little girl, Jessica developed a passion for cooking. She describes growing up as "a treat as I always had front-row seat while the women in my family prepared meals.
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However her culinary inspiration wasn't limited to her family. Jessica was inspired by Julia Childs, Jacques Pépin and Yan Can Cook, whom she describes as her childhood culinary heroes.
"I loved watching them throw-down in the kitchen." she says, as she describes how she would host her culinary show "Cooking with Jess" in the middle of the night while the rest of my family was asleep.
She secretly dreamed of the day when she could bring joy to others through cooking, as her culinary idols did for her. This led her to a career working in the kitchen, which included working in a Michelin star restaurant. Yes, you read that right!
Jessica at the launch event for the Charlotte Noire haircare line in 2022
Making her dreams reality
After moving to Europe, Jessica quickly realised that lacked the same availability of products and stylists for textured hair that she enjoyed in the United States.
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But she also realised that she was not alone in her frustration. Ultimately she used this as a force for good, creating the first line of Charlotte Noire products and later opening her first Salon, The Sanctuary in 2021 in the commune of Grand Lancy, Geneva in Switzerland.
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The Salon was a hit with the local textured hair population and international Geneva. With the success of the Salon, Jessica was able to secure funding to commercially produce and launch a brand new range of products in 2022, which is the Charlotte Noire range that we know and love today.
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