The first beauty technology company to be exclusively focused on the specific needs of the black and brown communities was conceived over 10 years ago when founder Lisa Pegram visited Sephora one day with a friend.

In Lisa’s words:

“I walked into a Sephora with a friend of mine, our bodies were summer-ready and we were trying to remove as much hair as possible in order to display all of the work we’d been doing in the gym.

However, when we walked over to try out the hair removal laser that was on display, there was a skin color chart that reminded me of the paper bag tests that were traditionally used in America to rule out undesirable individuals of darker shades in the black community. She passed the paper bag test and I didn’t, and it made me wonder if I had other options. So I searched and searched and years went by with nothing but false claims, unbacked science, expensive alternatives, and not one at-home option that was FDA-approved. My search continued until I decided I’d done enough waiting and was fully capable of creating this hair removal laser myself.

This was the impetus for starting BELLE51, a skin technology company that focuses on the Majority’s Minorities. As a black woman with African and Japanese heritage I felt it was time to start to create inclusive technology. It was time to invest in technology that deals with melanin, regardless of the fact that it requires more effort.

Our motto is that if it doesn’t work for all skin tones then it doesn’t work. We are proud to be a beauty brand that is inclusive of all cultures and we prioritize skin technology for diverse communities.”

That day, Lisa’s lighter-complexioned friend went home with a laser beauty device and Lisa, whose darker skin was literally ‘off the chart’, did not. Disappointed, Lisa went home and began researching at-home laser devices only to discover that there were no safe, effective at-home laser treatments for black & brown skin tones.

A professional data scientist, pursuing her PhD at Columbia University in metacognition & data sciences, Lisa collaborated with engineers at Columbia during her research phase to determine which lasers work best for people of color and what could be done to improve upon existing devices.

From there Lisa, whose background includes psychology and biomedical engineering, found a manufacturer who was able to produce an at-home laser device to her specifications using cutting-edge technology safe for use on darker skin tones.

In addition to Belle51’s signature Soléy PiQo4 laser and JUA-85 automated microneedling & resurfacing systems, Lisa is currently working on an FDA-approved at-home hair-removal laser to add to the Belle51 product line.

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