Ella Dean: Four Generations of Haircare, Legacy and Community
Nicole Rose, Founder and CEO of Ella Dean, created the clean, botanical haircare line for textured hair in 2020, continuing a family legacy that began in 1954 when her great grandparents, Benjamin and Mary Rose Dean, opened Dean’s Beauty Salon and Barbershop in Portland’s Albina neighborhood. The salon is the oldest Black owned salon in Portland and was later passed down to Rose’s grandmother, Ella Dean.
As a little girl, Rose spent five days a week at the salon, sweeping floors, handing out towels and watching the women in her family care for their community. That experience inspired her love of haircare and eventually led to Ella Dean, which offers a Moisturizing and Strengthening Shampoo and Conditioner and its signature Look, But Don’t Touch Hair Oil. The brand uses clean, plant powered formulas with botanicals including pomegranate, amla, hibiscus and watermelon seed oil.
Ella Dean has been completely self funded for six years and has been featured in British Vogue, included in the 2022 Grammy Awards gift bags and expanded to nine stores across Portland, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its products take a scalp first approach, with targeted oils for hair growth, itchy scalps and dandruff.
The brand is named after Rose’s grandmother, who battled Alzheimer’s. Three percent of every sale goes to the Alzheimer’s Association in her honor. Ella Dean also works with local nonprofits, including Every Child Oregon, to provide quality haircare kits for youth in foster care, and Rose will participate in Fosterful’s Roots & Crowns event this November.
For Rose, being a Black woman owned business means carrying forward her family’s legacy, creating representation and showing the next generation what is possible. “Your texture isn’t a problem to fix. It’s something to nourish, protect and celebrate.”
Ella Dean is an online only business and can be reached at 971 266 4003 or hello@elladean.com. Shop online at elladean.com. Three percent of every sale supports the Alzheimer’s Association in honor of Rose’s grandmother.
