How it started
What happens when your own body is the problem.
I have Psoriatic Arthritis. Mine shows up on my scalp. Everything that touches it can send it into a full-scale revolt. I am also, by my own admission, Kleinserig — an Afrikaans word for someone who is overly sensitive, delicate, makes a fuss, and has the pain threshold of a toddler who has been told their juice is in the wrong cup. If something pulls, tugs, scratches or even thinks about irritating my scalp — we are immediately and dramatically done.
So what happens when you pick up your brush and see the hair that is supposed to be on your head now in your hand? When you have rubbed every oil from every wellness merchant on your scalp and nothing grows back? When the clip-ins you wore yesterday sent your scalp into the kind of inflammatory frenzy it would normally reserve for a stray octopus?
Your confidence dwindles. You look at your ends. You have done the no-heat routine. But what you are craving is that Hollywood curl. That slow-motion shampoo ad bounce. And your scalp has other plans.
Mrs SA 2025
You can never have enough hair.
In 2025 I was privileged enough to be part of the Mrs South Africa journey — I made the top 10. It taught me a great deal about myself, and even more about the women around me. One thing became very clear very fast: you can never have enough hair.
So began the hunt. The quest. And what quickly became a full-blown passion. I needed something that distributed weight evenly. Lightweight. Zero irritation. Almost undetectable install. Didn't require ten years in a chair to put in.
July 2025
The butterfly weft.
The ease of install. The quick removal. The mom-and-glam-in-the-same-install energy. I worked closely with our manufacturer — someone I would now call not just a business source but an associate — until we had exactly what I was looking for.
In August I installed a full head in the final stretch of my pageant. Brave? Possibly. Research? Absolutely. I put that hair through everything — beach waves, Hollywood curls, salt water, chlorine pools, water park slides with my boys. Four installs of the same hair. Still going strong. We had a winner.
The Crown Project
Something was still missing.
Being part of the Mrs SA sisterhood gave me access to incredible organisations supporting cancer warriors. I lost a dear friend to cancer. My 80-year-old grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. My own brief time on methotrexate gave me a fraction of a glimpse into what these fighters go through daily.
Every single purchase carries a donation to The Crown Project. A project that is the heartline of everything we do.
What ALIO AERA means
Another way. A new era.
Alio means "another way." That has always been who I am. I don't follow what's been done before — I question it, I rebuild it, I do it differently. Aera speaks to a new era. A shift. A moment where things don't have to be the way they've always been.
From me to you — I am proud. I am elated. I am humbled to introduce the ALIO AERA Collection. May your hair journey be as exciting as mine.
Think Differently. — Sarah, Founder