Cornell McBride Jr.
Leads the company
Our story
A pharmacist, a formula, and a family that stayed.
The company behind Design Essentials was built by a pharmacist who wanted to formulate his own answers for textured hair, and by the family that grew up in the work.
How it began
Thirty-five years, told in order.
McBride Research Laboratories did not start as a marketing idea. It started with chemistry, patience, and a family that stayed together across two companies and more than three decades. The story runs from a Savannah childhood to a pharmacy degree, from a shared five hundred dollars to shelves in more than thirty countries.
1973
The beginning A pharmacist and a first company
Cornell McBride Sr. was born in Savannah, studied at Fort Valley State, and earned a bachelor of science from the Mercer University School of Pharmacy in 1973. That April he co-founded M&M Products Company with Therman McKenzie on a combined five hundred dollars.
Their Sta-Sof-Fro was the first product made specifically to soften natural Black hair, and it helped build M&M into a household name.
1989
A transition A sale, and a decision to begin again
After building M&M Products over more than fifteen years, the partners sold the company around 1989 to 1990. For a registered pharmacist, the next step was not retirement. It was a return to the bench.
1990
A new company McBride Research Laboratories
Cornell McBride Sr. started again, formulating from his Atlanta basement. The new company, McBride Research Laboratories, launched Design Essentials as a salon-professional line built for the specific needs of textured hair.
Growth
Reaching the world From a basement to more than thirty countries
The company grew into one of the country's leading multicultural hair-care makers. Its lines reach a network of more than 25,000 stylists, mass retailers, and distributors across the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe, in more than thirty countries in all.
Today
The second generation Still in the family
The company Cornell McBride Sr. founded is run today by the family that grew up in it. Cornell McBride Jr. leads, supported by Sholanda and Andre McBride and their mother, Harriet. Andre serves as Vice President of Operations.
A lasting tribute
Carried on every bottle.
The initials S.A.M. are printed on every bottle the company makes, a quiet tribute to Sheila McBride. Purple, the signature color across the Design Essentials family of brands, is part of that tribute. In her honor, McBride Research Laboratories supports kidney research.
Family leadership
The people behind the science.
A family-owned company in the truest sense: the founder's children, and their mother, guide it together.
Andre McBride
Vice President, Operations
Sholanda McBride
Family leadership
Harriet McBride
Family leadership
Continue
Meet the brands.
The science behind the story lives in a family of textured-hair-care lines, and in the community the company invests in.