Privacy Policy

We collect the following categories of data:

• Account information — name, email address, and password (stored as a hashed value, never in plain text).
• Profile & demographic data — age group and gender, provided during onboarding, used to personalize hair care recommendations.
• Hair profile data — curl pattern, density, porosity, strand thickness, scalp type, face shape, hair length, and hair goals you enter through the hair quiz.
• Hair and progress photos — photos you upload during onboarding and to track your hair journey over time. These are stored with our image hosting provider (Cloudinary) and are only visible to you unless you separately choose to share an image in a community post or chat.
• Routine & activity data — which routines you complete, streaks, badges earned, and leaderboard participation.
• Community content — posts, chat messages, and reviews you choose to share, which are visible to other users of the relevant group or, for reviews, publicly.
• Order & payment data — products purchased, delivery address, and a payment reference from our payment processors (M-Pesa, Paystack). We do not store your full card number, M-Pesa PIN, or other sensitive payment credentials — these are handled directly by the payment processor.
• Device & notification data — a push notification token, used to send you routine reminders and updates.
• AI advisor conversations — messages you send to the in-app hair advisor, used to generate responses and, in de-identified/aggregate form, to improve recommendations.
• Referral data — your referral code and, if you were referred, the code used to sign up.

• To create and maintain your account and subscription.
• To personalize routine recommendations, tips, and product suggestions based on your hair profile and goals.
• To let you track visible progress over time using your uploaded photos and logged routines.
• To operate community features you choose to participate in.
• To process orders and payments for products.
• To send transactional notifications (reminders, order updates) and, if you've opted in, marketing communications.
• To detect fraud, abuse, and enforce our Terms of Service.
• To improve the Service, including through aggregated, de-identified analysis of usage patterns.

We treat hair and progress photos as sensitive data. They are:

• Stored securely with our image hosting provider (Cloudinary).
• Private by default — only visible to you inside the app, unless you explicitly attach a photo to a community post, chat message, or review.
• Never used to train third-party AI models, sold, or shared with advertisers.
• Deletable by you at any time; see Section 6.

We share data only as needed to operate the Service:

• Cloudinary — image storage and delivery for hair/progress photos and community images.
• Payment processors (M-Pesa, Paystack) — to process subscription and product payments.
• Email delivery provider — to send verification, password reset, and notification emails.
• Hosting infrastructure — our database and servers, which store account and app data.
• Other users — content you post in community groups, chats, or reviews is visible to other users as part of using those features.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share it with advertisers for third-party ad targeting.

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your profile, hair data, photos, routine history, and other associated records are deleted, except where we're required to retain limited data (e.g. transaction records) for legal, tax, or fraud-prevention purposes.

• Access & export — you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction — you can update your profile information directly in the app.
• Deletion — you can request deletion of your account and associated data at any time.
• Marketing opt-out — you can opt out of marketing emails at signup or later from your account settings.
• Photo deletion — you can delete individual progress photos from the app at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@hairbountycare.com.

The Service is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Users between 13 and 17 should have a parent or guardian's permission to use the Service. If we learn we've collected data from a child under 13, we will delete it.

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encrypted password storage, secure token-based authentication, and encrypted on-device token storage on mobile. No system is completely secure, and we encourage you to use a strong, unique password.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated in-app or by email, and you may be asked to re-accept the updated Policy. Each version is dated above.

Questions or requests regarding this Policy can be sent to privacy@hairbountycare.com.