Beyoncé just released her new haircare brand Cécred. The eight-piece collection includes a clarifying shampoo and scalp scrub, hydrating shampoo, moisturizing deep conditioner, along with a “fermented rice and rose ritual treatment,” among other products. In the time leading up to its release, Beyoncé fans, affectionately dubbed the BeyHive, shared their thoughts about the new brand online. The haircare line has been met with mixed reviews from the BeyHive and the general public.
In an interview with Beyoncé for Essence, Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles, who was a hairdresser and owned her own salon, shared that back when she was a salon owner, “there was no one product that mixed high-tech hair care with the nourishing moisturizers and oils so vital to textured or color-treated hair, so I mixed the two.”
On the Cécred website, Beyoncé explained that it’s been her dream to “create these hair products and bring some of my mother’s teaching to life. We started by prioritizing the needs of textured hair like mine and others who lack moisture and strength.” If it was important to create a haircare line that centers the needs of those with textured hair, some consumers have wondered why the line hasn’t been specifically marketed to that same population.
For Black people and Black women specifically, hair is a highly contentious subject. Hair can be a source of pride and power but for many Black women, girls, and femmes, hair has been a source of pain and prejudice.
In 1786, the Governor of New Orleans, Don Estevan Miro, implemented the tignon law, which required women of African descent to wear a scarf or handkerchief to cover their hair to designate their slave class.
Racist policies and practices in schools and workplaces have led to the discrimination faced by those with Afro-textured hair and different states in the U.S. have introduced the CROWN Act to provide protections against this type of discrimination.
[Source: forbes.com]
