So Many Gen X Celebs Are Shilling Hair Care
Hello WNVM-ers,
Cheryl is back from two weeks away and wrote about celebrity beauty brands, a topic she has covered for years. A big influx of Gen X-ers and ‘80s/’90s stars have launched hair care in the last few years, because conditions are perfect in the industry, as you’ll see. Jennifer Aniston, Brooke Shields, Tracee Ellis Ross, Gwyneth Paltrow, Taraji P. Henson, Nicole Kidman, and Naomi Watts all want to get their products onto your head and your money into their wallets. Cheryl tells you how we got here, then rates and analyzes each brand for their BS quotients.
Then, the most Gen X elements of Jon Bon Jovi’s Zoomer son’s wedding to Eleven from “Stranger Things,” (who also coincidentally owns a beauty brand) and teen boys want to smell like “rich ‘90s dads.”
Her Hair Reminds Me of a Warm, Safe Place
Gen X celebs are hopping into the extremely lucrative hair care market. Should we follow them there?
By Cheryl
Brooke Shields, who was a Wella Balsam spokesmodel in the early ‘80s (“Turn problem hair into beautiful hair!”), brought it full circle and launched a hair care brand for women over 40 this summer. It started in 2021 as a lifestyle website called, “Beginning Is Now.” The beauty trade publication CEW described it as “a mix of content and commerce created to foster peak happiness and well-being.” “Beginning Is Now” became Commence (get it?). Shields asks us to “age fearlessly, honestly, and beautifully,” presumably while using her scalp serum.
Commence is the culmination of several trends colliding in the beauty industry right now. Hair and scalp treatment sales are booming, celebrity beauty brands are still proliferating, and the discussion of menopause and aging is finally starting to lose its taboo, mostly because people of my generation are pissed off that we weren’t better prepared by our forebears. Smack in the middle of this Venn diagram are a number of Gen X celebs, who have either launched their own hair care or aligned themselves with a brand financially in order to capitalize on empower us to take care of our hair issues.
The Celebrity Beauty Boom Meets Menopause
As with all things that ultimately get attention and a platform, midlife has become a “market opportunity.” And the celebs have found it.
Rihanna set the bar for celebrity beauty brands when she launched Fenty Beauty and its expansive, inclusive shade range, with luxury conglomerate (and Sephora owner) LVMH in 2017. It exploded, helping make the singer a billionaire. Dozens of other celebrities followed her into beauty. While celeb brand launches have slowed, according to Nielsen, famous people are still at it.
For older women entertainers, it’s increasingly harder to land roles, especially over 50, so launching a brand they control provides another revenue stream. “The [celebrities] with big social media realize that they’re a brand and they can create their own opportunities,” a business development guy from talent agency CAA told me, in a Vox story I wrote.
Then there are the menoposses.
Concurrent with a boom in celeb brands, there has been an explosion of online content and coverage of the issues women who are going through menopause experience, told in their voices. It has led to some historic and amazing awareness-raising of health issues (yes, like hair changes) and a welcome openness for frank discussions about midlife. (Check out this list of over 175 Substacks by midlife women.) While not all the brands here specifically cater to older women, consumers like to see themselves represented, and so these brands may naturally draw that demographic.
Hair care is the one area in beauty that isn’t totally saturated yet, and the one with “the most growth potential”; celebrity brands are only 0.3% of hair brands while they comprise 2.5% of cosmetics brands, according to analysts who spoke to Glossy. Plus, there is demand. In the first half of 2024, sales of prestige (the price point between luxury and mass market) hair thinning/hair loss products were up 34% and scalp products were up 38%, according to data supplied by Circana. Along with Shields, millennial celebs Rihanna, Blake Lively, and Beyoncé just launched hair brands.
Why Should I Buy a Celebrity’s Brand?
There are a number of incredible hair care brands, both old and new out there to choose from: stalwarts like Bumble and bumble, Kerastase, Verb, and newer buzzy entrants like K18 (who make one of the best masks I’ve ever tried) and RŌZ, by hair stylist Mara Roszak, whose clients include Zoe Saldana, Emma Stone, and Michelle Yeoh. Celebrity brands have to offer a unique proposition, because being famous is not enough.
Research by The Pull Agency reveals that when it comes to celebrities, “faked authenticity undermines their credibility” with Gen X consumers. Shoppers of all ages — though surely this must be higher in our eye roll generation — can have “cynicism that stems in part from a long history of endorsements by celebrities who lacked loyalty to the products,” according to the Harvard Business Review.
Celebs need to overcome the fact that we know they are regularly coiffed by pros and use extensions, hairpieces, and even wigs offscreen as well as on. This is part of the authenticity issue, which is constantly raised as a benchmark for whether a celebrity brand will work. Do celebs even use their own products?? J. Lo’s skin care brand recently bumped up against this, as people questioned whether olive oil, a main ingredient of her line, was really the secret to her age-defying look. Sephora dropped her brand recently.
Rating the Celebrity Hair Brands
Now let’s have some fun! Below, find my reviews of the Gen X celeb hair brands, from the most egregious to the least, based on claims, marketing, price, and authenticity of celebrity involvement:
Vegamour/Nicole Kidman:
What: Started in 2016, and best known for its Gro hair serums. Kidman came on as an “investor and brand advocate” in 2022, so this is not fully her brand. “It wasn't about being the face of the brand or selling products, but being an advocate for a holistically-minded lifestyle that prioritizes self-care,” she said in the release. *Cheryl waves red warning flag*
Claims/products: Over-the-counter hair serums will provide modest growth results at best, and this one uses the same vague language that supplements do, because they can’t make hardcore claims without the FDA/FTC getting involved: “increases appearance of hair density; leaves hair feeling and looking healthier.” (my italics) Also look for words like “supports” and “promotes” in their copy. Vegamour also has an anti-gray serum, a product that immediately raises my bullshit hackles. The Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division asked some questions about claims and customer review authenticity for the serum, and Vegamour “voluntarily discontinued advertising claims.”
Authenticity: Kidman mentions the brand in interviews, but almost never appears in social media posts. Kidman’s hair — ooh, Days of Thunder! — has always been spectacular, but if you are Too Online, you’re aware of the running joke about all the terrible wigs she wears for roles, which makes this partnership funny to me.
Price: Shampoo is $52 and serum is $64. You can get topical Rogaine, the gold standard for hair growth, for the same price, and cheaper for generic minoxidil.
Stripes/Naomi Watts:
What: A menopause-focused beauty line featuring skin care, supplements, vaginal care, and hair care, launched in 2022.
Claims/products: I’m putting her up this high on the ick list simply because there is a product called “Vag of Honor.” Seriously though, I think the brand is trying to do too much, I don’t really love the concept of one-size-fits-all menopause brands, and hair feels like an afterthought here. The hair serum uses all the vague words, but I bought the hair mask to try. It is lovely, but for the same price, Briogeo is better.
Authenticity: Watts was in Pantene commercials in the 2010s, and co-owned indie beauty retailer Onda in NYC, which she sold in 2022, so she has beauty experience. She appears often on both the brand’s social media and promotes it on her own. Watts has a book about menopause coming out in January, which will likely double as marketing for Stripes.
Price: $50 for hair serum.
Goop/Gwyneth Paltrow:
What: I don’t need to explain what Goop is, do I? Paltrow was playing around in beauty well before the others on this list. There is a house beauty line that includes hair care (serum came out in 2022), plus a cheaper brand called Good.Clean.Goop that launched at Target and Amazon in 2023.
Claims/products: Goop’s skin care is pretty good, if you can ignore all the other BS on the site about jade eggs, toxins, et al. Hair care may become a bigger priority as they ramp up the beauty business. Goop has a suite of hair products that includes shampoo and conditioner, serum, mask, and a salt scalp scrub, launched after the Himalayan sea salt craze of the mid-2010s. I don’t like salt scrubs, but a million brands make similar products.
Authenticity: I think she is one of the least relatable people on earth, but Paltrow’s authenticity is what helped Goop get so popular — people love her schtick. The lower priced products caused an alleged authenticity issue because bougie customers didn’t want them and mass customers thought it was still too expensive.
Price: $36 for regular shampoo, $55 for the salt scrub.
Commence/Brooke Shields:
What: A hair care brand for women over 40.
Claims/products: Shields seems committed to hair, and she hired industry professionals to help run the brand. I bought the original three products, a leave-in conditioner, scalp serum, and non-aerosol powder dry shampoo. I didn’t care for the scent, which is a bit artificial, but the dry shampoo is actually really good, absorbing post workout sweat and giving my hair some volume. I am really picky about leave-ins, and this one wasn’t quite moisturizing enough for me, but when I doubled the amount I usually use it worked. I don’t know what the scalp serum does.
Authenticity: Shields seems like a nice person and also relatable, at least as much as anyone that physically stunning can be. (I loved the underrated “Suddenly Susan” in the ‘90s — Judd Nelson was in it!) She told Elle she made the packaging colorful and with larger print because she didn’t want to have to get out her reading glasses. Can confirm I did not need my readers. She is nicely goofy on her social media, and shows herself using the brand frequently.
Price: Everything is less than $26.
A three-way tie for the best brands:
Pattern/Tracee Ellis Ross:
What: Launched in 2019 and sold at Sephora, Ulta, and Macy’s, Pattern is geared to hair type/texture, not age or menopause.
Claims/products: Ross bills it as “Black-owned and Black-centered.” Historically, Black women have been underserved in the beauty market despite spending a ton of money there. When hair brands like Carol’s Daughter, Shea Moisture, and, recently, Mielle Organics, sold to large conglomerates, there was Black customer backlash as they no longer felt seen by those brands. Pattern offers multiple products for every conceivable styling and treatment option, and has expanded into hot tools.
Authenticity: A beauty industry mole told me that Pattern has a great reputation. Most importantly, Ross sought “active engagement with the natural hair community before, during, and after the launch, which fostered trust and authenticity,” as Taylor Cook wrote in her Substack, Well Theorem. Ross posts about it frequently.
Price: No single product is over $30, but tools are in the $200 range.
TPH/Taraji P. Henson:
What: Henson launched her brand in 2020, with a focus on products for scalp health and protective hairstyles, as well as body products. She geared it for a mass market customer at a lower price point.
Claims/products: In the Cut’s very juicy story about which celeb beauty brands are worth it, respondents said that TPH is a “sleeper hit” and “underrated,” noting it felt more elevated than the price point would suggest. I will also say that, as a person who has dabbled with messy, drippy scalp treatments, the clever dispensers on her products seem fantastic, and are definitely not standard off-the-rack hair care packaging, showing thoughtful design choices for the user.
Authenticity: She doesn’t post about the products a ton on her personal IG, but she appears a lot on the brand socials.
Price: $9.99 to $14.99.
LolaVie/Jennifer Aniston:
What: LolaVie, launched in 2021, has all the basics.
Claims/products: Aniston is not a newbie to the hair market. In the 2010s, she had an ownership stake in Living Proof. (I once interviewed her about it and she told me post-workout sweat is a good styling product.) She sold it and then never mentioned it again, which is good because some of the products allegedly contained PFAS, those “forever chemicals.” I’m not an Ani-stan, though I did have “The Rachel” cut in 1997. But I have to admit I really like the products. The leave-in conditioner and detangler are excellent, as are the shampoo and conditioner. Perhaps I like it so much because it smells like the ‘90s — specifically, like Bliss Lemon and Sage Body Butter.
Authenticity: Aniston has done a million projects since “Friends,” but she knows the people want Rachel, and she gives Ms. Green to us often, in interviews and on her socials. Plus, the brand is everywhere on her feed and there are many videos of her and her longtime stylist Chris McMillan using it.
Price: The most expensive single product is $39.
We are two Gen X journalists who analyze all the '80s and '90s nostalgia in current pop culture, fashion, and beauty. Read more stories like this one here!
You Oughta Know
After tying the knot during a secret ceremony in May, rock god scion Jake Bongiovi married Enola Holmes star Millie Bobby Brown during a multi-day Tuscan celebration stacked with Gen X gems. At a pre-event, Brown revisited the time of father-in-law Jon Bon Jovi’s European leg of the “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” tour and wore an adorable Fall 1993 Valentino tea length lace dress from Happy Isles. (Shalom Harlow wore a similar basque waist and corseted look on the runway.) For the ceremony, the groom wore a white tuxedo jacket with black trousers by Tom Ford, while his mom Dorothea wore custom Galia Lahav. The nuptials were officiated by none-other-than Vision Quest’s Louden Swain, Matthew Modine. OK fine, this one’s for the Zoomers since Modine plays Brown’s Dr. Frankenstein-esque “Papa” in “Stranger Things.” But the Netflix hit series is set in the ‘80s, so we’ll claim this one, too, just like we called dibs on Sylvie from “Emily in Paris” and VP Kamala Harris. [Millie Bobby Brown/Instagram, WNVM inbox]
Along with copping big ass pants and retro flip phones, Gen Z teen boys are also clamoring for the signature colognes of the ‘90s. Close your eyes and conjure the scents of frat parties and your college ex-boyfriend’s dorm room: the gender-neutral CK One, Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male, Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò … (Fawnia remembers treasuring her JPG Classique pink torso bottle in that fun silver soup can packaging. Wait it’s $130 now?!) Fourteen-year-old Ryan took the two latter bottles with him to sleepaway camp, and, at home, boasts a full collection of ‘90s fragrances. “It’s still cool, I guess,” says the Illinois teen. Inspired by his grandfather, 15-year-old Marcus splurged on a $135 bottle of Terre d’Hermès. How are these kids buying such expensive fragrances?! Back in our day, we dropped like max $10 at CVS for the Designer Impostors version of Giorgio Beverly Hills. New brands are vying for that sweet sweet Zoomer spend, too, including the now sold-out “Rich ‘90s Dad” cologne. The limited edition scent rings in at $94, and promises top notes of “a tucked-in polo and a Jaguar XJ interior.” So basically Drakkar Noir, right? [Wall Street Journal]
On Tuesday, Swedish singer, rapper, musician, and Fawnia’s style icon Neneh Cherry released her coming-of-age story, A Thousand Threads: a Memoir. (A young Fawnia dedicated a fair amount of her time sitting inches from the family VCR and monitoring MTV to repeatedly record the “Buffalo Stance” video.) Cherry’s book covers her world-traversing journey, from Sweden to London clubs to the ‘70s New York City punk scene to her biological father’s birthplace in Sierra Leone. Stereogum gives a peek with an evocative excerpt that includes mentions of Madonna, Talking Heads, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. [Stereogum]
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Love this breakdown! What was once a white space is on its way to becoming an annoyingly marketed space, and women deserve better than “Vag of Honor.”
As a onetime Living Proof stan, I’ve been curious about LoLaVie and I’m going to try it after reading :)
Thank you for this gimlet-eyed brand review. I also wince at the Stripes product names. Not as bad as Indeed Labs' Me-No-Pause line (ugh) but close.
(Related: Pattern's gel formula hydrating curly hair mask works and smells really really good.)