Naturalists, this one’s for you! Gabrielle Union announced her new line of haircare products geared toward ladies with textured strands on Tuesday, January 31. Flawless by Gabrielle Union, a 10-piece collection of goods from $19 to $29, will hit flawlesshair.com on March 1, and Ulta Beauty’s shelves and website on April 16.
The Being Mary Jane star, 44, gave insight into her inspiration in a WWD.com profile posted on Tuesday, January 31. “I want women with textured hair to have great hair days,” she said. “I went through a phase where I would leave my relaxer on so long, thinking, the longer I leave this relaxer on, the straighter it’s going to be. Cut to lesions, like, open wounds in my scalp, trying to chase something that was unrealistic, and eventually, probably in my mid- to late-20s, I decided to give up my relaxer, and I went natural. By natural, I mean underneath the weaves, extensions, clips and the hair color was my natural hair — thriving.”
To aid women who are going through the same struggle, Flawless offers products like the avocado oil, macula oil and argan oil Hair Masque, as well as two kinds of shampoos and conditioners among the 10 items.
“Being the chip in the cookie, you realized my ponytails didn’t look like Heather’s ponytails, my friend with the long, blonde hair. You want what you don’t have. You want what other people are getting praised for. Nobody was praising my little pigtails, but Heather got all the love,” said Union, who teamed with Vince Davis, CEO of Macadamia Beauty, as well as Jeff Morrone, senior partner at Primary Wave Entertainment, to develop Flawless. “You want that light. You want that shine. You want that attention, and I just never got it. Not for what I looked like. [People were like], you’re so smart, and you’re so funny, which is awesome and great, but sometimes you want to be objectified, dammit. I’ve had a long journey of self-acceptance and boosting my self-esteem. A lot of that comes from education and from life, but now that I’m on the other side of 40, I want pride to come from every part of my life.”
