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American actress, director, activist and self-stated “culture of beauty expander”, Tracee Ellis Ross is launching a haircare range for the underserved curly community.
Revealed via WWD, her brand Pattern–for curly, coily and tight-textured hair types–will include a shampoo, three targeted conditioners plus a leave-in conditioner, and two hair serums.
The formulations have been a lengthy 10 years in the making, after Ross dreamt up the idea in 2008. “Most of us in this community have had to become our own experts…we have had to make our own things in our own bathrooms. So to be able to offer a selection of products that work together and support each other is important to me,” she told the publication.
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On Instagram, the Girlfriends and Black-ish star revealed the complexities of her hair journey, in a recent post she titled “If my hair colour talk”.
She wrote: “I can literally chronicle my journey of self-acceptance through my journey with my hair. Growing up, society told me there was a right way to wear my hair and a right way to look. Those ideals didn’t match what I saw in the mirror, so I tried to beat my curls into submission— putting body lotion in my hair, sleeping in rollers, blowouts, relaxers, texturisers, ponytails so tight they gave me a headache; and I even whipped out an iron (the kind you use for clothes) in an attempt to straighten it that way. Trying to make my hair look ‘easy and breezy’, ‘bouncin’ and behavin’’ actually had the opposite effect. My hair was broken, damaged, and tired of trying to be something that it wasn’t.”
It echoes sentiments for a lot of people of colour, that hair is as much a political topic as it is an aesthetic one. As she told WWD, “The culture of beauty has been so steeped in patriarchy, racism and sexism for so long”. This is something the 46-year-old star is helping to change, not least as one of the few women in Hollywood wearing her hair naturally.
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“I finally took the leap and stopped relaxing my curls, thereby beginning the healing journey towards loving my hair,” Ross continued on Instagram. “It was a long road to knowing, understanding and, eventually, loving my curls. Now i just let them be the happy little ringlets and zig zags of joy they want to be.”
Pattern launches in America at Ulta store on 9th September, and here’s hoping Ross will export it to the UK, soon. For now, shop Bazaar’s edit of the best products for curly hair, below.
From: Harper’s BAZAAR UK
