Fenty Hair is a Flop
Rihanna is no doubt a beauty icon now, due to her majorly successful Fenty Beauty brand. After the rise of her Fenty brand, she then created Fenty Skin which is also very well-known. So naturally, some people weren’t surprised when Rhianna announced she would be coming out with Fenty Hair. Which does make sense for her brand as a whole but other people, including myself, were very surprised.
First off, it’s ironic how both Rihanna and Beyoncé came out with hair brands this year, but Beyoncé sold her brand to me more than Rihanna. Beyoncé had a story of her mom owning her own salon, Beyoncé working in that salon when she was younger, & having a history of sporting her natural hair on & off. Rihanna is rarely seen with her natural hair. Rihanna & Beyoncé’s audience is predominantly black, looking to them as celebrities who represent the black community and being a role model for black women. So it’s very important that if you come out with a hair brand, you should also love your own natural hair. Want to wear your natural curls like you expect your audience to when they use your product? Rihanna mostly wears wigs, which is fine but if you’re trying to come out with a hair brand. You should’ve been trying to wear your natural hair more leading up to the launch. Taking a note from Beyoncé’s backlash when she released her hair brand, Crecred. When her fans were criticizing her for not showing her hair on camera, not believing that her hair’s health was as good as she claimed it to be.
With this start, it already didn’t look good for Riri. But she’s done a killer job in both the makeup and skin categories that I still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. (Just an FYI I haven’t personally tried the brand myself, I’m solely getting my information from the influencers’ experiences)
Manes by Mell Fenty Hair Review
Manes by Mell is a hair educator on YouTube that goes in depth on the hair formulas as well as trying the product in various scenarios. She mentioned in her video that Fenty Hair incorporates its Replenicore-5 formula in all its products. Replenicore-5 penetrates the cuticle to prevent split ends and breakage (fentybeauty.com). This formula has the main ingredients of Barbados gooseberry, upcycled jackfruit extract, amino acids, green tea extract, and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Off the bat, when there’s protein marketed in hair products I know companies are trying to push the agenda of wanting to fix “damage”. Normally damage is very vague these days, some companies say they can fix all sorts of damage from bleach to hard water. More likely than not, damage normally refers to bleach and heat damage unless they specify otherwise. So unless you regularly bleach, highlight, or use heat on your hair then these products might not be for you.
Wanting to focus on damage as the main focus on the hairline is playing safe for me. A lot of people are feeding into this damage hair marketing but K18 and Olaplex are known for being more credible for fixing damage concerns. Since people of course will go to those credible brands before Fenty Hair, the whole brand’s theme is lost. When I think of Fenty Hair, I think of Rihanna’s long loose waves and braids. To me, it would’ve been better to cater to the girls who love wearing those braids and making products to maintain those hairstyles. Especially since the “mermaid braids” have been such a staple for a summer hairstyle this year.
Manes by Mell has curly hair, in her videos she tried the products with her sister who also has a similar texture but thicker destiny. From the ratings she gave on the products, it seemed like she liked them but didn’t love them. The shampoo was a winner, the conditioner wasn’t hydrating enough, and the deep conditioner was liked as well but mainly for the smell. Deep conditioners on curly, wavy, and straight girls are easier to please due to their hair types not needing a lot of intense moisture compared to someone with coarser hair. Then the rest of the products she tried did not score very well since Mell felt they didn’t appeal to her hair type and routine. Such as the bond-building treatment, the edge control, the strong hold gel, the 5-in-1 heat protectant, and curl-defining cream. Mell is a hair stylist so she viewed the curl-defining cream, bond builder, and heat protectant as having a lack of performance. The main concern was the lack of help the curl cream and heat protectant provided in humidity. The bond-building product just didn’t have an essential ingredient that is found in effective protein-building products such as Olaplex.
Brittany Rose Fenty Hair Review
Brittany Rose, another hair YouTuber with type 4 (coarser and kinkier) hair also was my reference for testing Fenty Hair. This influencer has a background in science so she was questioning a lot of Fenty’s data and surveys, calling them out on not specifying what exact hair types and ethnicities the products were tested on. When Brittany was trying the product, she noticed the directions and marketing kept using the phrases “for all hair types”. This is a problem with her hair texture because her hair needs special care and ingredients. Her hair can’t work on products that also work on straight and loose curl hair. Brittany did make a good point that more brands are moving towards trying to cater to all hair types with just one formula. This reaction was disheartening because Fenty normally tries to win over their black women fanbase but these hair products unfortunately did not make the mark. If Brittany was skeptical then girls who are similar to her and have her hair texture would probably think the same thing “This won’t work for me”. This is exactly what Fenty tries to promote, having her products work for everyone.
India Batson Fenty Hair Review
India Batson is my last hair YouTuber reference, she has wavy hair (similar to my texture). She didn’t use the deep conditioner or the edge control. She did like how the products made her hair feel but once she saw the results she realized the curl cream was too heavy on her hair. She also felt the visual instructions on the packaging were hard to understand, which was a universal problem that all three influencers faced. The best results this influencer got was using the heat protectant and strong hold gel together.
Overall Fenty Hair seems like a flop……This is so unfortunate because Fenty is known for high performance but it’s also a celebrity brand. Celebrity brands are known for missing the mark. Sighhhhh oh Fenty, I fear the plot was lost. I think the brand could’ve done much better if she focused on wig maintenance or even doing numerous hairlines that are specifically developed for different types of hair. This brand doesn’t make me want to go out of my way to try any of the products. The brand doesn’t appeal to any of the interests of achieving defined curly hair, currently, my hair does not need protein nor repair because I grew out my hair from the color I did two years ago. If you have color or heat damage, then this might work but from the influencer’s perspective, Fenty Hair won’t be effective. Which is what actually matters. If you’re going to make a repair hairline, go all out and make the repair line stand out. Fenty Hair unfortunately does not stand out and does not meet up to their standards of inclusivity.
