Cool thing alert! Gabrielle Union is launching a beauty brand she’s built from the ground up: Flawless by Gabrielle Union, which will be launched by Ulta Beauty on April 16.
“For me — having skin in the game — it deepens the connection,” she told WWD. “It makes me work a lot harder than if I was just a hired gun. I want to make sure that it’s right for me, for my family, for my friends, and for every person with textured hair. I want to have a seat at the table, and part of that is having ownership.”
To make this happen, Union teamed up with the executives behind Macadamia Beauty LLC (who are behind Macadamia Natural Oil) to develop Flawless — which, for the record, will make its official debut on March 1 on Flawlesshair.com. It will consist of 10 products from $19 to $29 and include everything from shampoo to conditioner to shine spray to oil treatment to blow dry cream, thank you very much.
“I want women with textured hair to have great hair days,” Union continued. “I went through a phase where I would leave my relaxer on so long, thinking the longer I have 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-twenties I decided to give up my relaxer, and I went natural. By natural I mean underneath the waves, extensions, clips, and the hair colour was my natural hair — thriving.”
She also went on to explain the realities of the beauty industry — mainly, that most companies tend to abide by very white norms.
“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. You want that light. You want that shine. You want that attention, and I just never got it. Not for what I looked like.”
“I’ve had a long journey of self-acceptance and boosting my self-esteem,” she continued. “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 life.”
So! April 16 IRL, March 1 online. Get psyched!
