One brand worth the trek, says Tshiela, is Black-owned Mielle Organics. I remember thinking, “There aren’t many products that suit me…”
But Tshiela and other black women are concerned that a new beauty trend has recently emerged among white influencers promoting one of Mielle’s most popular products. In an industry already short on supply of natural hair products, black consumers worry Miel will follow other brands that have been abandoned to appeal to white women.
Many consumers with textured hair rely on oils like miel to moisturize their curls. For people with straight hair, oils can be too sticky or too heavy.
Still, hair expert Taylor Rose last year promoted Miel’s rosemary-mint scalp and hair-strengthening oil in a video detailing her weekly routine, and other white influencers followed suit. Recently, TikTok creator Alix Earle featured this oil as one of her favorite finds on Amazon to her over 3 million followers. “I’ve only been using this for a little over a month and have already seen amazing hair growth,” Earle said in the video.
As more influencers shared videos testing the products, black social media users reported that some stores were sold out or that surges in demand drove prices up.
In a statement shared on Tuesday, Mielle founder and CEO Monique Rodriguez addressed customer concerns, saying the company has no plans to reconfigure its products.
“My journey with Mielle started from a place to create products that weren’t found on the market,” Rodriguez writes. “We are forever committed to developing quality, effective products that address the needs of your hair type!”
Some black consumers didn’t feel safe. Uju Anya, an associate professor of applied linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University, has seen the same black-haired challenges play out since the 1990s.
“Since I was a teenager, I have been in this constant struggle to figure out how to care for my natural hair,” said Anya, 46.
Then, as the YouTube and natural hair revolution erupted in the 2000s, brands like Shea Moisture took notice. Women like Anya have learned to make “lotions and potions and concoctions” to manage their natural hair, she said.
But as the brand grew, many black women said the product stopped working. Blame Shea Moisture in 2015 Modify the formula of one of our most popular products for other hair types. Two years later, a Shea Moisture ad centered on white women sparked further outcry. It was never my intention to disrespect the community of
Anya called it a betrayal by a black consumer-enhanced brand. No one knew who the
Conversations surrounding Mielle are now causing a sense of déjà vu for some consumers. In her recent TikTok of her own, Tshiela expressed concern about her social media trends and the future of the product. Within hours, she had to disable comments on her own post when her argument turned sour.
“I feel like a lot of people see this issue as something of a fake outrage that started online,” she said. “But accessibility to black hair care products has plagued the hair care industry for decades. And it’s a very real problem for many of us.”
In 2019, California became the first state to pass a crown law that expands protections for black hair and hairstyles in the workplace. I was. Since then, more than a dozen states have enacted similar laws.
“I think the country’s history of black hair and the hair care industry refutes claims that it’s ‘just hair,'” said Tshiela.
Other users on social media countered that black consumers should support the growth and expansion of black-owned businesses. However, when consumers purchase products that are not intended for hair, Complain when things go wrongshe suggested, which could do more harm than good.
“I’ve seen people talk about how their hair gets greasy,” says Tshiela. “And some people have said it causes their hair to fall out and they are experiencing hair loss with it.
Anya speculated that hair oils, like many beauty trends, could become a phase for white women with so many options.
“They can literally be with anyone, so they don’t have to ride company as hard as we do,” she said. ”
Anya’s only hope is that brands like Mielle don’t abandon black consumers in the process.
“We carried these companies,” she said. “We built them. We gave them a base. And we weren’t good enough.”
