The passage of the State of New York’s new law requires Cosmetology schools to include textured hair care in their curriculum. Finally, students, regardless of race, will learn the science, maintenance, and styling processes for natural afro-hair. According to market research firm, Mintel, 40% of Black women are most likely to wear their hair natural (no chemical straighteners) without heat styling, and 33% wear their natural hair heat styled. These numbers are significant, especially in light of Louisiana, and now New York, being the only two states with Cosmetology boards that mandate textured-hair education. Lobbying for more inclusion, the Professional Beauty Association (PBA) hosts the Texture Education Collective, an alliance of professional hair industry leaders who work to influence cosmetology state board licensing requirements and curriculums to be inclusive of all hair textures and types.
This presents a prime opportunity for brands that are already marketing products to consumers in the mass market to create new formulas or elevate existing formulations for professional use. Stylists are used to products that were once only for use by professionals now being sold to the masses in independent beauty supply stores or in big box stores like Walmart, Target, and even TJMaxx. The same trust in these brands can also be understood with the reverse — quality brands initially made for consumers, now available for professional use.
Professional products to maintain and style naturally curly and coily, afro-texture hair are significantly limited. Many stylists with natural hair clientele have relied on the trial and error of over-the-counter products to effectively detangle, moisturize, define, and perfect curls, twists, coils, rod sets, bantu knots, braids, and other protective natural hairstyles. Design Essentials and Mizani are the two widely-known professional retail brands formulated for stylists and sold in professional sizes that provide high-performance curl care solutions for afro-texture hair.
There’s a grand opportunity for brands to introduce salon-quality products and educate stylists on better servicing natural hair customers. The win here is obvious. More salon products for textured hair presents another channel for brands to develop, helps stylists and salons expand their clientele, and gives the natural hair community confidence that they can visit an educated professional who knows how to manage and style their hair texture. Mass market Multicultural hair care brands, Pattern Beauty and The Doux have both recently developed professional sizes of their award-winning products, and are positioning their brands for sale in pro-retail stores such as CosmProf.
