Shea Moisture – a haircare brand used primarily by black women – released some crazy whitewashed ads. Shea Moisture has apologized. [Jezebel]
Did Tom Cruise order Henry Cavill to ruin his pretty face with a mustache? [LaineyGossip]
Beyonce & Jay-Z are trying to buy a $135 million Bel Air home. [Celebslam]
The Dirty Dancing remake looks gross. [Dlisted]
Remember when Ivanka Trump was on Gossip Girl? [Buzzfeed]
I wish I looked like Doutzen Kroes. [Moe Jackson]
Anne Hathaway loves Rihanna, her costar. [JustJared]
The Aaron Hernandez story has gotten pretty crazy. [IDLY]
Cop breaks up party only to dance the salsa. [Seriously OMG WTF]
Amanda Bynes is back on social media. [Socialite Life]
Somehow Cavill actually wears that mustache well.
The Aaron Hernandez story – don’t know what to think about it anymore. Obviously it’s a bit…extreme (understatement here) for him to murder people to say the least, but it says a lot regarding homophobia and toxic masculinity.
I guess the Jesse Williams divorce post will be tomorrow? That’s going to get interesting. His poor wife.
I think feel so like it’s becoming a new way of getting your ad more exposure – put something politically incorrect in it and apologize afterwords.
That was my first thought I mean now you would be hard pressed to find people who haven’t heard about Shea Moisture.
That being said my second thought was that apparently the reformulated the product so they can have others use it and yes I can see the issue. It seems rather disrespectful to the people that made your brand especially since there aren’t many hair products for black women to begin with.
I’m sorry but, how is that whitewashed?
I was all ready to be up in arms about this but have to say I agree… doesn’t qualify as whitewashed imo. It is ridiculous and try hard however. Wow the company that makes my shampoo understands my life and inner angst. Really? No either the product fucking works or it doesn’t. I’m tired of these overly emotional ad campaigns. This is up there with Pepsi for me. Absurd.
The products were invented to specifically address the hair care issues Black woman had with their natural hair which is retaining moisture, doing 10 minutes wash and go styles instead of spending 4 hours in the morning, being able to comb and brush it out without damage to the strands. Most hair products made do not work on our hair. They make it dry and brittle. Many people just give up and then get chemical relaxers for manability (straightens the hair) Although our hair looks tough, it is actually more fragile (type 4C, 4B, 3B, 3C) that straight hair (types 1-2). Asians with straight hair have the strongest hair type that is why it is difficult to get curly perms or bleach out their hair.
Shea Moisture was made by a person in Sierra Leone, West Africa one of the few parts of the world where natural Shea Butter is derived. Shea butter has the properties of both softing and providing moisture to thick curly hair without leaving it greasy (grease or petroleum based products where what hair companies in the past and present put it hair products aimed at Black Hair customers). There are also other high quality ingredients in all Shea Moisture products to help with easy styling of traditional Black hair.
Shea Moisture, and a few other small businesses revolutionized products for natural Black hair and helped start the movement for Black women to reclaim their natural hair instead of using damaging relaxers to help us have straight manageable, “acceptable to Caucasians” type hair.
It is amazing how many Black women don’t even know what their natural hair looks like due to their Mom’s straightening or relaxing their children’s hair from elementary school onwards. We would be judged as having ‘nappy-headed’ hair by both Whites and Blacks if you did not conform to the norm of being ashamed of your natural hair and instead straightening it. This is an issue deeper than just hair. It is emotionally and identity defining going back to the days of slavery. These is were the origins of “good hair vs bad hair” was used to separate us.
Causasians, Asians, Hispanic/ mixed race children can go do well with the regular hair products in the grocery store or hair salons. They have 90% of the hair care industry solely devoted to them. We have a tiny shelf area in stores for us but packed with petroleum based products that barely help. So companies like Shea Moisture came long just for our hair. The one Black lady in that commercial is who 99.9% of Shea Moisture’s customers are.
There products are expensive because natural ingredients imported from across the world is not cheap. Also more companies have jumped on the natural hair trend and competing with cheaper price. I noticed Shea Moisture was trying to boarded their customer base when I started noticing about a year ago that their products were no longer kept in the Black hair shelf but either on front display or spread out amount the “regular” hair products. I have no problem with that. But this commercial of side lining the woman who made your products go from one woman to an entire global industry stings. Sorry so long and not spelled/grammar checked.
Wow. I need not have posted. You said it all very well.
Remarkably informative, thank you so much!
Could not have said it better! In the words of Kanye Wests Gold Digger “when they get on they leave you for a white girl”.
“The one Black lady in that commercial is who 99.9% of Shea Moisture’s customers are.” How do you know this?
I hate to say anything that could be interpreted as disrespectful to black women because over the years i have developed tremendous respect for black women, especially black American women, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain what you have, @OriginalT.C. However the logic I’m hearing around this is lacy. There are too many unknowns. I don’t think they did anything wrong. 2 out of 4 of my siblings have these products on their shelves and we are of European descent. Majority of customers are black women? Perhaps. 99% ? Possible I guess but frankly I doubt it. And still that’s not 100% and business-wise, if a company thinks they can expand their market, of course they will do that in a heartbeat and would you really begrudge them that?
Race is a quagmire of a topic and I don’t claim to have knowledge that I could not possibly have. But I have to encourage detached, logical thinking at the end of the day because some things just aren’t worth getting upset over. I could very well be wrong but this is one of those things it seems to me.
Not being allowed to sell their products to other races without accusations of “whitewashing” is unfair to the company. In your post, you even talk about how they have increasing competition in their niche, yet you expect them to not branch out at all?
Their main demographic is already black women and they did talk about black hair specifically in the ad. They just included other ethnicities. We don’t know the financial situation of the company, but maybe they are at a point where they need to look at other markets.
*applauds*
JFresh, I’m not sure if someone with more knowledge on this topic will have time to respond to you(i would not consider myself an expert), but if you aren’t a PoC, you don’t get to decide what is offensive or not for that group.
While quantitative facts are very important, you also need to take into account the qualitative. This is one of the times where the qualitative trumps the quantitative, where without context you cannot understand the whole issue.
This isn’t just about expanding your market, this is more akin to opening up tampons to be used as male nose bleed stoppers, and featuring commercials with tampons up their noses. except then add layers of oppression, and decades of othering.
yes they are expanding their market, but they are also crapping on the people who made them who they are.
I will highlight these sentences from the strong piece Original TC wrote, that discuss the emotional roots of this topic.
“We would be judged as having ‘nappy-headed’ hair by both Whites and Blacks if you did not conform to the norm of being ashamed of your natural hair and instead straightening it. This is an issue deeper than just hair. It is emotionally and identity defining going back to the days of slavery. These is were the origins of “good hair vs bad hair” was used to separate us.
Causasians, Asians, Hispanic/ mixed race children can go do well with the regular hair products in the grocery store or hair salons. They have 90% of the hair care industry solely devoted to them. We have a tiny shelf area in stores for us but packed with petroleum based products that barely help. So companies like Shea Moisture came along just for our hair.”
Thanks, T.C.! That clears a lot up for me.
JFresh I agree with you, and you put it much more eloquently than I did. My family of fair haired Scots has used these products for ages and I never had even heard it was specifically for black women. A lot of white women I know use this. This is obviously an issue very near and dear to black women. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to find good quality hair products for their natural hair and if they’re changing the formula for this, that probably makes it a thousand times more frustrating. :/
Very informative and helpful post, thanks Original T.C.!
I have been using Shea Moisture for a while now on my (caucasian) 3a/b hair. It is great and defines my curls really well, but I think it is terrible that they would change up the formula. Is that really necessary? As others have said, they could expand their line but it is crappy to change the original formula if it has worked for their core customers for so long. I have used styling products made and marketed for black hair since I was a teenager to manage my curls but use a little less than recommended (black girlfriends clued me in).
I’m white and I love Shea Moisture products- a lot of us on the crunchier side of things do
“I have to encourage detached, logical thinking at the end of the day because some things just aren’t worth getting upset over. I could very well be wrong but this is one of those things it seems to me.”
@Jfresh
I thank you for at least reading my long post. There are hundreds upon hundreds of textbooks, doctoral dissertations and magazine articles about the topic of Black hair. It has been used to demean, hurt, assault, separate and economically disadvantage Black Women in America for 200 years. Some sexist racial issues just can’t be explained to others unless you live with it 24/7. So it is totally OK for you not to understand and to think it’s nothing important.
However, it is *not* OK to tell Black women how they *should* feel about a racial topic.Just like it’s *not* OK for men to tell women to get over being groped, sexually assaulted or sexually harassed. You feel me?
Causasians, Asians, Hispanic/ mixed race children can go do well with the regular hair products in the grocery store or hair salons”. This comment in a long well-written thoughtful response about African-American hair really upset me as an Asian individual in its outright dismissal of any concerns I might have. Thank you for letting me know that my problems with Maintenance of my hair was all in my mind. Perhaps just say the product was designed with African- American hair in mind and it’s hard to see it co- opted; as opposed to dismissing the needs of others?
I do feel you, @Original T.C. Thank you for your reply.
And @detritus I am glad that you mentioned the need to value the qualitative as well. I felt that when I watched Sam Harris give his opinions on BLM (it’s on youtube and not that long of a vid). He was way too “objective” about it and I remember thinking, “Jeez this guy is way sheltered.”
Maybe I am being like that. I remember thinking that perhaps Sam Harris can never begin to understand the meaning of BLM. It was like he was speaking from another dimension. Maybe I can’t begin to understand the complex issues around hair as related to black women’s experience in this culture. However I’m better than I used to be and I do try to educate myself about issues of privilege, power, ignorance, and societally-created oppression. I know it’s not all roses and smiles and that wicked things have been done and that there is a lasting legacy for all of that
Anyway it seems black women’s voices have been heard about this and that is good. One question though– what does Rachel Dolezal think about all of this???!
lol jk 😉
Thank you for communicating with me about this and all comments
They are not white washed in the common meaning of the word but its clear that the company developed the self love ethos while servicing black women with unprocessed hair and now are very cynically using it in ads directed at white women who honestly do not struggle with the same hair politics as black women with unprocessed hair. Also, if this company does get a foothold in these other hair markets, you can be sure they will stop investing in their black naturals market. Its happened before with not just hair but skin care companies. Black unprocessed hair is unique in every way and there is already a dirth of companies investing in developing products for this markets. So much so that as Jinni points out below, there is a wide movement to just make your own products, which is what I do every weekend.
I am still lost with #whitewashing thing. I have to admit that the Hair products and almost everything is made for the “white women” or so they say. However, most, if not all hair products are damaging to everyone’s hair and this hair product works for everyone hair whether race or ethnicity. Shea Butter is good for everyone’s hair it is just that Black women need Shea Butter the most because of our scalps do not hold a lot of moisture in our scalps and our hair is curly to coarse. I would love to give you more detail about Black hair but another time. So this politically incorrect thing has to stop really….. and this is coming from a proud, black and beautiful woman who loves everyone on this beautiful planet of ours.
It just sucks that once again black women have been used to build a product but when they make it big we are put on the back burner. When Shea Moisture wasn’t big it was black women through word of mouth that put it on. There were no commercials for it when it blew up in the black natural hair community. But all of a sudden now that they are more established they want to be about everyone even though it was black women that got them where they are in the first place? I’m not saying they can’t reach out to other people just that they should respect the fan base that got them here. Plus, they actually change the formulas of the original products that worked well with 4a/b/c hair in order to sell to other hair types. Why they did not just make products that works for straighter or looser curls and leave the original stuff alone for their original fanbase just shows how much they do not care for the women that made them.
I’m not that surprised though. This always happens. It’s one of the reasons why I started making my own products so at least I know things will stay the way they need to be to work for my hair.
Also, they are ridiculous for trying to compare having short hair to becoming okay with one’s natural kinky or curly hair. White woman having short hair has been an acceptable fashion statement for decades and is not the same as having to learn to love and care for hair that even when it is done is still considered unkempt. That gets you seen as militant, wild, dirty, can get you overlooked for a job or penalized at your job for looking unprofessional. These issues are not on the same level.
Yes!
Exactly!
Do you have any recipes to share? I’ve been thinking about leaping to DIY because Shea Moisture have changed something and it’s started to dry my hair out and the other go-to brand I had, My Honey Child, is tricky to find where I am.
I have been experimenting with Tucuma butter lately. And you should experiment with different butters and oils too since what works for me may not work for you. For example so many swear by coconut oil but it just make my hair feel dry, so I don’t use it. If you need help starting out check pinterest, they have loads of recipes you can try out and tweak to fit your needs.
Here is my current recipe:
4 tbsp tucuma butter
1 tsp black cumin seed oil
1tsp pumpkin seed oil
3 drops sweet orange essential oil
2 drops lemon essential oil
This combo makes my hair feel soft and moisturized with a nice citrus scent. Black cumin seed oil promotes growth and pumpkin seed oil helps prevent hair loss.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, coconut oil was something I tried and it didn’t work all that well: it nearly scared me off from trying again, but my DIY faith was restored with a hot oil treatment using an olive heavy mix. Your recipe looks like a good place to start for a rookie like me. I’ve been browsing DIY recipes a lot more recently; It’s a real learning (and unlearning) curve. Once again, thanks for the reply. 🙂
Does Tucuma butter work for protein sensitive hair? I love trying new things but shea and coconut oils , aloe, olive oil etc do not work for me. I use argan oil for my fine fly away, tangley, wavy hair (not sure about hair classifications).
I love the idea of making your own hair products. The most I have done is mix up my own clay (it was a mess and didn’t work for my hair).
@Dottie: I could not find anything on the amount of protein in tucuma butter or if it was good for protein sensitive hair. Sorry.
+1, great points Jinni and so true.
I’ve been wearing my hair natural for years and was a faithful buyer of Shea hair products for my 4c hair type.
However last week I noticed after buying and opening their JBCO leave-in conditioner, which I’ve used and bought plenty times before at Target, the consistency of it looked and felt different – it had a lot more of a “soupy” texture to it than before. Of course, this new “mix” did absolutely nothing for my fro.
I compared the back label of the latest mix to an old one I had – sure enough, they changed the make up of it so the newer one had less JBCO – it no longer appears as one of the initial ingredients, which is what my hair loves. So disappointing.
So happy Rebecca Ferguson is back for MI6. She was balls out fantastic in Rogue Nation.
Are the ads in the video the same ads? I don’t get it, the ads looked fine to me. I didn’t know Shea Moisture was a brand primarily used by black women. Learn something new every day I guess!
Not surprised by Shea moisture. They’ve been heading that way for a long time now. I stopped buying from them when black women’s hair wasn’t good enough for them anymore. These brands always use and abuse, then move on 😏
Of course Tom wasn’t going to let Mr Beautiful aka Henry steal his movie. Tom is like the evil queen in snow white. He must be the fairest in the land so he has to make Henry’s face ‘ugly’ by having him wear a creepy uncle moustache 😄
I hear you! I still use their products because they really work for my hair but I am so disappointed by this commercial. I will start shopping for another natural line of hair products for Black hair. Problem is the ones I have tried in the past have only small amounts of the natural ingredients. And Shea Butter based ingredients in Caucasian hair products are very expensive plus they don’t have the other ingredients helpful in styling Black hair. *sigh*
Try Alikay Naturals, I’ve got their shea yogurt moisturizer and most (if not all) of the ingredients are natural.
Thanks for the recommendation @Ayra. I will try it.
Taliah Wajjid is still amazing to me. The detangler is heaven.
Creme of Nature’s Argan Buttermilk — you will not regret!
Honestly, I would have been fine if they had made a new line specifically for straight Caucasian hair, or hair with a slight wave, but they’ve decided to change their products’ composition, because from what I’ve heard, old favorites are now drying our hair. What works on straight hair will not work on kinky or curly, our hair needs more moisture than theirs.
But to exclude the ones who put you on? Cancelled, been cancelled for a minute, but definite cancel.
So are we just going to ignore Jesse Williams and Aryn filing for divorce?
or those Minka Kelly rumors.
Minka will sleep with anyone that gets her media coverage. She apparently wrecked Donald Faison’s marriage too so I guess being a homewrecker is her thing. Truly shameless.
I believe Donald Faison wrecked his marriage.
@Ange I believe Donald didn’t cheat with himself. It takes two to tango, ya know.
I was going to make a comment but I will bite my tongue. I will say I believe those Minka Kelly rumours. She is so messy.
Jesse is officially canceled to me. And if this divorce gets messie and if the rumors are true about him cheating, good by to Jesse on Greys. We all know Shonda Rimes does not do messy personal lives!! Columbus Short messy OUT . Patrick Dempsey messy OUT
Not saying she is right but that’s what she does.
I think he is quiet enough and his wife isn’t interested in the attention that it won’t get too messy. If he is messing with Minka though I’m sure she’ll do something subtle enough that he can’t get mad, but make it known they are together. I feel for his wife people are already trying to drag her for not being pretty/sexy enough to be his wife. Ugh.
But Patrick and his wife decided to stay together.. It so freaking sad for Aryn 🙁
I read that he requested that he not have to pay spousal support in the divorce petition.
I wish them well and no drama. I think that might be typical divorce lawyer move to give no spousal suppurt but he’s got 2 kids under 4. I guess he wants 50% custody and she can go back busting rocks for her half. Whatta asshole after she supported him during his struggling actor days. I have never been a big fan of his, but liked his “magical” speech.
I heard something different…apparently he is g@y and has a boyfriend. Not sure if he is going to come out or if his wife, now ex wife, knew about it. But the whole minka thing is basically a smokescreen.
I guess time will tell…or not.
Regarding the ads, maybe they are trying to branch out with their business so they can get some new customers. That is typically a smart business move.
I have used Shea on my biracial hair for years and it’s great. It’s true that the product was developed for black hair but I don’t understand why it is not okay for the company to also branch out to white women as well. Now that they have a successful brand, it seems like it makes sense for them to make products for other hair types as well.
It seems as if they’re changing the formula to work more on Caucasian hair so it won’t work the same on black hair anymore. (If I’m wrong someone please let me know.) It didn’t seem to me like they’re making another line for a different hair type (like most other companies have done). So basically, if you have black natural hair, and you’ve been using these products from this company they will no longer work as well. They’ve essentially pulled the rug out from under their main customer base.
An additional note, if they aren’t changing the formula, these products probably won’t work that well on Caucasian hair. I’m a black woman and I had natural hair as a child & I texturize (chemically straighten) my hair now. I wouldn’t give my white friends the shampoo I used on my hair in it’s natural state. It won’t work for them.
For example, my blond HR manager gave me a shea shampoo & conditioner set because she tried it and it didn’t work well for her hair at all. (Her hair is dry, but it’s fine and it doesn’t have a natural curl) As for me, it worked like a charm. So for this company to put a white woman in this commercial saying that yes this will work for her is stretching it.
OH that would be a terrible idea! I thought they were just creating new products for white hair in addition to the black hair products they already have.
Please don’t jump on me–I am asking this because I want to learn and clearly I do not know what I should about this and do not have the awareness that I should about this. And yes, I am a white woman. So school me, please, but maybe do it nicely? Because I really, actually want to be informed. And so here’s my question…
How is having a single white woman in the ad, out of the four women featured, whitewashing?
And again, I ask (humbly and genuinely) because clearly I do not know what I should know.
@themummy I am a black woman and I will gladly inform you on what’s going on. I think there’s is a problem with this ad because Shea Moisturizer was supposed to used for Black women only. Therefore, the company of Shea Moisturizer wants to branch off to new customers “white people” to buy their product, black women are mad because shea butter is used only for black natural hair and not white women hair.
In all honesty, I think this whitewashing thing is stupid because as I said in the post earlier that Shea butter can be used for everyone’s hair. Like for example, I am using Garnier Fructis with Shea Butter and it works very well on my hair and that is a product that the white women majority used. I am not putting down the black woman’s voice, and I understand what they are saying but all the company is doing at the end of the day is to make more sales for their products. They are not shunning the black people market.
It’s not really that, Kiki. It’s not even about Shea butter lol?
It’s more of the fact that in the original video that was posted on their facebook (which has now been deleted, this youtube video isn’t the original one, an fyi) there were 3 people: two white women: one with blond hair and one with red hair, and that mixed youtuber with the looser curl pattern. The issue was that the white women were used as examples for hair hate, which…sure, I get that it can and has happened.
But let’s be honest, black women with tight curls, type 4 hair are the ones going through it, the ones not being allowed to wear their hair out at their jobs, being called unprofessional, the ones who had to chemically “fix” and damage our hair to be considered acceptable. So when SM posted that video without the women who HONESTLY go through that, day by day.. yeah we’ll have an issue.
There’s also the fact that they’ve been consistently going downhill for years since they’ve sold their share, their products have changed to cater to straight and wavy hair, which like I said in a prior post, was a horrible idea. What they should have done was made a separate line for a certain hair type, because curly hair needs more oils and moisture, so someone with straight hair using a product specifically designed for curly hair WILL weight straight hair down and make it look greasy. Now in the opposite way, a product made for straight hair will very likely dry out and knot curly hair.
Their idea of being inclusive involved cutting out the MAIN supporters of their brand, the the ones who were their from the get go and campaigned for their products. Their social media stopped posting women with a certain hair type (which is 4c, I suggest googling what I mean if you don’t know) and promoted the looser ones, until they started promoting wavy hair. It’s not even about the white women being in the video.
If you take certain hair companies that originally catered to white women, you’ll notice that they haven’t changed their products (Pantene), what they did is they EXPANDED their range by adding a new line specifically for natural hair. Instead of making sales, Shea lost (the black natural hair business is large and generates a lot of revenue per year)
“Hair politics”. Really?
they were scolded for this same thing a couple of times over the last few years and as some have said, they have been changing some of their products.
TSK TSK.
my hair is a mess -dry, fragile, zero porosity, and doing its own thing in terms of texture. i wash it 5-7 days apart and wear it natural -no color or chemical treatments. i rarely use heat to style it. i used to swear by this brand for years and then last year noticed my hair was really drying out, had no shine, and the natural color was changing -they obviously made some tweaks that aren’t good for my hair. had to quit it after trying out their other lines and mixing them together and wasting my time and money.
SHAME!
as others have said, just come out with separate lines for different hair types. don’t go changing what worked for your core customers. there is a HUGE difference in hair types and their isn’t some magic creme for ultra dry, wiry, protein averse, low porosity hair that ain’t going to make a greasy mess of of 1a high porosity hair.
STOP it.
*gets on my knees and Thanks Brown Middle Eastern Sweet Jesus in Jammies that I was too Busy working to entertain Educating the ” I don’t Get It” “doesn’t Offend ME” “What if” crowd on Today… Especially when the Actual Black Women that Consume the product with great patience per Ush EXPLAINED WITH NUANCE WHY THE PEOPLE SNATCHED Shea Butter ( And their FB apology speaks to a Company that Knows They F*cked up) but ya’ll are full on TRAL LA LA LA I STILL DON”T UNDERSTAND WHATS THE PROBLEM LALALAL
I mean is it just me or did Original T.C. and a few others not explain it very thoroughly up above?? 🤷🏽♀️ One of those days where I’m glad I’m late reading the posts!
@QQ
I’m kicking myself for coming back to read the responses. I can literally feel my blood pressure rising and tears of frustration. So I’m just going to peace out and not return to this thread. To my fellow Black women: keep your heads up and stand strong with your beautiful natural hair gifted to you at birth.
Word. Thank you, dear sister.
Lol darling, I told you before to not overexert yourself with people DETERMINED to not see us or understand us … But Yes yes yes my love and full cosign on self love of our crowns, all the credit also to almondjoy for being the bestest hair coach ever too on thay note, I Love me that girl FIERCELY
THANK YOU!! !! Bless you QQ(&Almond Joy)
What the hell is wrong with you when you keep saying you don’t understand? READ THE COMMENTS. IT’S RIGHT THERE.
Honestly, is it trolling?
Thank you of course Original T.C. for your first comment. Beautifully put for anyone who didn’t realise this was an issue.
The Internet can be a marvelous tool for learning as well. Hopefully you’ve inspired some people to do some further reading.
You know exactly what it is , cookie! *mwah*
your hair is 2 inches long and looking like a bleached mess?
So if im understanding Correctly (and mind you other people ask me about this this calling to my attention posts im done with) this is by my count (let me know if is more youve been doing? ) the second post of mine you come thru to say you don’t like my hair something something my comments, so either you are pressed for my attention, or seeing as how you got the blessed option not to reply/see me/ the offensive hair! Im gonna guess is cause you DO SECRECTLY WANT IT? yes? no? idc (but candid to admins: why is this one allowed country still??)!
QQ – you are right on. A person’s hair is their signature… for a company to screw their largest consumer group is beyond absurd. I’d say make ’em pay by starting a petition against their action so that they go back to the ORIGINAL formula that worked for most. But that takes so. much. time. …while their loyal customers are forced to move on to find a replacement – what a hassle! I hate these companies who mess with a good thing. Why, why, Whyyyyyyy? Someone surely got fired over this.
Funny story, my friend took her 4c daughter on a shoot for Shea Moisture and the stylist had NO idea how to do the kid’s hair. My friend ended up doing her own kids hair on a PAID video shoot. So I’m not surprised at these shenanigans. Back to the kitchen laboratory, where Black Women have been fixing their hair since time immemorial.
When was this? A few weeks ago a few people had a similar experience with Carol’s Daughter and Shea as well.
What about variation? I come from a white, blue-eyed family with pale skin. I have dark, thick, COARSE/dry, curly hair (what a mouthful). My mom could never figure out what to do with my hair. It wasn’t until I had an African American woman do my hair that she questioned my ethnicity and told me that ‘white girls didn’t have hair like mine’. I started using mayonnaise with olive oil to hydrate (just like she suggested) and the shea moisture line. Am I going to be yelled at by the firing squad if I say it has become a cheap and crappy product? It’s super inexpensive at Walgreens and it dries the ever loving heck out of my hair. What happened? Also, am I just supposed to throw my hands up in the air because there’s variation within populations and I don’t have typical “white” hair? Unlike Rachel Dolezal, my hair is natural and I’m not claiming to be anything other than what I am. White girl with different hair.
This isn’t about not letting white women use the product, it’s about the utter insensitivity of the marketing.
In short–this isn’t about you, stop aching to b a victim.
I have been using Shea Moisture for 5 years. I discovered it on website called naturally curly hair. I love the fact they want to be inclusive, and here is a fact, many women with curly hair use products that dont have sulfates, which usually dry out the hair. I am a Latina and when I looked at the bottle it didn’t say I had to be of a certain color to buy it. It says what hair type.
I think this is a case of they just didn’t think this through all the way and the idea was to get more customers. I don’t think they were trying to be politically incorrect. Shea moisture has expanded their product line recently. I use the Shea Moisture High Porosity line and I’m white. It works great. I have really frizzy wavy 2B hair that hates polyquats and silicones. Perhaps they should have stuck to saying Shea Moisture is great for wavy and curly hair.
So I have a question,
My niece is 13. She lives with us part-time. We struggle with her hair. She is caucasian but half Sicilian and she has wiry, crispy, extremely curly hair. Some parts of it form the tight curls but other parts look electrocuted, as if she were shocked. It like does this small crimped thing looking like this –> ^^^^^^ <— it neither curls nor straightens. It just kind of puffs out.
We cannot figure out what to do. Would their products work to soften and help shape her hair? Her hair is neither soft like a black persons nor smooth like a white persons. It just feels like coarse wire.
She is becoming very self conscious now as She enters her pre-teen years and I just don't know how to help her and it breaks my heart to hear her cry about how she hates her hair.
Best Advice I can Ever give you is this: What you typed about her hair “crispy” “Electrocuted” “Shocked” “Coarse wire” … none of those terms are gonna help a young girl’s self confidence about her hair so maybe if nothing else Find other terms and model THAT for her across the board… And probably start reading about Co-washing/not washing her hair more than weekly and oiling her hair more
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Youngsters hang on to snippets of conversation they overhear, especially when they’re being described to others. It can stay with them forever, buried deep inside, after it has become the foundation on which they built their self-esteem.
I would NEVER say that to her. Ever. I’m just trying to describe it as best I can on here without the ability to post a picture. That’s what those parts look like. You know how in movies a person gets “shocked” and it sticks out. That’s exactly what it does.
She wants to iron her hair but I try to encourage her to show off her curls, because they really are her glory. It’s just those strange patches tho that neither curl nor straighten that we can’t figure out. They feel weird, Almost crunchy, sort of like a very thin electrical wire, yet they are crimped.
Not sure where you’re living but have you tried going to a Natural hair salon for more information at least? That might be helpful if you can find one in your area.
Good idea, I didn’t even know those existed. I will get on that asap.
What we currently do is just wash the roots once a week with shampoo and then condition the rest every other day. Then we put this solid olive oil mixture on it and let it air dry. I can’t help but think there is something better out there to help it retain the moisture at least.
Keep experimenting with natural products to find what works best for her hair. Read online of others’ experiences to get an idea what to use. It’s all out there.
White women- it’s not about you. So much centering.
“But I have curly hair and I use this line blah blah” Ok cool- no one is saying that you can’t. Nobody is gonna stop you from buying/using it.
“I don’t think it’s offensive/insensitive/it’s a good business move/whatever whatever justification because I personally am not affected by this therefore it should not be an issue.” Shhh. This conversation is not for you. This is not your lane. Your feelings and opinions just do not matter on this subject.
Several Black women have commented and been kind enough to patiently explain in great detail why this is a problem and that it hurts them, even though we have zero obligation to educate you and you STILL act like you don’t understand. That’s willful ignorance. Have a seat, stop talking, and LISTEN.
I’m white. I use it I love it. I also use it on my very white girl hair of my daughter bc kids stuff is loaded with gross chemicals. I have always shopped in the “non white girl” section bc of my hair texture. I’ve noticed it in a different aisle, however I thought it was placed in a different area bc of its natural ingredients and higher price point, along the shelf with other organic products. I’d love to hear how other non white girls feel about that. I’ve noticed carols daughter right along with it in the natural/organic aisle as well, which I use a lot of too. But I love Shea moisture. I do. They smell heavenly and their soap bars are amazing. I read all about their lovely ingredients but I’ll admit that’s about as far as I’ve gotten with the brand. Thanks for explaining its origins.