recently i was invited to be part of a pr event to preview and review a new hair product that will be available to the masses by december. i loved the product because the price point is on point and the ingredients in some of the products were premium for a mass produced, soon to-be-found in beauty supply stores hair product. i’m talking first five ingredients being olive oil, shea butter and other premium, naturally found products.
all in all i loved the product line but had a concern about the name, or actually the subtitle descriptor found under the name; a descriptor that included “mixed.” now, don’t get me wrong, i know that some people live and die by the label of “mixed” when describing hair – even though in my opinion there is no such thing as mixed hair – but i found that when reading mixed or any kind of racial descriptions on the hair products during this pr event really made an eyebrow or two in the room rise.
the first thing i though was, “well, is this product for me or for ‘mixed girls’?” it threw me a bit because the name also included kinky so i was not sure where i stood with this brand. i raised this point to the company representative and she broke down the reason the descriptor “mixed” was included. i still didn’t agree, however, i’ve found since testing them out that the products work well and i just happen to know why “mixed” was included in the name versus those who just buy the product without a pr event attached.
i had this same eyebrow raising hesitation happened to me when i first encountered mixed chicks products. i thought, in a very satirical way of course, “oh okay, this is for women who have one parent that is ‘other’ whatever ‘other’ may be. it’s not for women like me who understand themselves to be natural with curly hair less their racial make up. both of my parents are black, with my dad having other in him, but i’m still black, so i guess that means i’m as*ed out and can’t use this.”
i’ve tried mixed chicks and found that i like the deep conditioner but i’ve always found the product name to be a bit off putting. i tried it because in the end, “mixed” hair is just a fancy, racially-based way to say curly hair and well, i technically have curly hair too. since i know that a curl, is a curl is a curl and the only thing that matters in the end are things like porosity and whether one has fine or thin hair, etc., i can see past the name. and less the name, mixed chicks seems to be obviously targeting via marketing for any woman with curly hair, not just those who have an ‘other’ parent. so i wonder, what does race or lack thereof have to do with curl pattern? where is the connect here?
companies can choose to name their products anything they want, but i sometimes ponder what the lay person – the people that they target (you and i) – think of the name of products that on the surface, immediately isolates groups of people. hmmm, do you think paul mitchell or giovanni ever though to put – “white people’s conditioner” on any of their hair products? i wouldn’t want to think that isolation would be any brand’s intent, however, i could be wrong. things that make you go hmmm…
what say you? do the name of products turn you off? do you think race and hair go hand in hand and there is such a thing as “mixed hair”? how do you think race and hair texture should play – if at all – into hair product marketing and branding?
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I did feel the same way when I first heard of the product. I assumed it was for a certain texture of hair, which I do not have. I have never used the product for this reason. I have very tight coils so if it works best for wavy hair or loose curls I assumed there was nothing that I could do with the product line.
What’s In A Name: The Connection between Hair and Melanin
The connection between the name and the product itself or should I say the chemistry of the product lies in the consumers melanin quantity and or genetics. Dark and really kinky hair contains more melanin and may also contain a different kind of melanin eumelanin vs the pheomalinin genotype of a fair skinned or white person with straight hair. This product may have ingredients or molecules that interact in a different manner with the sulfur bonds of loose or straighter hair molecules. Melanin quantity and genetics have a lot to do with hair and everything else because in really dark skinned people melanin interacts with just about every cell in their body and some products that are for say caucasian and other ethnicities can sometimes break down melanin. Anything that affects the amino acid Tyrosine will effect melanin and anything that affects melatonin may melanin. For example some products boasts antioxidant activity as a benefit but not all antioxidants are good for dark dark skinned some antioxidants when ingested deplete melanin causing skin bleaching. One such antioxidant is used in China to internally deplete melanin and whiten the skin, thus giving the user a more fair and lighter skin, considered the ideal of beauty.
Now that is giving the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt that the name on his product has a purely scientifical basis.
It is a fact that every company invests a good chunk of money on brand and Mixed Chiks is a “brand” . No company will slap on a name on their product that will not help them sell that product. This means they possibly did some market research before they slapped that moniker on there. However this manufacturer may be using one of those run of the mill chemical formulas that was once patented by CO’s such as Pantene or Vidal Sassoon and they slap on a catchy name like Mixed Chicks because their Marketing research shows them that most youth and popular culture have a penchant towards racial ambiguity and anything that is not dark dark skinned black meaning contains a lesser degree of melanin, which also means less kinky hair and looser curls. THat is the connection. Currently just look at TV Commercials and magazines, they all reflect this penchant, the entertainment industry reflects this as well, rap lyrics reflect this….etc. etc. etc. THey know that racial ambiguity or to look “mixed” is popular right now and that will sell their products. Whatever their logic or their reasoning, You can’t hate on a product because it is not for you. If you feel you fall in that category of having loose curls and less melanin than that product may be for you.
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