JLaw joins the circus
– 3 min read
Earlier this month, Lainey clocked the Jennifer Lawrence haircare line, pointing to her Instagram carousel and bio change to mes° beauty (that styling is going to give me so much trouble). Now it’s officially here, launching with a new profile in The Cut.
Great choice for media – not strictly beauty-related but a woman-heavy urban audience in the 35+ age range. The profile is quite good because it doesn’t shy away from the fact that Jennifer Lawrence is an Oscar-winning actress who doesn’t need a haircare line. It doesn’t shy away from the fact that this is all a little embarrassing for her and for us.
Instead of relying on quippy sarcasm (which she does pretty well in interviews), at points she earnestly talks about how this is another creative path for her. Combined with the strong science behind it (she co-founded the line with MIT grad Jasmina Aganovic after Jennifer watched her TED Talk), there’s definitely her personal stamp with the expertise to execute the vision.
Jennifer talks extensively about what she wanted out of the brand: haircare that doesn’t require tools, looks nice in a bathroom, and has unique formulations (like a hair mask that goes on dry hair, which Aganovic notes is trickier and more expensive to produce). The initial launch is an Off-Duty Styling Serum, Multitask Repair Mask and Good Roots Volume Mist, the most expensive product is the repair mask at $52USD. Pricier than drugstore but not outrageous if you’ve fallen into the upscale hair care trap, which I have. I am begrudgingly loyal to Kérastase, including the Nutritive 8H Magic Serum and the Genesis Strengthening Serum, both are “don’t piss me off right now” expensive and unfortunately very effective.
Kérastase, Kevin Murphy, Oribe, L’Oreal’s professional line, Redken – these are all mes° competitors. Beauty is a very, very tough market but as I wrote yesterday in Celebrity Social Media, Beyonce’s Cécred has cracked it with the Hair Density Serum; Hailey did it with Rhode; and Selena with Rare Beauty; and Rihanna with Fenty Beauty; and Tracee Ellis Ross with Pattern. And before that, there was Jennifer Aniston, who was heavily involved in Living Proof and now has LolaVie.
But for every runaway success there are the so-so offerings (Goop’s haircare line) and Blake Brown Beauty (which hasn’t recovered from… everything). The money trail is specifically addressed in The Cut interview and this is where Jennifer Lawrence kind of loses me: she claims that she isn’t doing this to get rich (which I believe, these companies actually require a lot of time and money upfront), but when asked if the company has investors, she claims she doesn’t know. She says she doesn’t know how much the brand needs to sell to be successful. She calls herself “dumb” and, as the writer notes, “the shtick isn’t working so well this time.” Her friend and La Ligne founder Morgan Howard spoke on Jennifer’s business acumen, saying this line could be as big as Rhode and reveals that Jennifer leans into the details, like “learning about EBITA to testing a bottle’s seal.”
Having a friend do that part for her seems like an unnecessary misdirection. It’s also hard not to have Tina Fey ringing in our ears. Does “I have a problem with rich people having a side hustle” apply here? I mean, yes. Every celebrity will tell you that their specific business is absolutely not a side hustle, it’s an extension of their art. Consumers don’t buy it most of the time, especially beauty consumers. People are skeptical around the hype of celebrity brands, they are over the marketing, they are over the perceived greed of people who have so much and seemingly want more, they are over being told that professionally styled hair and cosmetically enhanced faces can be achieved through surface-level products.
At another point in the interview, Jennifer is taken aback when the reporter asks if she’s nervous about the pressure of having aspirational hair and Jennifer says she never considered that. You are launching a haircare line and never considered how people would look at your hair? Come on now. To quote a Housewife (which Jennifer would appreciate), you can’t play stupid and smart at the same time. Clearly, she is very smart and very self-aware. She calls herself “dumb” because she knows she isn’t.
mes° isn't available in Canada, but if it were, I would try the mist. She really does have great hair and that’s enough for a curiosity purchase. One purchase, as a test. Like any other line, mes° has to prove to a very discerning customer base that it’s worth coming back to.
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