The Blake Brown Lively Hair Project

As Maria mentioned in Celebrity Social Media yesterday, Blake Lively has been teasing a haircare line. And now it’s official – Blake Brown Beauty will be available at Target starting this weekend and online next week. 

And the big promotional push launched today on social media and legacy media. 

The price point isn’t scary. And by not scary I mean it’s definitely more expensive than drugstore shampoo but it isn’t totally f-cked either. There are eight products in the line (so far) and none is over US$20. This, by today’s standards, isn’t exorbitant. One of the shampoos is 414ml and $18.99. Like I said, certainly MORE expensive than drugstore but the presumption is that it’s also better quality. At least that’s what she’s promising. 

Blake is entering a crowded marketplace. So many celebrities have their own haircare lines, from Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow to Taraji P Henson and Tracee Ellis Ross to, more recently, Beyoncé and Rihanna. She says she spent six years developing it and is bringing 20 years of experience from her time on set. And in an exclusive interview with Vogue about her haircare philosophy, she’s sharing a “secret” about her regimen: she doesn’t use conditioner. 

Which…if you read on, it’s not that she just uses shampoo and calls it a day, it’s that she doesn’t use regular conditioner but she does use a hair mask, aka mega enriched conditioner, every single day, or with every wash. 

So who is this for? 

Blake Lively is a style and beauty icon for a certain demographic. There are a lot of people out there who consider her to be a Met Gala icon. After Rihanna and Zendaya, on social media every year at the Met Gala, a lot of people start trending Blake’s name when she shows up and when she doesn’t show up. I personally don’t connect with Blake that way, but a lot of women do of a certain generation, I think of it as the younger sister generation of Jennifer Aniston fans. The ones who were teenagers when Gossip Girl came out. In their 20s to mid-30s, maybe up to 40. Of a certain hair type. But probably not ALL hair types? 

And she doesn’t lean on this, not the way Rihanna did a few weeks ago when she launched Fenty Hair. I’m not sure it would make sense for Blake Lively to be going in that direction either. So Blake Brown’s comparables are Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie and Goopglow, both of which appeal to a specific consumer. And against those two brands, Blake’s is more affordable. 

She’s setting hers apart though with the packaging. The vibe of LolaVie and Goopglow is clean, spare, “quiet luxury” energy. Blake’s bringing metallic and moody to Blake Brown. We think of her as a blonde, but the colour palette of Blake Brown is closer to tawny. Styled with a leather jacket. Interesting aesthetic choice,  I don’t know if I’m feeling it. But I also wonder how this expands, because the line is called Blake Brown BEAUTY, not just “hair”, so there may be other products to follow, like skincare and makeup. And, indeed, the packaging does seem more suited to those lines? 

As for the timing of the launch? She’s about to go on the It Ends With Us press tour, so she and her hair will be everywhere promoting the movie, built-in visibility, paid for (at least in part) by the studio. Maria sent me an email anticipating a Vogue cover possibility. They already got an exclusive interview with her published today that I just linked to. Will she be the September issue? 

Will you be trying Blake Brown? Let us know what you think at The Squawk. (app link here)