Beyoncé’s Hair Care Brand, Cécred, Is Finally Here
Beyoncé has been busy.
The winner of 32 Grammys, who dropped two new singles last week — and still had time to pop into a New York Fashion Week show — has finally brought her anticipated hair care brand, Cécred, to market.
More from WWD
“This brand dates all the way back to when our founder grew up in her mother’s hair salon,” said Grace Ray, the brand’s chief executive officer, in an exclusive interview with WWD, referring to the Houston-based business Tina Knowles operated when Beyoncé was a girl.
“She saw her mother not just have healing hands that transformed the people who came through, or that their hair was transformed, but that their souls were lifted,” Ray continued. “That sacred moment was where the genesis began.”
Hence the name, Cécred, a nod to “the relationship we have with our hair, and the journeys we have individually through our lives with our hair,” Ray said.
The brand has several key pillars, including that the products draw inspiration from ancient beauty rituals “that have existed over generations,” Ray said. Cécred also features patent-pending technologies, like its proprietary Bioactive Keratin Ferment, which is a patent-pending, biomimetic keratin that’s been fermented and mixed with honey.
“If you think about all of the global rituals that exist across the world, that’s a wisdom that can never be replaced,” Ray said. “We mix that wisdom with high-tech science, because this brand stands for that combination of honoring the past and the future.”
Cécred is launching with a range called The Foundation collection, which includes shampoos and conditioners, a treatment mask, a hair oil and a two-step treatment ritual. Prices range from $20 to $52, and they launched on the brand’s website, cecred.com, Tuesday.
“We’re focused on visible hair health and creating a healthy foundation with this collection,” Ray said. “We started with products that clarify hair and scalp, a nourishing shampoo, and then some powerful treatments that are going to be the hero products.”
Those include a reconstructing treatment mask, in addition to a fermented rice water treatment “that doesn’t exist right now on the market,” Ray said. The latter is a fermented rice protein powder, combined with antioxidants, green tea and biotin. “All you have to do is pour it in water for an instant treatment.
“We see three times reduction in breakage and better length retention, because there’s no shedding. This category doesn’t exist yet,” Ray continued.
There’s also a hair oil, which Ray likened to “liquid gold.”
“All of our products are silicone-free, we’re not putting a cosmetic sheen on the hair,” she said. “We’re depositing real results.”
Getting the products’ performance right, Ray said, was the first step as Beyoncé and the team were ideating Cécred’s debut on the market.
“From a launch standpoint, the focus was on product performance and making sure that our products deliver transformative results,” Ray said. “These products have gone through multiple testing avenues, such as blind consumer testing, clinical testing and lab testing.”
The products work on all hair types, and one of the challenges was finding inclusive labs to test with. “We were intentional about only going with global labs — labs in different countries and continents — to make sure we had truly [testing] inclusive panels,” Ray said.
Inclusivity is a key tenet of the brand, Ray said, as part of Beyoncé’s mandate. “She has been very involved from the inception. This is her baby, and we’re all just walking in her vision of what we can do in hair care,” Ray said. “She was very intentional in amassing a diverse team that was highly passionate about our mission and our narrative, and create an inclusive brand.”
Ray, who has also previously served as CEO of Milani and Living Proof, said her priorities are “to drive a tremendous amount of awareness and trial. I’m convinced that when someone tries the product, they will convert and be loyal. We’re also building a pipeline of products that live up to the standard we’ve set, which is no shortcuts.”
Cécred has also set up a philanthropic arm. In partnership with BeyGood, Beyoncé’s public charity foundation, the brand will disseminate $500,000 in small business grants and cosmetology school scholarships.
“It’s important to our founder and our vice chairwoman [Tina Knowles] because of the deep heritage in the salon community. Entrepreneurship and continued education are two ways we can continue to uplift that group.” Ray said.
The resources are focused on New Jersey, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston and Chicago. “Our fund will also provide additional business services for them after they’ve received their grants.”
Beyoncé Debuts Hair Care Line Cécred’s Foundation Collection Campaign Photos: A Closer Look
Launch Gallery: Beyoncé Debuts Hair Care Line Cécred's Foundation Collection Campaign Photos: A Closer Look
Best of WWD
Solve the daily Crossword
