We’ve come a long way from when the dominant narrative surrounding natural hair textures on Black women were deemed unprofessional and unattractive. In the last 12 years, we’ve experienced a boom in the natural hair movement, with more products targetting textured hair being made available to meet the growing haircare demands. Black women are taking control of their hair and dispelling harmful myths about our hair being ‘difficult to maintain’.
One of the platforms committed to leading the charge is FRO Beauty – a beauty community that seeks to redefine textured hair for its Gen Z audience. By democratizing information about the science behind hair care and demystifying product formulation, they hope to foster a space for honest and fun conversations about hair.
We sat down with the founder of FRO Beauty, Zainab Sanusi, to speak about everything from the products she’s currently loving to how impactful social media has been to the growth of the natural hair community.
The natural hair movement has gained traction over the last few years, with more women embracing their natural hair textures and being more invested in their haircare routines. What do you feel is responsible for that shift?
I think people just got fed up with the upkeep and pain that often went hand-in-hand with getting one’s hair relaxed and so as a community we all began to question why it was a practice we continued for so many generations. Secondly, Youtube in conjunction with the rise of social media. For the first time, information and resources on how to care about one’s hair was easily available. I think it empowered people in a way that our mothers and stylists in our proximity couldn’t because they were used to dealing with relaxed/permed hair.
When the natural hair movement really started to gain traction in 2007/2008 everyone looked to social media for guidance and the effect just continued to multiply. Seeing more people with their hair in its natural state made others feel more comfortable to do the same.
Often younger generations tend to want to go against the status quo and I’d like to think wearing our natural hair (although it shouldn’t be) is almost always inherently a political statement.
Can you walk us through your personal hair care journey?
So I’m actually relatively new to this ‘natural’ scene – I have only been natural for 4 years. And I pretty much had to restart like 8 months in because I hadn’t properly cut off my dead ends which led to excessive tangling and breaking. I think I did it out of pure interest. I’m very much a social media/ internet kid and I kept seeing all this natural hair content on youtube. This coupled with my love for beauty, I thought it would be fun to go natural.
Before this I was VERY much a relaxed girl – I was also relaxing my hair from I think as early as when I was 2 or 3 years old. However, the one thing I will add is that hair care is probably the one thing my mum and I have in common. Going to the salon and having someone wash my hair and then braid it for school was a huge part of my weekly routine. So both relaxed and natural caring for my hair is something that was instilled in me from a young age. When I went natural, having to keep up a routine was not a foreign concept.
However, because I was looking at the school of Youtube, the routine recommendations were simply out of hand. I was very overwhelmed and confused for the first 1-2 years. I didn’t have 4 hours to spend washing and styling my hair and I’m actually pretty poor at styling mainly because I can’t braid very well. I was doing everything and my hair was still dry and not growing as fast as I wanted it to. I started to think there must be something simpler and more logical out there.
I came across a hair coach/ trichologist on Instagram who was having amazing results with her clients. It took me 8 months to get an appointment with her but when I did it changed everything mentally but more so physically with my hair.
There’s a science to hair, in the same way, there is to skin. From that, I just started to read research papers, textbooks, articles and follow stylists on Instagram which is how I got to where I am now. Not saying I’m a trained expert but I’m a very well-informed consumer and now on a mission to democratize all the knowledge I have!
There’s a lot of information available now about the best tricks and tips to use to achieve healthy hair. Unfortunately, not everything is helpful, with some doing more harm than good. Can you tell us about the ‘wildest’ hair care myth you think exists?
Probably the idea that such a thing as a magical growth oil exists. There is little to no research substantiating most of these elixirs or herbs people claim to work ‘wonders’ and none of the cosmetic chemists I have spoken to or read their work think such herbs really exist.
A person’s ability to grow long hair is largely contingent on our genetics which determines one’s ability to remain in the anagen (i.e. growing) phase of the hair growth cycle. Of course, genetics isn’t the be-all-end-all, good routine, techniques and practice can optimize genetics if you care enough. Emphasis on the if.
In theory, the only topical things that would work are products that can stimulate blood circulation which would promote growth by this explanation but it is a complicated science. People can’t just mix jojoba oil, rosemary oil and thyme oil and say hair will grow. You’re better off saving your money and just giving yourself frequent scalp massages to stimulate blood circulation.
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One common myth that exists is that Black hair is complicated and high-maintenance. Why do you think this narrative has existed for so long and what is FRO Beauty’s response to this harmful messaging?
For most of the natural hair movement, there really wasn’t a playbook for both consumers and professionals/stylists – almost every stylist has their own school of thought that they swear is the only way for the best results. I think as a result it’s unclear what is right and what works which led to some unnecessary confusion.
The thing is, textured hair isn’t hard at all, but you 100% need to understand how to handle using the right technique and supplement this with the right products, otherwise the whole situation will be a disaster.
FRO’s Beauty response to this is to lead with science – it was important to me that we had a cosmetic scientist on our team and we will eventually test our samples across a variety of hair types and textures. This is one of the main reasons why we are a community first company, I really want to speak directly to the end consumer, understand his or her or their problems and directly address them. Through our platform, people can learn and be equipped with the knowledge they need to confidently style their hair.
Let’s talk products! Can you tell us about the one hair product that you’re currently loving and why?
It’s the Doux’s Mousse Def. This is easily THE most versatile product; I can use it for wash and go’s, twist outs, slicking down flyaways etc. In general, I don’t think mousses are very popular in the textured hair community but professional hairstylists love it. It’s one of those if you know, you know. I think the reason why this mousse in particular is a game-changer is because it’s not as drying as traditional mousses so it works very well on textured hair. Another OG for me is the Joico Extreme Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm – this conditioner is unmatched, leaves your hair feeling and well-conditioned. The tea on the product is that it is formulated with silicones but I don’t have enough time to go into that myth in this article lol.
And what was your most recent hair product buy?
For the sake of honesty, I recently bought the conditioner by Bread Beauty Supply and on a scale of 1 to 10 I would probably give it a solid 4 or 5. I was very excited about the brand because it is founded by a Black woman and the story behind it is very inspiring but it didn’t do what it was supposed to be doing. It wasn’t horrible but I think when you’ve used products with superior conditioning agents it is difficult to move backwards.
What’s one product that’ll remain a staple in your hair care routine ‘til you’re 90?
Hmm, not sure I have any, even most of the products I’ve mentioned now, they’re great but I could think of one or two ways to improve them. I think this is mainly because for so long the baseline in the textured hair market wasn’t driven by science. Most of the products I’m most impressed by these days are almost always professional-grade and marketed for ‘extremely damaged’ straight hair which is clearly problematic. But it adds to the market case for FRO. that there is a clearly identifiable gap.
One step you think is completely unnecessary in a hair care routine. Be honest…
I think some people don’t understand that conditioners and deep conditioners are essentially in the same category of product. They’re supposed to be doing the same thing when you wash your hair, which is to temporarily fill the gaps in the cuticle to give a smoother surface which provides slip, moisture retention amongst other benefits. I’ve met some people who do both which is completely unnecessary. I think the word ‘deep’ is really a marketing/ consumer term to help distinguish between products that have regular conditioning agents and superior conditioning agents. Where people who don’t have textured hair can get away with using ‘conditioners’ and ‘deep conditioners’ once in a while as an intensive moisture treatment, people with textured hair need that extra slip that deep conditioners give every wash day.
Talk to us about your go-to hairstyle? What do you love about it?
Not sure, I have one actually! I love to play around with my hair, it’s all part of the fun. But if I am very busy and want to wash, condition, and style my hair in 40 mins or less depending on how efficient I am, I’ll probably do 2/ 4 jumbo flat twists. It is not the cutest hairstyle but it is fast. If I need to look cute with minimal effort I’ll maybe do smaller flat twists and just throw a wig on.
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And lastly, where do you hope to see FRO Beauty be in the next 5 years?
I have huge aspirations for FRO Beauty! I want to bring textured hair into the modern beauty age and to execute this vision well, we have decided to go down that capital raising route. So I’m going to begin actively pitching my idea to early-stage venture capital companies and angel investors from August/September this year.
There are numerous product streams that FRO could go down, I’m not fully clear what will come out first or which will excite people most but this brand is going to be from us to us. I’m spending the next few months doing the market research and honing in on my target demographic in a way that I think no textured hair care brand has done before. Most brands release products then work towards gaining traction. I don’t think this order works for everyone or even the decision to raise capital as VCs and Angels have very stringent ROI requirements but I’ve done my homework.
In terms of the closest thing to what I want to do, I’d say you can think of FRO as the Glossier of hair care! Sorry about the seemingly vague answer on what is next but I’m literally figuring that out!
