Taraji P. Henson loves being the founder of a Black beauty brand
Taraji P. Henson wants to see all black women win in beauty.
The 53-year-old actress, who launched her hair care line, TPH by Taraji, in 2020, is not intimidated by the increasing number of well-known beauty brands on the market. “I’m never surprised when someone says, ‘A black person invented that,’” Henson said The Los Angeles Times in a profile dated Thursday, November 2. “Nobody cared about our hair but us, and now all of a sudden you got all these big brands, now they’ve become natural [hair] commercials.”
Next to Henson’s there is TPH Tracee Ellis Ross‘ Cartridge, Gabriel Union‘s Spotless and Tia Mowry‘s4U. Issa Rae is co-owner of Sienna Naturals and Mielle Organics – founded by Monique Rodriguez – went viral earlier this year thanks to TikToker Alex Earle. Beyoncemeanwhile, announced plans to launch her own hair care line earlier this year.
Henson told the Times that it’s “gratifying” to see the success of so many Black beauty brands in real time because it validates the “deep economic” purchasing power “we have as Black women.” Henson continued, “If there is room for the existence of L’Oréal, Maybelline and CoverGirl, why can’t we all coexist?”
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“I love it when I see videos, and they’ll have my products, they’ll have Mielle, they’ll have Pattern, they’ll have Carol’s daughter, and Miss Jessie’s,” she added. “I think it’s great to see because there’s room for all of us.”
Henson’s path to becoming a beauty entrepreneur came after years of having a complicated relationship with her hair. She relaxed her hair until she was 30 because she thought her natural texture was “unmanageable.”
“I’ll never forget having to do my own hair for the first time,” Henson told the Times. “I stood in the mirror and I cried. I had put the brush and comb in my hair.”
It wasn’t until she met a hairstylist who gave her the right products and tools to care for her crown that she realized she had been wrong all along. Although she grew to love her mane more and more over time, Henson still noticed that she had trouble cleaning her scalp.
“I understood from a very young age that your scalp is your foundation,” she told the publication. “It has to be healthy for your hair to grow. But now that I have this tissue and all this, how do I clean my scalp? So that was a real problem for me that I had to find a solution for.”
She added: “I never saw myself starting a hair care line. It was literally out of necessity.”
Some of Henson’s most beloved products from her line include the Master Cleanse scalp washthe Never Salty Sugar-Based Scalp Scrub and the Mint Condition Tintling Scalp Conditioner.
In a tutorial shared via the TPH by Taraji website, the actress demonstrates how to use Master Cleanse, which aims to “dissolve scalp buildup and provide a clean, balanced environment for healthier, natural hair. ”
“This will be a heavenly feeling for you,” Henson said as she massaged the product around the crown of her head.