Dive Brief:
- Rihanna on Thursday launched Fenty Hair, the celebrated musician’s fourth beauty category since introducing Fenty Beauty in 2017.
- The brand, which launched on the Fenty Beauty website Thursday, is comprised of nine hair care and styling products built around the concept of repair, and infused with a proprietary solution called Replenicore-5, consisting of gooseberry, jackfruit extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, green tea extract and amino acids.
- At launch, Fenty Hair includes one shampoo, two conditioners, one damage repair treatment, four stylers and one edge styling tool. Individual products range from $18 to $36, with a maintenance crew bundle for $110.
Dive Insight:
Fenty Hair took four years to develop and was tested on over 400 people, per the singer’s Instagram account. Hair health was at the core of what Rihanna wished to bring to market and a diversity of products that would appeal to a wide range of consumers and hair types.
“Hair has always been very personal to me — my hairstyles have been markers of my evolution and growth over the years — so launching Fenty Hair was something I was really passionate about,” Rihanna said in a statement. “Creating products that were easy to use, no matter your hair type or texture, and that included repair in every step and could keep up with me, was crucial.”
According to a recent report by Circana, prestige hair care brands saw an increase of 14% in sales in 2023, with more than half of those sales coming online. Although prestige hair brands make up the smallest category of celebrity-backed beauty companies, sales in the category grew 64% year over year in the first quarter, per an email from Circana.
The launch of Fenty Hair follows three category debuts by the company starting with Fenty Beauty makeup in 2017. Three years later, Rihanna launched skin care under Fenty Skin and in 2021, introduced fragrances. Rihanna is not the first music superstar to launch a hair care brand this year. Beyoncé introduced Cécred in February.
As indicated in a JLL report last year, some 53% of all celebrity retail brands fall within the beauty category. In addition to Rihanna and Beyoncé, Jessica Alba built the Honest Co. brand and Selena Gomez created the Rare Beauty brand. And in the hair care space in particular, Jennifer Aniston runs the LolaVie brand and Tracee Ellis Ross operates the Pattern Beauty brand.
Fenty Beauty has expanded beyond its own website and sells through a variety of partners, including through the Ulta at Target shop-in-shops as part of a deal signed last September. Rihanna continues to expand her business empire which today encompasses both Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty. The celebrity stepped down from the CEO role at Savage X Fenty a year ago, but stayed on in a leadership role at the lingerie brand.
