Tracee Ellis Ross Curly Hair Line

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The African-American actress, producer, and activist known for her starring role in the popular television series Black-ish (ABC) has become a symbol of the movement that celebrates natural hair and now debuts as a beauty businesswoman with the launch of her new line of curly hair products.

How did the idea of creating your own products for curly hair come about?

I made my first proposal in 2008. It has taken me ten years to launch it because the person I showed them to at the time doubted my credibility for being an actress. I remember saying something that is true even now and that is what I have based my brand on, and that is that most people with curly, kinky or afro hair become our own hair experts because we have lived in a world where The beauty industry has not supported or celebrated us and there have not been enough products that we could use to hydrate it. We have become our own bathroom experts and I had a lot of information that I wanted to share.

What has changed today?

I learned a lot. Although I had thought of these products for myself, I discovered that I was not the only one who needed them. It was a whole community. The industry has awakened and realized the importance, beauty and power of this community, and what we need. Our beauty has always been there. It is now that the world begins to understand it.

African-Americans, like Latinas, have a special relationship with their hair. How was yours

I had a wonderful relationship with my hair as a child. My mom [Diana Ross] and my family celebrated my hair as it came out of my head! At the age of 11 or 12 I began to see myself within the context of the world around me, in the press, entertainment, the girls at my school and the idea that my hair was not as it should be to look beautiful forced me to have a conflicting relationship with him. I did everything that curly-haired people used to do. Go to the salon, chemically smooth it, always take it back. It was after the tenth grade that I stopped smoothing it and began to understand, accept and love my hair. But I didn't let anyone touch me because stylists, even colored ones, only knew how to do what society dictated.

Tell us how is your beauty routine in general?

It is based on the sacred relationship I have with myself and on what I eat. I don't drink coffee, I drink liters of water, I sleep and laugh as much as I can. These are the best beauty tips in the world. I try not to consume sugar because that changes my skin. I love to hydrate it. I don't wear a lot of makeup since I like how my face and skin look when they are natural. Even for rugs and photo shoots I don't wear makeup. I prefer to hydrate my skin well with wonderful products, put on an illuminator with two drops of oil. Tarte has an amazing brow primer that is called the Opening Act and Benefit makes a mascara that is called They're Real that I adore. I like to make natural eyebrows, that it looks like my hair. It fascinates me when my freckles are noticed and my lips are painted.

Natural is clearly yours …

I really like how people look natural. Sometimes I see these makeup videos in which the person looks beautiful at the beginning and when the video ends one wonders who he is. Makeup is an artistic expression, but in my personal aesthetics you can't see more beautiful than when you get up in the morning or smile.

You are one of the most talked about artists on the red carpet. How do you choose what you wear?

I change a lot, but what defines my style is that it is cheerful, elegant and powerful. For the red carpet I choose what makes me happy and it has nothing to do with other people. It has taken me many years to be in a position where I can put on the clothes I've always dreamed of. So if there is something that is bright and cheerful, I wear it.

Your mom is a world icon. What style lessons did you learn from it?

I call it "an international treasure". To be honest with who you are. My mom is one of the most glamorous and elegant women I know, so I think I have inherited [that taste]. Dressing according to the occasion too … and being sexy has to do with mystery and not with showing everything.