"Conventional" Hair Care Sent Jessica Alba to the Hospital
Photo: Getty Images
The hair that grows out of our mortal heads is made of dead cells. But Jessica Alba’s hair is different. Hers is vital, aglow. I think it’s made of unicorn blood and diamond dust. I think it’s a national treasure. And thanks to 18 months of research, it can now be ours. Sort of.
Alba has just unveiled the Honest Company’s line of hair care, finally making her transcendent head of hair available online to consumers everywhere. The Beyond Hydrated collection targets normal to dry hair. The Truly Restored collection is made for dry and damaged hair. And the whole damn kit launched on Monday on Ulta.com and HonestBeauty.com. If you’ve ever been blinded by a photo of the ethereal actress slash entrepreneur, you know this is good news. I would like to take this moment to remember that time I saw Alba in the flesh, which happened exactly once.
We shared an elevator at the Trump SoHo Hotel several months before I would’ve had to have “mixed feelings” about it. Outside, at least a million people had amassed to wait for Kylie Jenner, who was supposedly due to check in soon. As we rode down to the lobby, Alba tended to her small children and had a whispered conversation with her husband. I tried to eavesdrop but couldn’t listen over the exclamations of her hair, which was screaming I’m perfect, I’m perfect, I’m perfect, I’m perfect! on an endless loop.
“It took about 18 months to develop,” Alba trills after a kindly PR person conferences her into my iPhone last week. No tricks, no potions, no turns of genetic fortune-she insists. Just a lot of trial and error!
Alba has wanted to delve into hair care for a while now because “it [feels] like a natural extension of the brand.” Which is true. It does. And unlike my split ends, the Honest Company is in a good position to grow. Forbes valued the company at $1.7 billion. It sells at Target and Costco. It sells out.
Besides, Alba continues while I Google “Jessica Alba fishtail braids,” she has a real stake in this mission. She didn’t just make these products for me or us. She made them for her. “I’m sensitive and get pretty bad allergies-allergic reactions to lots of different things,” Alba explains. “I had a pretty terrible reaction to some conventional hair care products, and I had to go to the emergency room.” Alba couldn’t see properly for almost a week. She was in severe pain. She needed a solution. The experience, she says, “just made it that much more important to offer women a clean, healthier alternative to what’s out there in the marketplace, but still give them the performance that they want out of their brands.”
So, she tinkered. She stressed the importance of a good “lather effect” to her chemists and sniffed around for a Goldilocks scent for the shampoo and conditioner-not too floral, not too musky. She approved the use of plant-based amino acids over the non-vegan alternatives that she found in most standard formulas. She’s pleased with the swap. It took “forever.”
Alba is more than the face-or hair-of this brand. She’s involved every step of the way. She makes the decisions. She’s the boss. And why not? Alba explains that she’s always been curious, that she loves the thrill of discovery, that this plot twist in her career is really not such a surprise to her or those who know her best.
“When I get passionate about something, I deep-dive into it,” she says. She made it her business to both master the market and “scour the earth” to find the people who could improve upon it. And when she did, she insisted that they push themselves to deliver “formulas that are very unique to us.”
“I realized you really have to be detail oriented and specific and know what you’re talking about if you want to [get a result],” Alba says. “That’s how you create something different and special.”
She’s particularly happy with the Honestly Effortless Sea Salt Spray, which I can attest is truly, honestly effortless. Alba promises that it isn’t sticky and “doesn’t leave that bizarre residue” that lesser sprays have been known to deposit. “It’s like my little secret,” she says.
