PicoBlog

In its own peculiar way, TikTok has become an outlet for social commentary, a modern-day news channel, if you will and while it may be difficult to keep up with social media squabbles, there are certainly some that are worth following up on.

If you’re on TikTok, you’ve certainly heard of the Mielle Rosemary Mint oil, the hashtag has over 1.5 million views and Google searches have tripled in the last year. So what’s the hype? The Mielle Rosemary Mint Oil has been hailed the it oil for hair growth, from thousands if not millions of videos professing the miraculous hair growth experienced with the use of the Mielle oil.

Let’s get a little background on Mielle. Originally founded by Monique Rodriguez, for textured hair due to the lack of products available. For Black women, not being able to get hold of products for our hair type is never as easy as popping down to your local drugstore (things have certainly come far) is nothing new. From having to travel into town or seek out independent online stores to find haircare products that work for our hair is a sad norm. Yes, the haircare aisles, may be saturated with hair products, but Black hair has different needs and the average haircare product is developed for finer, straighter hair, you see the issue. So it’s fallen upon Black founders to fill the gap and develop formulas that actually cater to those specific needs.

So what’s the issue? Let’s get into it, popular TikTok influencer Alix featured the Mielle Rosemary Mint oil as one of her top Amazon purchases of the year to her following, which is currently over 3 million followers and set into motion a tornado effect into viraldom. The product was flying off the shelves at an even faster speed, leaving the product unavailable for the women it was intended for.

This new fame caused a stir of concern among its loyal Black consumers. You see, there has been a pattern of smaller Black brands coming into viraldom and acquiring new wider consumers, which is incredible because it means that Black haircare products become more readily available and slowly but surely line the haircare aisles of your local drugstores however, it doesn’t always pan out that way. As the consumers become wider and larger, there is a need for the brand to cater to this new audience, and this involves changing formulas to ensure that the products are meeting new requirements. And yes this means leaving behind the old consumers, aka the Black consumers - high and dry.

This has resulted in many Black women taking to TikTok to express their frustrations, from explaining what is happening. While it would be easy to dismiss this discourse as Black women being angry (Black angry woman trope) or what’s the deal it’s just hair, isn’t it time we actually listened?

Professor of linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University Uju Anya spoke out about it on Twitter, she tweeted that Black women had legitimate reasons to be gatekeeping and to be worried when in the past brands like Shea Moisture have changed their formulation to cater for a new wider audience. This new age colonisation of products is bigger than just haircare products, it’s sending a message that Black consumers are not the end goal and in many ways perpetuating the idea of white superiority. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen the rise in the curly hair method, fronted by white women, and while it’s amazing that white women are embracing their curls, it comes at a cost to women with tighter curls, increase in costs and changes to formulas to suit a new texture of hair. It’s frustrating because, while on the surface level, this is a positive change, but the natural hair movement was a way for Black women to embrace and celebrate their natural hair, and what for centuries has been branded as cute ringlets have always been cute, to come in and takeover seems jarring” Olivia J tells me.

“I’m frustrated with constantly having to change up my routine because a product becomes popular, it’s like Black women are always left behind,” says Natasha. “It’s left me no choice but to gatekeep, which is frustrating because I want to see Black hair brands do well and on the aisles of major beauty stores but not when it comes at a cost to me, well” explains Ola.

Even more frustrating is when consumers with the “unintended” hair texture, take to social media to complain about the products. While the positive outweighs the negative, the oils haven’t had the desired effect in individuals with straighter and finer hair, with several complaints of shredding and hair loss. This is detrimental to the Black haircare market, this acts as a barrier and keeps Black haircare out of reach, as it sets off alarm bells for stockists.

The founder of Mielle released a statement on Instagram, responding to the commentary and ensuring that the formulas would not change. While this does something to ease the concerns of the Black consumers, the latest news of p&p acquiring Mielle has seen Black consumers stocking up on their favs while they can or seeking out alternatives because the change to cater to the masses is only inevitable.

For many Black consumers, this is more than just one product, and it’s not being angry for the sake of being angry, it’s an issue a recurring issue, when will brands understand the worth of their Black consumers? While it may appear to be a far turn from inclusivity, “universal” haircare only and always leaves Black hair behind, it’s no as progressive as it appears to be. There is so much nuance laced within the conversation, but the first step is acknowledging the issue is listening to the voices impacted.

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