With so many beauty companies getting called out over their paltry (non-) efforts to cater for a more diverse range of customers, one high street brand seems to be listening.
Superdrug have launched a 3 for 2 offer on their Asian and Black hair care products but that’s not all. Buy the products and you get a free silk bonnet. The deal has got some potential customers excited.
Bonnets are worn at night (and throughout the day for those times when you can’t be bothered to change out of your pyjamas) to protect hair from breakage and losing moisture. The higher the silk content (or satin for vegans!) the better, as the smoothness of the material means hair doesn’t snag, and it doesn’t absorb the moisture from your hair like a cotton scarf or pillowcase would.
It’s obviously a good marketing campaign. The market for Black and Asian hair products has always been there, and is only going to continue to grow. In fact, black women are reported to spend six times more than other ethnicities on hair care. In 2013, this study found that Black women has a buying power of $1 trillion that was forecasted to reach $1.3 trillion by 2017 and keep growing.
Mainstream drugstores and supermarkets have been slow to stock products catering to this demographic, so black people in particular have often had to rely on specialised stores like Paks, or shop online to find products suitable for their hair. Bigger stores are now introducing small so-called 'ethnic' or 'world' hair care sections, no longer able to ignore the fact that by not stocking them, they are ignoring a huge customer base.
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So is it all about the money? Others are little suspicious. Why now? Has there been a change in attitude, or is it performative and simply all about the big bucks?
On the other hand, you could go out and get a silk bonnet without having to spend £25 on products first. And they know this. So perhaps the deal also signals that the company may be learning about different cultural hair care practices and is trying to acknowledge and cater directly for different ethnicities.
Then again, this whole article is a sign that Black hair care and practices are yet to be thought of as mainstream. When they are, we won't even remark on this sort go thing. A free bonnet is cool but it shouldn't be news. It should just be a free bonnet deal!
Follow Aida on Twitter @kidisalright
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.