Blake Lively and I meet on the balcony of her room at Fouquet’s, a chic hotel with Parisian charm in downtown Manhattan. She has just finished speaking with a group of editors and is trying to sneak in a quick lunch (Caesar salad with salmon) before a campaign photo shoot. It’s not for blockbuster movies. Instead, it’s her latest entrepreneurial endeavor, a new hair care line called Blake Brown.
“Brown” pays homage to the actress’ father, Ernie, as it was the actress’ last name at birth. “I wanted it to be more intimate and personal. Using my father’s name felt like a side of me,” she says.
Blake Brown was seven years in the making. Lively wanted to create a line that was “clean[and]smells great, but at a more affordable price point.” She admitted that she used to have a luxurious hair care routine that used formulas that nourished and strengthened her hair, but it was prohibitively expensive. “It costs about $200 to keep my hair from breaking,” Lively confesses. “Back then, you could only buy one (product). Eventually, I was able to afford the whole set and it changed my hair.”
With the belief that everyone should have access to great hair care products, she strives to create products that are affordable and have “the same level of performance” that you won’t feel “strained” about sharing with your family. focused on. “I’ve been using (some of) these products for about four years. The four main (products from the collection) I’ve been using (on my hair) for about two years,” she shared.
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Currently, Blake Brown offers eight hair care products to help you find the right balance of strength and moisture to achieve healthy hair. The line switches between two systems: nourishing and fortifying, each with its own shampoo and mask. To achieve Lively’s red carpet-worthy hairstyle, she created pre-shampoo masks, leave-in “potions,” mousses, and dry shampoos. Everything is under $25, and Lively didn’t compromise on her ingredient choices. “If you have better ingredients, like food, it tastes better. If your hair has better ingredients, it looks better and is healthier,” she says.
Lively’s own hair care regimen inspired the collection. For example, she shares that she never uses regular conditioner. That’s why there is no conditioner in the line. “You can’t style your hair beautifully if you don’t take care of it,” she says, running her fingers through her healthy, shiny locks. She revealed that all the hairdressers on movie sets and red carpets provide shampoo and masks to condition her hair. “It’s incredible to me that[masks]are more of a novelty in the mass market,” she says.
How Lively likes to use each product is always focused on nourishing the hair and its health. “I spray[the leave-in drug]on my hair and leave it in a ballerina bun for a few days,” she admitted. For her, healthy hair comes first and style comes second.
In addition to efficacy, scent is also important to Lively, and the collection includes several scents inspired by her favorite aromas. “I never understood why hair care scents didn’t smell like any of the perfumes I buy,” she says. From sandalwood to vanilla, Santal and nectar scents, each jar or bottle has a different scent, but the underlying scent is always warm and sensual. According to Lively, achieving this olfactory result was not easy. “It’s difficult to use amber or sandalwood in hair care products. Hair care includes a lot of floral and citrus scents because they (easily) cut the formula.” she explains.
All Blake Brown products are vegan, cruelty-free, and formulated with clean ingredients to nourish, strengthen, and style your hair. We also use recycled materials for packaging to minimize waste.
Blake Brown will be available starting August 4th exclusively at Target and target.com and blakebrownbeauty.com. Below, Lively shares more about the birth of her newest brand, her scent memories, and her best hair care advice.
Roy Rochlin // Getty Images
What makes your hair care line different from other celebrity brands on the market?
I don’t compare[my line]to other celebrity brands. I am (compared) to other hair brands in general. I have an unfair advantage of being able to speak about my company in a louder microphone than other startups because of its name brand label. But that’s why you have a responsibility to make it good. You can’t just ask someone to buy your product because they liked a movie or show you were in. It shows no respect to the consumer.
I was very impressed that you drew the logo and helped design the packaging. Can you tell us more about that process?
We have an amazing packaging designer, Chris, who came up with a lot of different shapes and ideas. In my personal life, people call me B, so we were doing a riff on the “B” shape. That would be Blake Brown’s two B’s. (The shape of the logo) is reminiscent of a beehive, but it’s a combination of two B’s, one facing backwards and one facing forward, and a funky beehive. That’s how I drew the logo.
The packaging was similar to a shampoo bottle, but the mask was next to it and had to fit and complement each other. It’s like a family. Everything should be in harmony and complement each other. On the mask (the text) is raised, but on the pre-mask and shampoo it is raised.
What is your best hair care advice?
If you take care of your hair, it will take care of you. Listen to the condition of your hair. That’s the most important thing. I don’t follow any formula. People ask, “How often do you wash (your hair)?” And it changes! Listen to the condition of your hair. When you put something in your hair, you can feel it react. In a successful relationship, there is great communication and mutual respect. I know it feels silly to anthropomorphize hair like that, but it’s true. I listen to my hair.
The brand name is named after your father. Is he the one with the hair?
(Laughs) No! My mother used to dye her hair with shoe polish. But she did a good job with it. It was good. (Laughs) My mother is really dumb.
What kind of scent do you enjoy?
I like things like trees. I like amber, peppercorns, or anything containing them. Similar to Strength and Nourishing Formula (in my collection). I love the one in the middle. I love feminine scents as well as more masculine scents. Perhaps we shouldn’t call them that. I know this is an abbreviation for how to identify what is commonly found in woody scents, smoky scents, or masculine scents…I obviously like both, but not necessarily on their own. That’s not true.
Do these products have a memory of scent?
It’s my family now. That’s what they smell like. I am very proud of it because I have worked very hard on it. I want them to feature only the best. That’s all we use. It’s based on the people I created. That’s crazy to me!
Considering you were famous for dressing yourself, I was a little surprised that you started with hair before entering the fashion world.
I love clothes. I love numbers. Hire me as a costume designer for some crazy set. But you can tell my love for design (through my hair care collection).
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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Danielle James is the Digital Beauty Director at ELLE.com. Previously, she was the fashion and beauty director for HelloBeautiful.com and MadameNoire.com. She has written for The Cut, InStyle, Allure, The Business of Fashion, Nylon, Essence, Good Housekeeping, and more. She enjoys sailing, thrifting, Japanese whiskey, Naomi Campbell’s runway walks, and Rihanna in the comments section.
