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In ELLE.com’s Office Hours series, we ask people in powerful positions to tell us about their first jobs, their worst jobs, and everything in between. This month, we spoke with Dianna Cohen, founder of luxury hair care brand Crown Affair. Cohen’s journey to becoming a beauty entrepreneur all started with a Google Doc in 2018. So she outlined her go-to products and hair care routine to help a few friends on their hair journeys. “It went way beyond my network. That Doc was the lightbulb moment I needed to start Crown Affair,” she says. Since 2019, the brand has launched a number of cult-favorite products, including dry shampoo and leave-in conditioner, and tomorrow it’s launching Take Your Time, a candle created in collaboration with luxury candle company Nette The signature scent of Crown Affair. Here, Cohen talks about her love of beauty rituals, hair care routines, and how Kate Moss inspired the fragrances in all her products.
my first job
I worked at a local library in the small town where I grew up. I helped return books, and I loved the library.
my worst job
I interned at a fashion company during the early years of CFDA in the 2010s. The company didn’t want to hire a messenger or pay a messenger, so that was my internship. I think everyone has been there. We grew up in that generation. It was difficult. The worst part was that I also had to pay for the metro card myself.
my first beauty memories
I have vivid memories of sitting next to the bathtub as a child and having my mother comb my wet hair from the pool. Growing up in Florida, I feel like I lived in a pool, so she always took care of my hair.
Design provided by: Lea Romero
How I got into the beauty industry
I was very fortunate to start my career with Into the Gloss in 2012. I did everything from transcribing interviews to managing Pinterest boards and Instagram. I also created native advertisements and installed affiliate links in articles. That’s where I really fell in love with the power of beauty. It is truly a category that promotes democracy. Most people use some kind of personal care product. I have always been a self-care person. I remember when I was studying abroad in college. I lived with girls who didn’t go to the same university as me, and they always said, “Deanna has a lot of rituals.” And it’s not even about the makeup. I can’t say I’m a makeup girl, nor can I say I do skin care. I just like rituals. I love massage. I love combing and brushing my hair. I love gua sha. I love taking baths.
The deep purpose behind Crown Affair
Having worked with direct-to-consumer brands for a decade, you can easily understand that people who don’t understand the value of a product won’t buy it. Thanks to Google Docs, I quickly learned that people don’t understand why they need to spend $100 on a hairbrush or why they can’t just buy shampoo and conditioner at the drug store. Of course we want people to buy and love our products, but Crown Affair is really about raising awareness to take care of our hair, and by extension, ourselves.
How we came up with the name
The name has two meanings. The first is that my husband and I love the 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair. But more literally, this name is about the crown of the head and love. I remember many years ago when I was attending a workout class. The instructor asked everyone in the class to lift their crowns, and everyone stood up taller and more graceful. The Crown Chakra was a huge game changer for me as I began to understand more about my body and spirituality.
On using my art history background to build my brand
People always get confused because my major was Art History and my minor was Italian. But I feel it’s all useful. You don’t need to be a marketing major to do this. All colors in Crown Affair come from (artist) Ed Ruscha. And we all remember our childhood and what we felt really drawn to. As such, the brand has a lot of quirky Jim Henson and Dark Crystal elements. There are a lot of Lord of the Rings elements. There are many works by Sandro Botticelli. But there are also Japanese rituals and aesthetic elements.
Design provided by: Lea Romero
The secret behind Crown Affair’s distinctive scent
One of the first emails I sent when developing the brand was to a fragrance house. Because we know how important fragrance is in hair care. Before I started Crown Affair, I talked to friends and interviewed people and asked them, “What do you use?” why use it? ‘And they’ll say, ‘Oh, I use Oribe because I love the scent.’ Yes, the product should work. But scent is oddly even more important. So I told the fragrance house that I wanted it to smell like Kate Moss was in Japan in the 1970s. I wanted something fresh with a very calming zen vibe with some sparkling citrus notes on top and some green tea and calla lily. And the base notes are a little sexier, more smoky, more funky, with a 1970s vibe. I love where I ended up with this scent. One of my favorite scents.
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characteristic scent
crown affair
$85.00
How the collaboration with Nette came about
Nothing smells better than when you take a shower and wash your hair. The bathroom smells so fresh and delicious. I think that’s what I wanted to bring to people, even if they didn’t need to wash their hair that day. People have been asking us for candles for a very long time, but it is very difficult to make candles accurately. You can’t actually put a literal scent inside a candle. I’m really excited to launch this with Nette because I believe in collaborating with great people in the field. I’ve been a Nette fan since the brand’s launch, and the brand’s founder, Carol Hann Pyle, has been a Crown Affair customer since its launch. I think Carol’s philosophy and standards are very admirable.
my hair care routine
If it’s not a wash day, what keeps me going is brushing my hair in the evening with a double-bristled brush and using a leave-in conditioner from mid-lengths to ends. Keeps hair moisturized and soft. Also, it is very important to keep your hair flexible if you want to grow it out. Lastly, I use The Dry Shampoo every day before I leave the house. It is my holy grail product till the end.
If it’s a really luxurious hair day, I’ll comb it before I take a shower. I use The Cleansing Scrub and it really lifts my roots. I love wearing renewal masks and have been using them instead of conditioner for years. Then I comb it out, wipe it with a towel, and apply leave-in mousse and air-dry mousse. Most days, I just let it air dry, apply a little oil, give it a little twist and clip it in with a little clippy to create heat-free waves.
The Brush No.001
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The Brush No.001
crown affair
$98.00
leave-in conditioner
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leave-in conditioner
crown affair
$48.00
refill dry shampoo
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refill dry shampoo
crown affair
$42.00
cleansing scrub
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cleansing scrub
crown affair
$54.00
renewal mask
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renewal mask
crown affair
$58.00
Texturizing air dry mousse
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Texturizing air dry mousse
crown affair
$38.00
The Clips
why hair is so important to me
Hair is everything. It’s a huge part of our identity. I’m really curious. I think hair care is just as important as journaling and meditating, but it’s not just about actually achieving that look in the moment, consistency is key. Hair is the ultimate, final accessory.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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