Miel Organics’ Rosemary Mint Hair & Scalp Oil caused a frenzy online last year, with TikTok users raving about its amazing ability to stimulate hair growth, but when it made headlines again earlier this month, it was for less exciting reasons.
On September 2, TikTok user Danesha Monek posted a video claiming that her hair had fallen out after using the oil along with Mielle shampoo and conditioner. The video has garnered over 70,000 views, and an edited version by another content creator has received over 4 million views, along with dozens of comments and videos from people who claim to have had similar experiences with Mielle products. Some people claim to have experienced baldness, scalp irritation, and thinning hairlines after using the oil.
Mielle founder and CEO Monique Rodriguez responded on September 9th, delivering an impassioned speech to the brand’s “amazing community” in a video shared on both her personal Instagram account and Mielle’s official page.
“We have always been very careful about ensuring the cost and quality of our products, and we have never wavered in that commitment,” she said. “If you have any doubts, please check our labels.”
In a statement, a Mielle spokesperson said Rosemary Mint Oil is “trusted by our team,” adding, “We are constantly evaluating the quality of our products from a compliance and safety perspective. We take consumer feedback seriously, and none of the alleged negative experiences have been medically confirmed as health issues caused by our products.”
This isn’t the first time a haircare brand has come under fire for claims that its products caused harm, or for a CEO to take to social media to address the issue. Last year, then-CEO of Olaplex Jue Wong took to Instagram to try to deny claims that its products caused hair loss, breakage, and scalp damage. DevaCurl, a luxury brand for women with curly hair, faced heavy backlash in 2020 after influencer Aisha Malik posted a YouTube video alleging that its products caused hair loss, and was quickly hit with a flurry of lawsuits.
As one of the few Black women to have launched, grown and sold a multi-million dollar beauty brand, Rodriguez faces a more complex challenge than her predecessors.
Mielle, which was sold to P&G in January 2023, targets Black and multicultural women, who have historically had a tense relationship with beauty brands. Beauty expert and consultant Kayla Greaves said decades of “hair trauma” resulting from pressure to conform to white beauty standards through heat styling and harsh chemical relaxers have made Black women particularly sensitive about their hair, from how they style it to the products they use and who makes them.
Rodriguez’s sale of Mielle to P&G drew skeptical reactions from Black consumers who worried that the white-led conglomerate would change the product’s formula, similar to the sales of Shea Moisture and Carol’s Daughter to Unilever and L’Oreal in 2017 and 2014, respectively. Rodriguez addressed these concerns on Instagram last year, outlining the value of the brand’s new “partnership” and saying it had no plans to change the product’s formula.
Still, much of the backlash this month has been focused on the new ownership team, with some calling Rodriguez a traitor.
“As Black people, we historically haven’t had a lot of options when it comes to hair care,” Greaves says, “and Mielle was a brand that people really loved because it was really high quality and affordable, and it was Black-owned, so we really valued it.”
Mielle Organics’ Rosemary Mint line. (Provided)
Brands have responded to these complaints by arguing that many factors can cause hair loss, from hormonal changes to stress, genetics and lifestyle factors. But even unproven claims can cause lasting reputational damage. Today, if you Google DevaCurl, which paid $5.2 million in a class-action lawsuit in 2021, the first page brings up Reddit posts and articles about the allegations.
How Miel responds over the next few months, paying attention to the sensitivities and nuances of its core demographic of black consumers, will determine whether this is a short-term setback or a threat to the brand’s long-term viability.
“If this were my brand, I would take it really seriously and over-plan and over-execute,” said Scott Markman, founder and president of global branding firm Monogram Group. “We don’t have full control over this moment, and when these kinds of issues get out there, they can spread and be amplified.”
Action Plan
When negative allegations spread on social media, companies should act quickly and develop a months-long strategic plan that may include new marketing efforts and face-to-face meetings with affected customers, Markman said. Engaging with customers directly, listening to their concerns and showing empathy can go a long way in rebuilding trust, experts say.
Like Rodriguez, brands might start by addressing concerns with “transparency and authenticity” on platforms where the backlash began or is most widespread, such as Instagram, Markman said. But if they choose this approach, leaders need to avoid getting overly defensive or emotional, because that could alienate consumers, especially when the issue is as personal as hair loss, Greaves said.
“Instead of reacting emotionally to this, respond with facts,” she said. “Be as transparent as possible but keep the emotions out of it.”
Markman said companies should be careful not to stop at social media — a “naive approach” common among brands born in the digital age that believes the backlash starts and ends there.
Indeed, the next step is to steer the conversation away from social media and offer more discreet options for feedback, including setting up a dedicated email address for complaints or creating a telephone hotline where calls are always accepted, Markman said.
In addition to its CEO’s social media comments, Olaplex posted independent, third-party test results on its website (which are still available) to demonstrate that its products are “safe and effective.” The company successfully lost a class-action lawsuit filed by 100 alleged customers last year.
As part of its recovery, Miel will also have to tackle the long game of managing scrutiny surrounding the acquisition.
In a statement, the brand said its formula hasn’t changed under P&G, but experts say it’s common for big companies to tweak formulas to cut costs. Small adjustments to ingredient ratios can have a big impact on a product’s performance, says biochemist and cosmetic scientist Nausheen Qureshi. Meanwhile, the same formula can have different results if made in a different manufacturing facility or process, she says.
Miel should address these kinds of accusations head on, investigate any changes and communicate those findings to consumers, as well as lay out a plan to correct any unintended consequences, Markman said.
Legal disputes could add further complications: Mielle may need to tap P&G’s crisis management and legal resources, but as a small company within a large conglomerate, overstretching those resources could expose Mielle to unnecessary liability, Markman warned. (BoF could not find evidence of any pending litigation against the brand.)
“If this gets the attention of P&G’s financial people and they have to put a lot of money into the recovery, that could become an even bigger problem for Miel,” he said. “I’d rather invest in strategies and tactics that are quicker, cheaper and more manageable at the brand level.”
Before radioactive contamination
Still, Qureshi said the most important step haircare brands can take to avoid this kind of backlash is to conduct clinical trials and testing to prove the safety and effectiveness of their products long before any impact occurs. (Meanwhile, Miel said on Instagram that its products undergo “rigorous and frequent” testing by “in-house and third-party independent laboratories,” and that its rosemary oil and shampoo have been “dermatologically tested for skin safety” with no issues.)
Qureshi said dermatological tests (like those on Olaplex’s website) that provide evidence that a product is not harmful to the scalp or surrounding skin are a “standard and inexpensive” starting point, but hair brands should go further by investing in ongoing (and more expensive) lab tests and clinical studies that look at the effects of their products on hair loss, hydration and the hair growth cycle.
“Every brand, irrespective of what they do or the type of product, should be doing proper testing and not just telling us whether their product is good or bad,” Qureshi said.
