As you browse the aisles of Target, Walmart or CVS, you’ll notice hair care is often segregated. Earlier this year, Walmart phased out multicultural hair sections. It’s about time every store joined in. “We used to say the only place in America where segregation was legal was in the beauty aisle,” SheaMoisture co-founder and former CEO Richelieu Dennis tells Beauty Independent.
Walmart is now organizing hair care by hair type
Rather than organizing hair-care merchandise by culture or skin tone, Walmart is rolling out a new approach. Stores will now have products sorted by hair type, like straight, wavy, curly and men’s. “We are always looking for ways to make shopping easier for our customers,” Walmart spokeswoman Tricia Moriarty tells Beauty Independent. “Oftentimes, within one home, you will have multiple hair types. To make the shopping easier, we have organized all hair wash and care items by hair type.”
Many have acknowledged the product separation as frustrating, especially because our world is more multicultural than ever. “We are not just Black, we are not just white. We are mixing and loving,” Miko Branch, CEO and co-founder of Miss Jessie’s, tells Beauty Independent. “The hair textures are dynamic, and moms who may not have textured hair may want hair products for their kids who have textured hair.”
It’s worth noting that skin care is rarely separated in the same manner. “When you go down the aisle for beauty, and you’re looking at skin care, it doesn’t say multicultural skin care,” Taniqua Bennett, CMO and chief growth officer at Ebin New York, tells Beauty Independent. “There are products targeted to needs that typically are more of an issue for consumers with darker skin. It might be hyperpigmentation, but many consumers buy that. So, I just see the hair-care aisle really mirroring what we see in standard beauty aisles.”
