https://www.essence.com/beauty/meet-bread-founder-maeva-heim/

Maeva Heim, who chemically straightened her 4C hair texture for years, admits she had no idea what to buy or how to wash her hair when she decided to go natural. She made the decision a few years ago after her hair relaxer exploded in her suitcase on a flight from New York to Colorado. “ I didn’t have access to get another one because we were in the middle of nowhere. And so I decided to go back to my natural texture, which is something that I had no idea about,” she tells ESSENCE.

After the fiasco, she made it her mission to find products for her hair texture, but she became overwhelmed with multicultural hair care offerings. “I had no idea what to buy, and I just wanted to wash my hair, but I didn’t feel any brands were taking me through the process in a simple, easy way,”says Heim.

Heim realized that there were probably other women out there looking for the same thing, and that’s when she started building BREAD, a line of clean hair care basics for not so basic hair.

Photo: Courtesy of BREAD

Heim says she created the brand for millennial women like her and centennials who don’t view beauty as glossy, completely done up hair. “I’d like to think that we’re here for the essentials and the must-haves like bread. That’s where the name comes from.”

The whole point of this brand is about embracing casual hairstyles and embracing lazy girl hair because Black women already have textured hair.

While building the hair care line, Heim, who is an Australia native and former L’Oréal brand manager, immersed herself in the hair care space and noticed that “frizz,” and other characteristics of natural hair, were being demonized. So not only did she make it the brand’s mission to simplify the way Black women care for their textured hair, but embrace it too. “The whole point of this brand is about embracing casual hairstyles and embracing lazy girl hair because Black women already have textured hair.”

In terms of products, Heim said she wanted to start at the very beginning of the routine with wash day, and uncomplicate the process with three products:Hair Wash, a gentle milky cleanser (that smells like Fruit Loops cereal), Hair Mask, a creamy deep conditioner that moisturizes textured hair without weighing it down, and Hair-Oil, a smoothing and shinning formula that Heim refers to as “lip gloss for your hair.”

Photo: Courtesy of BREAD

” I really wanted to go from step one of the routine and really target the problem that I first encountered, which is ‘how do I wash my hair?’ And I felt like if we had started anywhere else, it wouldn’t be authentic to BREAD,” says Heim, who notes thats this is just the beginning. When it comes to embracing your natural hair, “you have to slowly immerse yourself in it, one step at a time” she says.

“I remember getting to that point where I was like, ‘well, I’m going to brush out an entire fro and go to dinner with 10 girlfriends.’ It was liberating. I look back now and think ‘far out.’ I’m the same person that couldn’t go to school with my hair out. And now I’ve got a full fro and hanging out with my friends in restaurants. It’s been such a journey, but I think that that’s a really important point. Just take it slow and go at your own pace and just be forgiving with yourself.” And BREAD is the new hair care line at Sephora that is here to help you with the process.

“Sephora is thrilled to partner with BREAD and continue our commitment to bringing innovative, differentiated products to our clients, as well as supporting all hair types, textures and concerns,” said Jennifer Lucchese, VP Haircare Merchandising at Sephora. “We are so excited to finally introduce BREAD to our clients and know that it will be a wonderful addition to Sephora’s hair assortment.”

I love that it’s resonating with the people it’s supposed to resonate with.

Heim says she’s very intent on BREAD being an aspirational brand that people want to buy into, and so it was important for her to feature faces on the packaging. ” I think that’s the one reason why when people see it, they relate to it. And I love that it’s resonating with the people that it’s supposed to resonate with.”

BREAD hair care products are now available at Sephora.com and BreadBeautySupply.com.

The post BREAD Founder Maeva Heim Is Solving The Hair Care Industry’s Diversity Problem With A New Line Of Wash Day Essentials appeared first on Essence.