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Posted: 2023-07-12T02:05:14Z | Updated: 2023-07-12T16:19:57Z

Tia Mowry bounces through the aisles of New Yorks Tatiana, the popular Caribbean restaurant from Chef Kwame Onwuachi, where its nearly impossible to get a reservation. Shes greeting the journalists, influencers and hair care professionals whove filled the dining room. She has an infectious levity about her, accentuated by her new pixie cut with her baby hairs laid and a pearl-encrusted clip securing her tresses back.

The actor, known for Sister, Sister, The Game, Family Reunion, carefree TikTok videos and too many projects to name, is the latest celebrity to launch her own hair care brand: 4U, a line for natural hair. Backed by biotechnology firm Amyris, Mowry launched 4U in January with the intention of creating a line that was safe, sustainable and affordable after having challenges finding products on the market that worked for her.

Mowry said her relationship with her hair hasnt always been a healthy one. As a child star, she recalled feeling the pressures of trying to fit into Eurocentric beauty standards heavily. She said when she and her twin sister, Tamera, entered their 20s is when they began straightening their hair more consistently on Sister, Sister, as they believed that was the only way to feel sexy back then.

I would straighten my hair, I would put my hair in extensions, and I damaged my hair, she told HuffPost. I saw this movement on Instagram and I saw all these women doing the big chop. They were like, We are done with trying to fit societal standards on what beauty or of what beauty is. Were going to cut our hair, were going to start from scratch, a rebirth, and just embrace our curls. I was like, Im about to do the same thing.

In 2012, Mowry found a new beginning via her hair. With that new start, however, came a new challenge to find products that worked with her hair. In the course of her journey, she found that many products created for Black hair that claimed to be natural or clean werent. And as a new mother with a new lens on what she put in her body, she refused to sacrifice the wellness component of hair care.

I wanted to create a high-performing hair care line that really has safe, clean ingredients [thats] also good for the environment and affordable, she said. From having to hack, to choose from something that is extremely expensive to something that is not necessarily expensive with toxic ingredients, why cant we have something that is safe, clean [with] ingredients that are derived actually from nature at an affordable price?