In honor of their five-year anniversary, Undefined Beauty came full force into hair care with their debut product, the R&R Scalp Serum. This innovative water-based serum hydrates, stimulates, strengthens, and nourishes your scalp. R&R Scalp Serum contains clinically proven hair actives such as Plant Peptides (Pea), to stimulate and strengthen follicle stem cells, which helps to promote hair growth and prevent hair loss and Capiyxl, a biomimetic peptide combined with a Red Clover extract that targets the main causes of hair loss. The product also contains Niacinamide, Saw Palmetto, Ashwagandha, Amla, FoTi, and Caffeine for revitalized hair wellness. Healthy, shiny, thick hair starts with a healthy, balanced scalp.
We sat down to chat with CEO and Founder Dorian Morris to discuss the brand’s newest haircare product and how it differs from traditional scalp-based products.
Congrats on your five-year anniversary, what have been your favorite entrepreneurial milestones over this time period?
I’m just proud of my ability to pivot and the power of the pivot. If you go back to the beginning of the Undefined Beauty launch in 2018, you know my focus was on the magical plant wisdom of CBD, and I still believe in the power of cannabis. But unfortunately, you know, it’s limited from a commercialization standpoint because there’s so much regulation around that plant. I’m proud that I was able to listen to my community, listen to the retail landscape, and pivot to our collection, which is what has unlocked so much opportunity and growth for me. If I had been stubborn I wouldn’t be where I am today.
You know, in over 600 Targets, Ultas, and Whole Foods, and all the fantastic partnerships that I’ve been able to secure, based on my pivot. So I think the power of the pivot and understanding the changes and reframing failure is just learning because I continue to evolve and take calculated risks.
What inspired the transition into adding hair care to your brand? Why?
I have always been a “hair bear” AKA hair enthusiast and in my previous lives, I worked on hair care brands. Going back to J&J days, I was an intern there or co-op working on Aveeno hair care which was my first foray into more mass haircare. I had this amazing opportunity to lead the Madam CJ Walker Beauty Culture initiative when I was at Sundial and this was phase one of their rebrand where they had the hair care brand in Sephora. Hair has always had a very special place in my heart and I have big curly hair, as you know so I’ve tried so many products and I’m just so deep from a community standpoint in the hair care space.
Funny enough, a lot of my growth, in the beginning, was these boots-on-the-ground events and most people would assume that I’m a hair care brand just because I have such big curly hair. I thought it made sense to try and take all the plant wisdom that Undefined Beauty is about and bring that to a new category. I’m super excited that I worked really hard in this formula to really pair clinically proven actives alongside these heritage ingredients, that kind of come across culture from the Amla and the FoTi.
I know the wisdom that Mother Nature has blessed us with in one formula that’s going to work across hair types. It doesn’t matter if you have straight hair, curly hair because it is a water-based formula so it’s not going to weigh your hair down rand focuses on this universal need state because healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp.
What did you find compelling about moving into this category?
This product has been two years in the making because I have very high standards from an efficacious standpoint and in this process, I tried a lot of the the leading hair scalp serums on the market. I purchased probably all of them from Sephora just so I could understand the competitive landscape and they were expensive. I’m using a lot of the same active ingredients and realized I want to make it easy for the woman who’s shopping at Ulta or Target on a budget to also have access. People can have the prestige quality formulas at mass pricing.
What was the formulation process like?
Because for me it’s about solving key pinch points and the scalp is a universal need state. We all have a scalp and I think there’s also this ability to take the scientific aspects and really incorporate some of these skin care actives into your scalp. One good example is niacinamide is one of my favorite ingredients and lives across almost all products in the R&R collection but it also has some amazing benefits for your scalp. Specifically, if you have an oily scalp it helps with the oil production and has skin care benefits. Another nice skincare ingredient that has great efficacy from a scalp care standpoint is caffeine and so I use caffeine in my Hydro Jelly, but there’s also a place to have it within the scalp product.
I wanted to be extremely intentional with all of the ingredients so I focused on a water-based formula that’s gonna penetrate. I also incorporated some additional penetration agents and penetration-enhancing ingredients like the MSM in the formula, which is a sulfur compound that Madam CJ Walker, sulfur used as one of the major ingredients in her hair.
What are common scalp issues this product can help/solve?
Dryness, I think is a a good one because it is going to help to nourish your scalp and help with irritation. It’s a foundational step that’s going to help to hydrate, nourish, and strengthen, so that way it’s going to promote healthy hair growth.
What new haircare products can we look forward to from Undefined Beauty?
For now, it’s really focusing on this water-based scalp serum and also educating people around how you can incorporate other skin care products you might already have in your routine and your regimen.
