I don’t know about you, but I have personally found sourcing clean haircare products to be a struggle. Over the past decade I have tested so many on the market, but have yet to fall in love - something is just always not quuuiite riiight. Either they are too heavy for my hair and leave it greasy or oily, not providing the extended longevity I was hoping for or I leave my house styled only to find that I’m looking a bit unkempt the next time I find myself in front of a mirror. The clean brand Crown Affair has taken social media by storm over the past 2-3 years, gaining a huge following and racking up 5-star reviews. By the time they arrived on the scene, I had such fatigue around trying other brands that weren’t delivering, frankly, I was ignoring their existence. …Shame on me!
When I ran out of hair oil 3 months ago, I decided to dip my toe in the water and try Crown Affair’s version. With 4.6 star reviews on Sephora and 90% of customers recommending others buy it and 4.9 stars on their site, it seemed like a minor “risk” worth taking. I’m so happy I made the switch because the oil is incredibly lightweight and nourishing while protecting your strands from heat. My hair feels more smooth than it ever has and I feel like I have more control over styling.
When I purchased the oil, I also decided to buy the Finishing Gel to use when I wear my hair up in a bun. The purpose is to smooth flyaways. I’ve always used hairspray to do this, but to this day, I have yet to find a truly clean version that does the job. I’ve been incredibly happy with the results of this product. It’s not too heavy and doesn’t make my hair greasy.
In full transparency, I’m also a fan of their dry shampoo, but I’m not loving the packaging. I give them a 5/5 for the product itself, but a 2/5 on the packaging. If you don’t plan to pack their dry shampoo on your travels, then you’ll be quite pleased. But if you’re tossing it into your carry on, you’ll find that there is no mechanism to hold the powder in place so it’s messy and you end up losing valuable product. Hopefully this is something they’ll change in the future.
About the Founder
Dianna Cohen was drawn to the fashion industry and DTC darling brands from the moment she graduated from school. When she moved to NYC she planned to work in fashion and had stints at both Valentino and Thakoon, but found the strong community element of Into the Gloss by Emily Weiss, who later founded the millennial-loved Glossier, so attractive that she joined the team. After working at Spring a couple of years later, a mobile shopping app that is no longer around today, she started to consult brands on their marketing and consumer strategies. Her resume is impressive, as she has had an impact on a number of well-recognized names including Tamara Mellon, Buck Mason, Yumi, Harry’s, Flamingo, and Outdoor Voices - just to name a few. Her expertise has been focused on assisting brands with creating customer interaction roadmaps that build more genuine connections.
Her consulting work required her to travel, and she found that her hair was getting damaged on the road. She started to build more of an intentional haircare routine that proved effective and unexpectedly resulted in friends and co-workers asking her to write it on “paper” and share it. This has been known as her “hair Google doc.” Her natural foray into the haircare market also had her testing and researching product ingredients and quickly realizing that a surprising gap existed - both in brands and price point - in the market between common drug store names and luxury players.
From here, Crown Affair was born. It started with a personal $5,000 investment for 40 handmade brushes made by a family in Italy and has since scaled to 30+ SKUs. I see a ton of opportunity within the space, so I’m excited to watch how Crown Affair grows and evolves over time.
Happy hair styling.
x jz
Images | 1 | @b.g.mckay, styled by me | 2 - 4 | Crown Affair | 5 | Forbes
Note: I do not get paid for nor make money off of this post. All opinions are my own.