Narrow beauty standards make it difficult for girls to appreciate their unique beauty. Societal biases have resulted in discrimination against Black children based on hair texture and styles. Dove research shows 53% of Black mothers, whose daughters have experienced hair discrimination, say their daughters have experienced race-based hair discrimination as early as 5 years old.

While Dove works to end race-based discrimination with The CROWN Act, we have also made it a priority to uplift the next generation and inspire hair love through purpose initiatives and product offerings.

Sparked by the cultural movement around the Academy Award-winning short film ‘Hair Love,’ and a strong relationship with its creator, Matthew A. Cherry, our objective was to join forces to help Black children feel centered when it comes to their personal care, and feel proud to embrace their curls, coils and waves with confidence, inspired by ‘Hair Love’ main illustrated character, Zuri.

At the height of the cultural phenomenon that was ‘Hair Love’ – a short film and accompanying NYT best-selling book, Dove wanted to amplify the message of ‘confidence and care’ for Black children. Built upon an existing relationship and awareness that Award-Winning Filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry generated for The CROWN Act (legislation to end race-based hair discrimination), we announced a formal partnership and a NEW set of premium products formulated to nourish and care for kids with curls, coils and waves: Dove Kids Care Hair Love product collection.

Product packaging features illustrations of ‘Hair Love’ film and book character Zuri in different natural hair styles, along with positive affirmations to help boost confidence and self-esteem in Black children during their self-care routines, in alignment with the Dove Self-Esteem Project mission- the largest provider of body confidence and self-esteem education in the world, which has reached 82 million kids and teens

Dove has conducted research on children’s self-esteem as well as the impact of race-based hair discrimination on Black girls. Research revealed that kids as young as 3 can start to build self-esteem when they see themselves positively represented in the world around them. The impact of hair discrimination on Black girls has a negative impact on how she sees herself, with 81% of Black girls in majority white schools say they sometimes wish their hair was straight.

From these insights, Dove created a product collection to support Black children; with the consumer demographic being parents who have children (ages 3-9).

Our approach was to bridge the nourishing care of Dove with the continued action of ending race-based hair discrimination with The CROWN Act so Black kids can develop a positive relationship with their hair. In addition to affirmations, each pack features a QR code to sign the CROWN Act petition.

We built upon the existing awareness of Hair Love and The CROWN Act as a precursor to launch in November 2021.

-Prior to launch, Matthew A. Cherry appeared on Good Morning America alongside Faith Fennidy, a girl who experienced hair discrimination in school, to illuminate the pervasiveness of the issue and call consumers to sign The CROWN Act petition to end race-based hair discrimination.

-In November, the Dove Kids Care Hair Love collection launched online at Walmart.com and pitching to a wide range of parenting, lifestyle, news and entertainment media commenced.

-To drive sales and consumer awareness, we distributed an ‘Instagrammable’ mailer of products to 100 editors, adult & kid influential voices like Simply Madison Jade, Tiffany Davidson and Julee Wilson, which included an interactive CROWN activity and positive affirmations. This was the most successful mailer for Dove in the last decade, generating 130 earned social posts and 3,486,476 impressions.

The Dove Kids Care ‘Hair Love’ collection outperformed retail projections, doubling projected sales in the first two months. Exclusive retailer, Walmart, categorized the products as ‘top 5 innovations in textured hair.’ In January 2022, the products were in 2,401 Walmart stores nationwide, set to increase to 2,952 within six months.

With an increase of the product’s footprint, more consumers will be able to join Dove in advocating for The CROWN Act until race-based discrimination is outlawed nationwide, while encouraging self-love and a positive hair experience for kids with naturally textured hair.

The product collection has been featured in 20 media stories, earning 483,708,946 impressions, with headlines in Parents, Black Enterprise, BET.com, AdAge, Yahoo! Lifestyle, etc. Praise for the collection has been shared by influential voices on social media like Holly Robinson Pete, Tika Sumpter, Cory Hardrict and more, resulting in 130 earned social posts and 3,486,476 social impressions to-date.