Vegamour is a big deal over in the States, where a bottle of its hair serums sells every 22 seconds. And actress Nicole Kidman loves its shine-inducing products so much that she has just invested her own money in it. We take a look at its hero products
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have noticed that virtually every celebrity under the sun is launching their own beauty line – some more convincing than others.
There’s no denying that the c’lebs have brought us some greats, from Rihanna’s 40-shade Fenty Beauty foundation range to Selena Gomez’s now cult Rare Beauty blush. More recently we’ve rated Stella McCartney’s foray into sustainable and vegan skincare and Idris and Sabrina Elba’s African beauty-inspired S’Able Labs – though we’ll let you be the judge of Kate Moss’ £20 Cosmoss teabags.
But other launches have not been so well received. When Brad Pitt, a man who has never publicly discussed his personal skincare routine, announced his new genderless and eye wateringly-priced cosmetics brand Le Domaine, it’s safe to say eyebrows were firmly raised by beauty editors around the world. So much so that it has in fact prompted a backlash against celebrity beauty ranges altogether, with beauty founders coming togoether to write an open letter of complaint in public display of outrage, in which they urge people like Brad to partner with existing beauty brands, rather than compete against.
So perhaps Nicole Kidman has read the room and played it right with her latest venture. The Oscar-winning actress has just announced her new roles as hair wellness advocate and brand investor in vegan haircare brand Vegamour. Unlike the aforementioned vanity project, Vegamour is an existing biotech haircare brand that happens to make one of America’s best-selling scalp serums – one of which is sold every 22 seconds, so the brand says.
Vegamour: Nicole Kidman’s latest investment
Founded in the US in 2016 by CEO Daniel Hodgdon, Vegamour launched in the UK earlier this year and will be exclusively available at beauty retailer Sephora which just announced coming to the UK and it’s taking over Feelunique’s website and will have physical stores in the UK! Speaking of her appointment, Nicole says: “Hair wellness is about everything. It’s about the exterior, and the interior. For me, this isn’t about being the face of a brand, but being an advocate for a holistically-minded lifestyle that prioritises self-care.
While her glossy mane is best known for its vibrancy, Nicole says her career as a Hollywood actress has put her hair “under enormous stress,” over the years. “My hair has gone through countless changes. With work, it has been straightened, blown out, coloured, pulled and pinned. It’s been through pregnancy and me focusing more of my time on my kids. It’s a reflection of my outdoor lifestyle-traveling, hiking, and swimming. It’s been through a lot, and now I’m on a journey to make sure I’m caring for it in the right way.”
Nicole’s interest in haircare ingredients has largely spanned from her frustration at having “no control over the products used on set,” the brand says.
“Over the course of time, my hair started to break, so I was like, ‘how am I going to find a product that’s going to bring that back?’. Suddenly, I was like ‘wow, there is someone who’s doing that.’”
After “weeks” of use, she says she noticed her hair was appearing “thicker, fuller, and noticeably less frizzy,” after which conversations between Nicole and Dan naturally began. The brand’s sustainability credentials were a factor too, she says.”Once I learned about how Vegamour sources ingredients, and how they’re supporting communities in Southern Africa and the world through ethical harvesting, I knew that I wanted to support that mission.”
The partnership between Nicole and Vegamour is not dissimilar to those between Khloe Kardashians Dose & Co collagen supplements or Jennifer Aniston’s investor involvement in collagen brand Vital Protein or Meghan Markle’s backing of medicinal mushroom powdered coffee brand Clevr Blends. You could say that these celebs are merely lending their name and cash, rather than making themselves the main event.
So are Vegamour hair products any good? Below, we’ve take a look behind the brand.
Is Vegamour haircare vegan?
Vegamour makes topical products and supplements which harness the power of bioactive ingredients designed to add the appeareance of thickness to strands and repair follicle damage, while protecting the hair from external aggressors like pollution.
The hero ingredient in the range is something called karmatin, a patented encapsulated vegan protein which replaces traditional keratin, a building block that occurs naturally in the hair. Lots of haircare brands use keratin that is derived from animals (from things like feathers, hair, horns and hooves) making them a no no for those following a strict vegan diet.
How does Vegamour work to repair hair?
Karmatin is a lab-made ingredient which mimics the silk of the garden wasp spider, of which they have copied the genetic code and grown organically in yeast via a fermentation process. This produces a super-strong silk synthesised protein in a tiny molecular size thet helps to repair the hair cuticle from the inside out, bonding to it and filling out cracks, to leave tresses looking shiny and healthy.
“Vegamour is a clean, effective, hair wellness brand that combines plant-based actives with molecular science,” Nicole says. “Vegamour has good human beings behind it, and that is important to me. Yeah, we take care of our skin, but we don’t take care of our hair in the same way.
“When my hair feels good, I feel sexier and I feel better and I feel like I look better. I recommend Vegamour because I use it and I believe in it, and I have seen the changes with my own hair.”
Nicole Kidman’s favourite Vegamour haircare products
Vegamour Gro Revitalizing Shampoo and Conditioner Kit, £72
Containing the brand’s hero Karmatin ingredient, the Gro Revitalizing Shampoo and Conditioner also contain wild-harvested marula oil, organic murumuru butter and ximenia oil to deeply condition, hydrate and fight free radical damage. The sulfate-free formulas are also suitable for colour-treated hair, but the pricepoint is a little high, firmly placing this brand in the luxury category.
Do Vegamour products make hair look thicker? Everyone’s hair is completely unique, and hair thinning can be caused by a number of reasons (ranging from everything from hormone fluctuations to stress and medical conditions like alopecia), many of which are not fixable by simply switching shampoo. If you believe you’re suffering from hair loss it’s always best to seek advice from a professional in the first instance, starting with your GP. That said, the brand does point towards results from clinical trials in which just over half of women who participated saw an increase in the appearance of their hair density (52 per cent) and around three quarters (76 per cent) said they noticed a reduction in hair shedding after four months of use.
Vegamour Gro Scalp Detoxifying Serum, £32
A bottle of either Vegamour’s Hair Serum and Detoxifying Hair Serum sells every 22 seconds, according to the brand. This serum harnesses the power of vegan phyto-actives such as mung bean, rich in minerals like zinc, selenium, iron and Vitamins A, B, C, B7 (biotin) and K; curcumin, a good source of natural polyphenols derived from turmeric and rich in free-radical fighting antioxidants; as well as red clover, which is rich in isoflavones, that have antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties.
If thicker, bushier eyebrows are what you’re after, Vegamour also has a brow growth serum, (formerly known as vegaBROW) which contains the same vegan phyto-actives as the hair serum. The brand suggests you can expect visible results in four to eight weeks of use.
