Curls get the girls. But the girls with curls have been ignored for too long.

And thus, a new untapped opportunity has arisen in the beauty market.

But with big celebrity names getting behind the movement, we're about to see the boom of the textured haircare market.

This category has always been important to black and mixed-race consumers. But beauty brands have long underserved them.

For the last decade, there has been a large movement to embrace natural, textured hair, rather than using harsh chemical relaxers that straighten and damage it.

Natural styles like cornrows, loc and afros have been an expression of BIPOC for centuries and are an integral part of black history.

Ideals rooted in Eurocentrism saw these styles pushed out to make way for smoothed and straightened styles. So in the early 20th century, products used to alter textured hair boomed. The products were heavily marketed to (and used by) BIPOC consumers.

The rejection of such products began during the civil rights movement. Black Panther members wore afros and different natural hairstyles as a political statement.

Fast forward to today and the movement is still going strong, maintaining the same values it began with.

The internet and social media have played huge roles in the mobilisation of the movement. And they've created community and conversation around textured hair health and product efficacy.

Despite the opportunity for innovation, there's still been a major lack of choice available for people with textured hair types. Especially in comparison to the vast amount of general haircare products available on the shelves.

And this is particularly the case in European and UK markets.

'Brands are increasingly recognising the importance of catering to diverse hair types and skin tones, but challenges persist, including ensuring genuine representation and avoiding tokenism, addressing deep-rooted biases in beauty standards, and navigating regulatory hurdles,' says Aquila Augusta, founder of Edge Entity.

There is also the need for marketers to acknowledge that hair is an important part of a person's identity. There's an emotional connection to it. Especially when transitioning back to embracing their natural hair type.

These natural hair baddies are leading the way in this beauty revolution on social media.

Solange Knowles wrote 'Don't Touch My Hair"'about how her identity is deeply tied to her afro.

And now, two of our most beloved pop queens are helping pave the way for natural hair care.

Both Beyonce and Rihanna have entered the market with two separate brands focused on textured hair. And they aren't the only celebrities bringing their own haircare lines to market in the last two years. Others include Tracee Ellis Ross, Rita Ora, and Gabrielle Union.

According to The Texture Gap Report, celebrity brands have contributed to a rush of innovation and formulation in the textured hair space.

Searches for 'textured hair' were up 41 per cent in 2023. And they're projected to grow by another 20 per cent by the end of 2024, according to Google search analytics.

Consumers are clearly searching for the right products to suit their hair needs.