A Love Letter to Your Hair
Review #14 - Crown Affair 👑
A new kind of haircare? For my best hair of all the time? My Revlon and I are ready…
In case it wasn’t obvious from the above image, I do need to say ahead of this review: I’m white. GASP! But it’s important to keep in mind when considering my hair type for the sake of this review.
Review #14 - Crown Affair 👑
What Is It
Crown Affair makes “a collection of haircare tools and clean formulas” that make your hair “look—and feel—its best all the time.” They recently reformulated their best-selling & award-winning Dry Shampoo, so now feels like as good a time as ever to give it a whirl. Who knows, depending if I like it or not, I might spring for the air dry towel or the brand new (as of this week!) Air Dry Mousse.
Brand / Aesthetic
Truthfully, I’d like to swap out all of my haircare products with these simply because of the beautiful branding. I won’t bore you for a second week in a row with my inclination towards chic, minimalist beauty brands (my Nécessaire review should cover it) but just know that Meta has been incessantly shoving Crown Affair ads my way for, give or take, a year and a half.
The ethos of sleek simplicity is evident in their packaging and ingredient lists alike, but they avoid the self-seriousness that other competitors in the category often exude. (Yes, I realize the irony of the previous statement, and how self-serious it sounded. It’s fun to feel scholarly on occasion, sue me.) I’d credit the levity partially to the ongoing fine art motif; the pops of art deco inspiration and subtle nods to colors and imagery that art history buffs and design nerds can appreciate.
The other aspect that sets Crown Affair apart from other “classy” hair/skin/body brands is that they speak, and therefore feel, like a real person. Their tone of voice, an imperative aspect of a modern brand, is dialed-in, and seemingly effortlessly so. They’re gentle and nurturing, easing you towards a healthier relationship to self by way of your hair. The easiest way for me to describe their voice is your friend’s older sister who made a cameo at your slumber parties to bestow her wisdom about beauty and boys, without making you feel stupid for not knowing already.
I’ve listened to their founder, Dianna, speak about the brand at a panel or two, and this simple comment about its origin hasn’t left me since: “Crown Affair was born in the comments section.” For the uninitiated, Dianna was a former Into the Gloss employee (can you tell how formative this platform was for me…) and credits her time moderating the comments and engaging with other young women about their beauty and self-care routines left a profound impact on her and the way Crown Affair has fostered an unbelievable community — more on that later.
An integral part of their brand is the concept of rituals. While I’m on record as anti-“intentional”, I make an exception for Crown Affair because the slight corniness feels genuine. I truly want to take care of my hair and soak in the act itself, and I think a large part of that is their status as a (eyeroll alert) purpose-driven brand.
When it comes down to it, it’s clear that Crown Affair exists for a reason. Tangent incoming:
It’s so obvious to me when a smart-enough person decides to build a company because a) they’re bored b) what, like it’s hard? c) they have money or d) they want to be a public figure. The tell-tale sign of these brands is that when asked “what led you to create X?”, the founder will almost always say some variation of “I saw a hole in the market/there was a product-market fit that was ripe for X.” I think we can all agree that one thing the world does not need more of is consumer products, so it’s more apparent than ever when they exist for an actual reason versus a millionaire’s pet project/get-famous-quick scheme — especially with a highly-visible founder.
This all being said, Crown Affair has a purpose and it’s personal. Dianna was already the arbiter of hair wisdom in her group chats, so with her passion, knowledge, and DTC experience, it makes actual sense that she formed this brand.
Rounding out this section with quick fire compliments: I love the pistachio green, I love the title font, and I love the text treatments. Oh, and I love that they don’t shy away from the higher-than-average price point. They make high-quality products with high-quality ingredients. They never said that sh*t was cheap.
Marketing
Rule #1: Beautifully designed packaging. Check. (Although it caused quite a stir last week. Real heads know.)
Second point of praise: their educational content. Even without being a customer, I will specifically go to Crown Affair’s socials / website to learn how to care for my hair. Which says a LOT. They’ve become a literal resource for me and other hair-havers (there’s a lot of them! sorry dad!)
The context you need to know about me is that I have no idea how to take care of my hair and I only really became interested in it after a traumatic bleaching experience that completely changed its texture. There were tears.
My immediate solves were, of course, purchases — a panicked Jolie order (I believed a stylist who matter-of-factly declared the water in my apartment as ‘hard’) and a stop at Sephora for the miracle-working leave-in conditioner were on literal damage control. After I hit this hair rock bottom, I realized that it might be smart to, I don’t know, think about taking care of my hair properly. So here I am, exploring my relationship to my strands through my favorite vehicle, brands. How poetic.
Informational content isn’t all they post, of course. They’ve got the usual blend of pretty girls using the product, high quality photography, and mood board “vibes” content to tie it all together. If you like the brand aesthetic, you’ll be happy with the follow. As it should be.
I don’t really feel like talking about TikTok because my hot take is that I don’t think the majority of companies need to exist on there (although I understand the financial incentive and I don’t knock those who do) and it seems like a chaotic, expensive, content sweatshop from a brand POV. Actually, my advice is to any brand that’s listening is to focus less on the owned content, and focus more on the gifting/affiliate/whitelisting instead. Diatribe aside, Crown Affair’s is cute, albeit a little too girly-pop for my personal preference, though I recognize that’s what the app does to the best of us.
Next order of business. This is another one of these reviews where I have to touch on the founder-as-public-figure dynamic. As if this hasn’t already been a borderline creepy ode to
(We have mutuals so it’s less weird? Maybe?) I think she does a truly excellent job of juggling the impossible task of balancing founder and influencer that supports the brand’s identity, without CA depending on her. This brand has legs on its own, and her virtually warm energy takes it from a walk to a sprint. I’ll spare you the full analysis on the founder-as-influencer conundrum today, but you can read my thoughts here). Anyway, A+ here.
Moving onto their partnerships and events: big shoutout to Cate who runs this operation gorgeously. I went to a Crown Affair community event a few months ago when this Dry Shampoo was originally re-formulated, and I left with a massaged scalp, dried persimmons, and a can of Ghia in tow. What more could a girl ask for?!
Also, at this point, I’m an *unpaid* Bink affiliate, but I’m such a fan of this collab for so many reasons — the color is stunning, it sits in the perfect grey area between a predictable co-branded item and a useless/nonsensical product for the purposes of going viral, and it’s adorable.
Last thing that I want to talk about isn’t exactly by-the-book “marketing” — nor is it intended to be — but I think it’s pretty smart nonetheless: their Seedling initiative. During the pandemic when brands were confused/tanking/scared of being cancelled, Crown Affair created a “professional development program that connects women in the early stages of their careers (or transitioning careers) with female leaders in a variety of industries.”
Instead of scrambling to dump money into some sort of half-assed virtue signal, CA created this unique and authentic *winces* program with an actual purpose. Not only does it feel like an on-brand way to help others, it also bolsters their public perception and fosters community as a byproduct. It seems like the program is inactive at the moment, but I hope they bring it back because it seems special (I say having no affiliation or actual experience with it).
Efficacy
First of all, this product is gorgeous. The design of the container itself is a work of art. Unscrew the top, and you’ll be hit with a smell that I can only describe as SO GOOD. It comes with an adorable little brush that you remove to find a refillable container of powdered Dry Shampoo. And let me tell you, this powder is exponentially better than any dumb aerosol I’ve tried. Allow me to share a case study:
I got a blowout on a Thursday from Dry Bar (don’t recommend, btw) and I was able to go until the next Tuesday without washing my hair, with undetectable grease (according to a source close to the writer). I’m still in disbelief how long I was able to ride that wave out for (these puns… I have a gift) and I can go on record saying that my hair-washing schedule is now permanently altered for the better thanks to this powder.
Now I have the compulsive urge to make my way through the full CA product line (especially knowing Mitzi was doing the concocting). I’ve never gone for the slicked-back pony look, but something about their Finishing Gel makes me want to try. And the towel. The people seem to LOVE the towel, Doja Cat included.
Overall Thoughts
Another banger in the books. Crown Affair has my heart. Simply put, this brand — and its dry shampoo, more products TBD — makes me happy.
This all being said, I’d love to hear any other perspectives from people outside of my hair demographic!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
In Other News…
Ozempic got a glow-up of its own.
Mush is making baby food. Some things still make sense, after all.
Somehow eco-luxury feels like an oxymoron? I believe it’s possible, but I’m not sure it’s happening here.
More lip products, she says unenthusiastically. New lip kit, “Hotliner”, and hydrating crayons. I’m still content with the glazed donut treatment, after all that.
That’s all for now. If there’s a product you want reviewed or just want to chat, reply to this email. :)
i really thought they’d suck but i bought the hair clips during a sephora sale last year and they are not only the first clips that have held my hair for more than 30 seconds, i can use them during yoga/ cardio. i stan.
girl not you falling for the Jolie ads :O Loved this!