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Kendall, Gigi, Kim — those are the names that people look to when it comes to outfit inspiration. But when you go to the hair salon for a cut or color and you pull up a celebrity inspiration photo, let’s be real: You’re pulling up a photo of Lauren Conrad.
The genius behind Conrad’s perfectly on-trend colors (pink ombre! blonde ombre!) and cuts (the beachy waves! the shag!) is celebrity hairstylist Kristin Ess. And today’s big news is that Ess is getting her own haircare line.
A collaboration with Target, Kristin Ess Hair will be comprised of 15 items, including shampoo, a serum, and an oh-so-trendy “loose styling powder,” according to WWD.
The collection arrives on Target.com on January 15th and in stores on January 22nd — at which point we’re one step closer to getting the celebrity hairstyles we’ve always wanted.
The fact that Conrad and other celebrities (like Lucy Hale, also an Ess client) have the hair regular women aspire to has not only helped their stars rise; it’s brought their hairstylists fame, too. Ess, notably, is a social media juggernaut with more than 336,000 Instagram fans who follow her for a behind-the-scenes look at her famous clients and her hairstyling process. She also is the co-founder, with makeup artist Amy Nadine, of beauty tutorial site The Beauty Department.
The next step is turning that social media following into a brand name, with a business to go with it. Ess may be the second high-profile hairstylist to do so; the first was Jen Atkin. Having worked for years in Hollywood with the likes of Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Chrissy Teigen, and, most famously, the Kardashian sisters, Atkin turned her hairstyling business into a massive Instagram following, and then into a haircare brand: Ouai Haircare launched in February 2016.
Ess is now following suit, although at a different scale; while Atkin’s line is sold at Sephora, Ess is going for the Target crowd. Given the fan base of her most famous client, Lauren Conrad, that decision to go more “mass” and less luxury is probably a smart one.
Perfect beachy waves for just around $12? We bet there are hordes of Pinterest- and Instagram-loving girls just waiting to pounce.