Tia Mowry Credits Her Natural Hair Care Line’s Success to One Special Ingredient

Mar 03, 2024

By Paulina Jayne Isaac

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Tia Mowry didn’t always have a good relationship with her natural hair. That’s right—the now founder of her very own natural hair care line, 4U by Tia, used to struggle with accepting her curl pattern.

“I didn’t really see lots of representation,” she tells Glamour. “Whenever hair was talked about—especially when it came to beauty—the narrative was always focused on European standards of hair. So here I am, a young Black girl with curly hair, and I just didn’t see myself being celebrated at all.”

So the mom to kids Cree, 12, and Kairo, 5, was inspired to do a big chop in 2012. “I saw how women were putting their foot down, taking a stance and saying, ‘You know what? We are no longer going to conform to what society says or considers beautiful,’” Mowry continues. “Being my authentic self and me embracing who I am—that is where it’s at. So I did the big chop. Once I did that, I went on this kind of journey of just researching products. I didn’t find any products that really fit my personal needs. I had just recently become a mother, and ingredients were really important to me.”

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The products made by 4U by Tia use natural ingredients like flaxseed, aloe vera, rosemary, and the sustainable silicone alternative Hemi15. “I would see, quote-unquote, “natural ingredients,” but natural doesn’t always mean safe and clean. I’m sure I’m not the only one wanting safe and clean ingredients, not only for myself but for my family. I partnered up with a company that really understood natural ingredients. They introduced me to something called Hemi15, which is our hero ingredient with my hair care line that adds so much moisture to the hair. It replaces what silicone would do for one’s hair.”

Simplicity is key when it comes to the actor’s wash day routine. “I would have a hundred different products in my household. Products that were for me and products that were for my children,” Mowry explains. “It was just overwhelming and expensive. I wanted to come up with something that simplified the hair care routine.”

For this edition of Wash Day Diaries, Tia Mowry walks us through her favorite products to keep her curls hydrated, plus the detangler she uses on her kids to make bath time a breeze.

When my hair is dirty and has a lot of buildup, I use my clarifying shampoo because it cleans the hair and strips away all of its impurities but doesn’t take the moisture out. I’m just in awe of the ingredients in this product. We use apple cider vinegar; these are all kitchen products that my mother would use, and even I would use when I started taking care of my hair. Instead of you having to do these things yourself, we made this simple and added these ingredients to the products. There’s apple cider vinegar, and there’s Hemi15, which is the natural ingredient that adds and puts that moisture back in the hair. I love using this clarifying shampoo when I’m taking my hair out of a protective style because, especially during the summer, you’re headed to the beach, you’re traveling, and you’re not washing your hair every day. So you have a lot of buildup. Then what I like to do is I like to follow it up with the moisturizing shampoo.

This product is amazing because it’s all about just softening the hair. The ingredient that I love in this product is watermelon. Watermelon, it rehydrates, not only when you eat it. It rehydrates your skin and your body. That’s exactly what it’s doing to your hair. It’s rehydrating your hair. We also have Hemi15 in here, which just really gives you that nice soft, clean hair.

4U by Tia Clarifying Shampoo

Walmart

4U by Tia Moisturizing Shampoo

Walmart

The slip on this is freaking amazing. It was really important to me to make sure that you didn’t necessarily have to use a detangler while washing your hair. This conditioner detangles your hair beautifully. I love it, especially when I’m using it on my kids because my kids’ hair tends to tangle more because they’re playing and rolling around. Who wants to be fighting their kids in the tub?

This works really well for not only myself but also for my kids. It just hydrates and nourishes the hair. It also has hibiscus in it and the Hemi15, which gets rid of the frizz. What I love about these products is as you’re washing your hair, you’re already getting rid of the frizz. So once you start to style it, you’ve already worked on that. It just minimizes frizz. It detangles the hair beautifully. I think it’s really important to know that these products are vegan, sulfate-free, and silicone-free. They’re safe, they’re clean, and it’s good for the environment. I feel like I’m a conscious consumer when I use them, which I realized was important to me after becoming a mother.

4U by Tia Moisturizing Conditioner

Walmart

After washing and conditioning my hair, I can literally comb it or brush it out, and my hair is shiny and smooth already. Next, I’ll put in the multiuse hair oil. Now, this hair oil is definitely popular within the brand. It gives amazing shine to the hair, and it doesn’t weigh your hair down. You don’t even have to use this in curly hair. I like to use it on my son’s hair because he has curly hair, of course, but he sometimes likes for me to blow it out to create this really nice, kind of poof that he has in his hair. He’s so popular at school with his hair. This oil has vitamin E and Hemi15 in it. I’ll go ahead and put that all throughout my hair for a heat treatment. I’ll put on a portable cap that attaches to a blow-dryer and then put that over my head to let it sit in my hair for maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Then I’ll take it off, and my hair is really moisturized.

4U by Tia Multiuse Hair Oil

Walmart

Gold 'N Hot Professional Ionic Soft Bonnet Hair Dryer

Amazon

I’'ll put in the leave-in curl cream, which has the flaxseed and the Hemi15. I would put my hair in little braids or twists when it was longer. Now that it’s shorter, I’ll put it in my hands and put it through my hair. Then I put a bonnet on, and that’s it.

4U by Tia Leave-In Curl Cream

Walmart

Now, if I’m not doing that and I’m styling right after my wash, I will put in the leave-in curl cream, and then I will put in the curl-defining gel. The curl-defining gel has aloe vera in it. I’ll also add some more of the oil on the ends, and then I will diffuse my hair.

4U by Tia Curl Defining Gel

Walmart

The diffuser that I love right now is the Dyson. I love that it doesn’t blow out too much air. Your hair doesn’t feel like it’s being blasted with all of this heat, which could damage the curls. I love using the Dyson. I find that my hair dries quicker. It just kind of cuts my routine in half. Sometimes I’ll air-dry my hair—it depends. If I definitely want the curl to hold, I will diffuse it.

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer

Sephora

Paulina Jayne Isaac is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia. Follow her on Instagram @paulinajayne15.