With her makeup brand The Lip Bar, Melissa Butler created the change she wanted to see in the beauty industry. She talks through her own hair journey, from summer camp braids to professional ponytails.
How Lip Bar Founder Melissa Butler Achieves a “Carefree” Blowout
Texture Diaries is a space for Black people across industries to reflect on their journeys to self-love, and how accepting their hair, in all its glory, played a pivotal role in this process. Each week, they share their favorite hair rituals, products, and the biggest lessons they’ve learned when it comes to affirming their beauty and owning their unique hair texture.
With her makeup brand The Lip Bar, Melissa Butler created the change she wanted to see in the beauty industry. “I wanted to create affordable access to vegan and cruelty-free products made for diverse skin tones,” Butler tells Vogue. She started out experimenting in her own kitchen, eventually founding her brand in 2012. The Lip Bar has since become known for its matte liquid lipsticks in vibrant colors, and foundation sticks with built-in brushes. When the Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based founder is not pushing boundaries in the realm of makeup, she’s working on her side hustle, The Blk Pact, a nonprofit working to end racism and classism through economic empowerment.
Growing up, Butler learned about beauty from her mother, a licensed cosmetologist. “She taught me a ton about hair. She would clip my ends. I would watch her dye her own hair. We would do hair masks every weekend,” Butler remembers. She especially loved to wear pigtails with barrettes at the bottom. “That’s when I thought I was the prettiest.”
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Akili King
