Mielle Organics accused of promoting texturism after ‘weak & dull’ natural hair ad sparks backlash
TheGrio...
A before-and-after ad from a textured-hair brand has reignited questions about beauty standards, Black hair and what happens when beloved Black-founded brands go corporate.
Mielle Organics is once again at the center of an online conversation about Black hair, but this time, the controversy isn’t about what’s inside its bottles.
A recent advertisement for the brand’s Rosemary Mint collection has sparked backlash from consumers who say its before-and-after imagery reinforces texturism and negative perceptions of tightly textured natural hair.
In the image, a Black woman appears with a large, less-defined Afro on the “before” side, where her hair is labeled “weak & dull.” On the “after” side, her hair appears shinier, more defined and elongated under the words “shiny & strong.”
The accompanying caption encourages customers to “swipe for the before ➡️ after” and promotes a Rosemary Mint routine for “stronger-feeling, healthy-looking hair.”
For some Black consumers, however, the visual transformation communicated something more complicated than the benefits of a hair care routine.
“They are buying our brands and using them to sell us anti-blackness,” content creator Kiandria wrote on Threads, tagging Mielle and calling the advertisement “UNACCEPTABLE.”
The criticism quickly spread beyond a single post. Online conversations questioned why a brand built largely through the support of Black women would use an image that could be interpreted as presenting a full, kinky Afro as the undesirable “before.”
The controversy also reached Mielle’s competitors.
Luster Products, the Black family-owned company behind Pink hair care products, entered the conversation with a pointed Threads post of its own.
“No shade, but we’re standing 10 toes down for textured, curly, and coily natural hair EVERY SINGLE TIME,” the company wrote, adding that after nearly 70 years in business, it remains “100% Black family owned.”
The response concluded by telling consumers tired of hair care companies “playing in your face” to try its products.
Is promoting curl definition the same as promoting texturism?
The criticism raises a more nuanced question than whether a hair care company should be allowed to show before-and-after results.
Mielle’s advertisement does not explicitly say that tightly coiled hair or Afros are undesirable. The labels instead contrast hair described as “weak & dull” with hair described as “shiny & strong.”
Still, critics are responding to the visual language surrounding those words.
For generations, Black women have navigated beauty standards that positioned straighter, looser or more easily “managed” hair as preferable to kinky, tightly coiled textures. Research continues to demonstrate that hair texture can influence how Black women are perceived, making the presentation of natural hair more than a purely aesthetic issue.
That history helps explain why an advertisement showing a fuller Afro as the “before” and more defined curls as the “after” could strike a nerve, even if the campaign’s intended message was about strength, moisture or shine.
TheGrio has reached out to Mielle Organics and its parent company, Procter & Gamble, for comment on the advertisement and the criticism surrounding it.
Mielle’s complicated relationship with its core consumers
The latest criticism comes after several turbulent years for a company that was once widely celebrated as a success story of Black entrepreneurship.
Monique Rodriguez founded Mielle in 2014 after initially sharing her own natural hair journey and homemade hair care recipes online. The brand developed a devoted following, particularly among Black women, and eventually grew into a major presence in the textured hair care industry. As theGrio previously reported, the company’s sales surged 156% during one quarter in 2020.
In 2023, Mielle joined P&G Beauty in a deal that Rodriguez described as an opportunity to expand access to products and services for Black women worldwide. Mielle said at the time that Rodriguez and her husband, co-founder Melvin Rodriguez, would continue leading the company and that it would operate as an independent P&G Beauty subsidiary.
But the acquisition also generated concern among some longtime customers about what corporate ownership could mean for a brand built with Black women at its center.
Those concerns resurfaced dramatically in 2024 as social media users began alleging that Mielle products were causing hair loss and damage. Mielle denied changing its formulas following the P&G deal and maintained that its products were safe. Rodriguez later alleged that some of the viral backlash had been fueled by a creator who was being paid to promote a competitor.
Since then, litigation has followed. A 2024 proposed class-action complaint accused Mielle and P&G of misrepresenting the safety of several Rosemary Mint products after plaintiffs alleged experiencing hair loss and other scalp problems. A federal judge dismissed the complaint without prejudice in September 2025, finding that the plaintiffs had not sufficiently identified the alleged misrepresentations and allowing them an opportunity to amend their claims.
The allegations did not establish that Mielle’s products caused those conditions.
Monique Rodriguez continues investing in Black women
The current backlash also arrives during a significant moment for Mielle’s founder.
Earlier this month, Rodriguez announced a multi-year $2 million commitment to birthFUND, the maternal health organization founded by Elaine Welteroth. The investment will help expand access to midwifery-led prenatal, birth and postpartum care and establish the birthFUND Milan Rodriguez Midwifery Scholarship Program at Kennedy-King College on Chicago’s South Side.
For Rodriguez, a former labor and delivery nurse, the initiative is personal. Her son Milan died in infancy following what Rodriguez has described as a traumatic childbirth experience in which she struggled to have her concerns taken seriously.
Her latest investment underscores a relationship with Black women that extends well beyond hair care.
That may also be part of why the reaction to Mielle’s advertisement has been so intense.
The debate isn’t simply about whether defined curls can be a desirable styling result. For some consumers, it’s about what a company with roots in the natural hair movement communicates when it decides which version of a Black woman’s hair represents the “before” and which one represents the “after.”
And for a brand whose growth has been closely tied to Black women’s trust, that distinction matters.