Brooke Shields has been in the spotlight her entire life—and at 59, she’s shifting the focus to women over 40. “A woman over 40 starts to look at her life differently. There’s a fresh start to it. But we’re not really marketed to. There’s this no man’s land—we’re no longer having babies, but we’re also no longer [the] hot chick at the bar, but we’re not in Depends and dentures yet,” she says. The erasure of this demographic, along with the personal changes she’s faced as she’s matured, led her to launch her new hair care line, Commence.
“We’re not just wrinkles; we’re not just menopause. We’re not at the end; we are at a new beginning and need to be treated like that,” Shields says regarding the name of the brand.
Shop Commence
Commence 2-in-1 Instant Shampoo
Commence 3-in-1 Leave In Conditioner
Commence Root Serum
Remaining focused, she’s launching with only three products: dry shampoo, a 3-in-1 leave-in conditioner, and a root serum to repair and thicken your strands. The prices range from $21 to $30, and the packaging is surprisingly small but convenient. Nothing is over five ounces, making it a travel-friendly line with products you can easily throw in your handbag. The colors on the packaging are vibrant with large letters, something essential to Shields and the customers she’s hoping to reach. “I don’t need to take out my reading glasses to read what I’m putting on my hair,” she says, as she picks up a bottle of the Instant Shampoo, a dry shampoo that she refuses to reference as such. “We have quaternized hyaluronic acid in [the formula]. It reads your scalp and provides moisture where your hair is dry and absorbs excess sebum where there’s too much,” says Mark Knitowski, Head of Research and Development at Commence. This was a problem Shields admits to experiencing before creating her line.
While the shelves in beauty aisles become increasingly crowded with celebrity beauty brands, Shields boldly backs the efficacy of Commence and has self-funded the endeavor. “The idea was to solve problems for women by creating hero products [and] addressing the problems, but not from a negative standpoint,” says Shields.
The Instant Shampoo isn’t the only stand-out star. The 3-in-1 leave-in conditioner contains alfalfa extract and quinoa peptides to support hair growth cycles and thicken strands. These ingredients, along with acai stem cells for anti-aging benefits, are found throughout the collection. The root serum is hydrating and even contains coconut water.
Shields has two daughters, Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18, who tested the products. She reveals, “They’re obsessed with the Instant Shampoo. They’re not our demo [but] I can’t keep it in my bathroom. They take it!” Grier enjoys using the leave-in conditioner at night to French braid her hair, resulting in beautiful waves. Nevertheless, though most brands focus on wooing Gen-Z, Shields is in solidarity with the over-40 crowd. “I’m using my platform to be the conduit to true hair care for women in this era of their lives.”