5 Midlife Women Tested Brooke Shields’ Haircare Line Commence

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When Brooke Shields launched her beauty brand Commence in June 2024, we weren’t the least bit surprised — mainly because she had hinted it was coming during a panel at our very own SHE Media Co-Lab @ SXSW. “It was all developed for them,” she told SHE Media CEO Samantha Skey, referring to the community of midlife women she built around Beginning Is Now, an online platform she created during the pandemic. “We really found out where the whitespace was and tapped into the community to understand their needs.” 

The most common concerns Shields heard from women over 40 were around hair health, which is why she started Commence with a six-product haircare line focused on thinning hair, scalp health and promoting hair growth. “Product innovation is not just me slapping my face on something and saying, ‘Buy this, it’s gonna help you,’” she said. “I know what I’m good at, and I understand what my brand is. But I also knew I needed to bring in industry experts — people who know more than I do.”

The very first product Commence developed is the 2-in-1 Instant Dry Shampoo, which is a personal favorite of Shields. “We found a way to quaternize — make really teeny, teeny — hyaluronic acid,” she explained to me backstage at Flow Space‘s event celebrating her latest memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old. “Hyaluronic acid is a molecule that’s too big for your scalp to absorb. Many dry shampoos are aerosol or benzene, and they dry your scalp. Ours knows where your scalp needs moisture, delivers the hyaluronic acid, and then where there’s excess oils or sebum, takes it out. So it’s like a smart product. I use it as a styling tool, because it just gives my hair volume.”

After speaking with Shields about and following the brand for so long, we knew we had to experience it for ourselves. I enlisted a group of 40+ women in our office to each test a Commence haircare product and report back on whether or not it lived up to its claims. Spoiler: we all had a lot to say about how the products smelled.

While you can read our thoughts on the tightly curated collection below, know that this is only the beginning of what’s to come from Commence. “I don’t want to just be a haircare brand. I want to be a care brand,” she exclusively told Flow Space. “We will probably go into body-care next. When you look at what’s out there and how we treat the skin on our bodies, it’s different than how we treat our face.”

We’ll be eagerly awaiting the next launches from Commence, whatever those may be (Shields said she’d love “one more diffusing curl product and maybe one instant shampoo to be used on wet hair”). Until then, here’s our Commence haircare review of the existing products you can shop now.

Commence Haircare Reviews