Worth it: Hijabi blogger Amena Khan becomes first face of L'Oreal haircare campaign

Worth it: Hijabi blogger Amena Khan becomes first face of L'Oreal haircare campaign
The move by L'Oreal to feature the blogger and businesswoman in their haircare campaign has been hailed as a celebration of Muslim women's voices, representation and beauty.
3 min read
19 January, 2018
Amena Khan and her 500,000 Instagram followers will be a boost to the brand [YouTube]
British beauty blogger Amena Khan has made history by becoming the first hijab-wearing face of beauty giant L'Oreal's haircare advertising campaign.

Already one of L'Oreal's "Glam Squad" ambassadors, the blogger stars alongside a host of well-known Brits in the new campaign, such as pop singers Cheryl and Dougie Poynter from McFly, Victoria's Secret model Alexina Graham, and fellow YouTubers such as Kaushal and Megan Ellaby.

The new campaign, which goes by the byline "a world of care for your hair" promotes the spectrum of L'Oreal's hair products by using an array of influencers with different hair types. It aims to "celebrate and explore their unique  sometimes tricky  but ultimately incredible relationship they have with their hair," the campaign claims.

Leicester-based Khan is herself a hugely successful businesswoman, having co-founded makeup brand Ardere Cosmetics and designed her own range of stylish head scarves sold online. 

In a recent interview with Vogue, Khan champions her inclusion in the campaign.

"How many brands are doing things like this? Not many. They’re literally putting a girl in a headscarf  whose hair you can’t see  in a hair campaign. Because what they’re really valuing through the campaign is the voices that we have," she told the magazine. Khan used her newly-expanded platform to call out misconceptions of Muslim women.

"You have to wonder  why is it presumed that women that don’t show their hair don’t look after it?" she said.

"The opposite of that would be that everyone that does show their hair only looks after it for the sake of showing it to others. And that mindset strips us of our autonomy and our sense of independence. Hair is a big part of self-care." 

The promotional push can be seen as a concerted effort to increase, and celebrate, the diversity of their brand representatives, many of whom now consist of millenial vloggers with huge Instagram followings and their fingers firmly on the beauty pulse. 

The move has also been seen as a clever way for the brand to tap into the thriving Muslim market.

Yet despite these profitable aims, the brand's efforts to diversify and democratise their slogan of "worth it", hopefully both echo and influence changing attitudes to the meaning of beauty in 2018.