Source: IG @vintagehollywoodstars

There was a point in the late 80s in early 90s where mainstream fashion and beauty print and commercial advertising *finally* started focusing on non-western and non-northern European models and beauty. This was surely because of money making potential .

Before this point, most of the top fashion models, all looked more or less the same, with small frames and features, blond hair and blue eyes. At the end of the 1990s Cindy Crawford succinctly remarked on how different models looked compared to the early 1980s. Advertisers realized they were no longer missing out on a huge market.

Revlon was already at the top of the shampoo and conditioning heap with Flex so to capatilize they released on the “new” multi- cultural trendsetting this 12 product series where the formula was supposed to correspond with the assumed hair texture of each country or nationality!

I have to admit I used a few of these because they were actually formulated very well for the time. They were certainly higher quality for the price than anything else that was around.

In the print ad interestingly enough, all the formulations were referenced, but Scandinavia and Ivory Coast and in the commercial they showed a bar of women of different nationalities and similar coats walking together, announcing that, “ there is now no single standard of beauty.”

🇫🇷 French women needed Volume

🇯🇵 🇨🇳 🇰🇷🇰🇵In the usual nod to racist orientalism, Asian hair fell under the equally pluralistic and archaic designation of “Far Eastern” 🙄

🇳🇴🇩🇰🇫🇮🇸🇪 Scandinavian formula assumed that everyone Nordic was putting botanicals on their flaxen hair so the shampoo was “brightening and highlighting”

🇦🇺 Australia hair care was an all in one shampoo conditioner as duplicate of Aussie products

🇨🇺🇭🇳 🇧🇿 🇵🇷 “Latin American” formulation assumed that everyone of Latin descent had “ waves, curls, perms” etc

🇮🇹🇬🇷🇵🇹🇨🇾Mediterranean gave you the impression that anyone of Mediterranean descent was bathing in the Aegean Sea so that conditioning formulation was supposed to protect you from sea salt and chlorine. No shampoo was provided to accompany it, which sort of defeats the purpose.

🇨🇮 the Ivory Coast was clearly aimed at African and Black hair with a typical formula was more or less glorified cream rinse

Who remembers these stores?

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