Have you steamed your hair yet?

The 2022 McKinsey report on Black representation in the US beauty industry makes for interesting reading. One strand of research found that Black consumers were three times more likely to be dissatisfied than non-Black consumers with their options for haircare, skincare and make-up.

Judy Koloko, the London-based founder of The Steam Bar, a new salon concept and haircare line, is not surprised. “When it came to my own hairdressing experience, I found that it never felt elevated.” She launched a business seeking to remedy this shortcoming. The Steam Bar is part of a new wave of Black haircare lines – such as Pattern Beauty by Tracee Ellis Ross, Thom by session stylist Cyndia Harvey and Charlotte Mensah – that deliver a luxury product to Black women and men who have felt underserved. 

Koloko started out as a model agent before becoming a talent agent, most recently at CLM. Her new venture is rich in fashion-world cachet – Camilla Lowther, founder of CLM and mother of Vogue cover star Adwoa Aboah, is a co-founder in The Steam Bar, as is Jamil Shamasdin of talent management firm JAM. Supermodel Jourdan Dunn is the face of the brand. 

The Steam Bar’s product line, including the Scalp Saviour Mask (£40) and the Scalp Shampoo (£30), is built upon “skinification”, where ingredients usually found in skincare, such as glycerin, betaine, D-panthenol, vitamins and antioxidants, are used to hydrate and condition the scalp. Scalp health, believes Koloko, is key to healthy, glossy, full locks – as well as treating conditions such as alopecia and receding hairlines. Products are applied using a steaming process that opens the pores and allows for deep penetration at the root but also removes impurities and product build-up. Behind the scenes, Iain Sallis, director of the College of Trichological Science and Practice, has acted as an adviser. “He’s phenomenal, and has so much knowledge when it comes to scalp care,” Koloko enthuses.

Following a product launch in London’s Selfridges last November, a three-month pop-up salon, The Sanctuary, comes to the department store this month; a standalone salon is set to open in Atlanta at the end of the year. The brand will also look to open its own UK Sanctuary with a private membership element. “We are going to have events where influential people come and talk about everything from mental health to nutrition,” says Koloko, who is confident that there is the demand. “I felt something was lacking, did the research and realised that there’s such a breadth of women that feel exactly the same.”