'People who can't stand my music still use Cécred,' Beyoncé joked in an interview excerpt published on Monday, 26 October. The Grammy-winning singer said she wanted her haircare products to appeal even to people who dislike her music, adding that this was 'because it works'.
The comments accompanied a new i-D cover celebrating Cécred's expansion into Britain, weeks after the brand entered Space NK stores and broke the retailer's launch record. Beyoncé, who founded the company in 2024, also rejected the idea that she is simply the celebrity face of a beauty label.
Why Does Beyoncé Think Cécred Can Win Over Her Critics?
Asked what she found most rewarding about building Cécred, the 'Texas Hold 'Em' singer pointed to customers across different ethnicities, hair textures, generations and genders. She said she and her mother, Tina Knowles, had brought decades of experience to the business. Her joke about people who dislike her music using Cécred came while explaining why she wanted the products to stand apart from her recording career.
Beyoncé described herself as the company's founder, visionary and sole investor, 'not the face or model for this brand'. She said expectations around celebrity-founded businesses had initially required a change in perception. She explained that her goal was to address haircare problems through product performance rather than assume fans of her music would become customers.
The company sells shampoos, conditioners, scalp treatments and styling products for different hair textures. Some of its formulas contain Bioactive Keratin Ferment, a patent-pending technology made with wool-derived keratin, honey and lactobacillus ferment. Cécred markets the ingredient as a way to strengthen damaged hair, while Beyoncé's broader pitch focuses on getting customers to judge the products themselves.
A Beauty Business Rooted in Tina Knowles' Houston Salon
The company's roots go back well before its February 2024 launch. As a child, Beyoncé swept floors at her mother's Houston salon, Headliners, where Knowles worked with customers with different haircare needs. Those early experiences informed Cécred's mix of traditional care rituals and laboratory-developed formulas.
In a previous interview published by the company, Knowles explained that she opened Headliners in the early 1990s because she wanted customers to feel recognised and confident. She described the salon as 'a safe space where women could feel taken care of'. Today, she serves as Cécred's vice chairwoman, while Beyoncé is its founder and chairwoman.
The new i-D feature brings their relationship into focus, with the mother and daughter discussing hair, family and the company's move into Britain. Beyoncé last appeared on the magazine's cover in 2006, around the release of her second solo album, B'Day. Twenty years later, photographer Blair Caldwell and stylist Shiona Turini have reunited her with the publication for a shoot centred on Cécred.
Cécred's UK Launch Sets a Space NK Record
Cécred entered 90 Space NK stores and the retailer's website on 22 September 2026. In a statement issued the following day, Space NK said the brand had reached its projected first-week sales by 1 pm on launch day. The retailer called it the biggest new-brand launch in its history.
Cécred chief executive Grace Ray said Britain had been the company's largest market outside the US since its launch. Space NK identified Restoring Hair & Edge Drops as its bestselling Cécred product at the time, followed by Temple Oud Hair Perfume. The UK range also includes hair oils, masks and styling products, giving customers access to the line through a British retailer.
Beyoncé's new cover accompanies an eight-page, double-sided A2 poster zine priced at £16. The edition includes an interview with both women and is due to begin shipping internationally on 10 November 2026. Its first 1,000 copies will be hand-numbered, with the full conversation reserved for the printed publication.
