It was “The Rachel” for Jennifer Aniston in the ’90s and it was the “c–ty little bob” for Leslie Bibb earlier this year. Now one of hair’s most directional talents has a product line of his own.
Los Angeles-based Chris McMillan, whose decades-spanning career has also seen him work with Living Proof and Drunk Elephant, is launching a brand that bears his name at Sephora on Aug. 12.
Sitting for a wide-ranging interview with WWD at the Peninsula Chicago Hotel in mid-June, where he was gearing up to host a masterclass for stylists in the Windy City, McMillan detailed his launch strategy and vision for the brand.
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“When you come into the hair salon and get your hair done by me, and you get a blowout, everybody always says, ‘Oh, my god, I love my hair. How can I do this myself?’ Well, there you are. I’m giving you the kit. These are the basic products that I will always use,” he said of the brand, which is focusing on stylers out the gate.
The lineup includes The Glassy Smooth Blowdry Spray, $36; The Gel, $38; The Mousse, $36; The Styling Balm, $38; The Major Hairspray, $36; The Dry Texture Spray, $38, and The Wand, $22, for flyaways. All products contain HS3 complex, a proprietary complex for Chris McMillan that the brand said adds shine, strengthens hair and provides heat protection.
But while for the debut of the brand McMillan wanted to focus on styling, that’s not to say there won’t be a shampoo and a conditioner further down the line — and his ambitions are broad.
“I want to be all things hair. I want to address everything that comes to me,” he stressed. “People are losing their hair right now, which is a topic that nobody’s talking about, due to Ozempic, Mounjaro and rapid weight loss. And I want to talk about my clients whose hair is getting really thick because they’re pregnant, and then they’re losing it because they just had a baby. I want to address hair loss, aging hair, graying hair and all the things that I see on a daily basis in the salon.”
With decades of experience under his belt, McMillan is seasoned and well traveled. At The Peninsula, he was even staying in the same room he lived in for three months while styling Aniston’s hair during the making of “The Breakup” with Vince Vaughn, released in 2006. With a résumé like that and the rise of expertise-driven brands, it’s a surprise he hasn’t launched his own brand sooner.
It wasn’t until he met Kenny McGranahan, his partner in life and also the brand’s cofounder and chief executive officer, that the stylist had the confidence to go out on his own.
“I call him the secret sauce, because he’s a businessman and I’m the hairdresser,” said McMillan from his suite.
“I’ve got the salon. I’ve got to go do Bruce Springsteen. I’ve got to get on a plane. All the work that it takes to create a product takes a lot of time. I could never have done this on my own. I needed somebody that was corporate, businessy,” he continued, pointing to McGranahan, whose background is in commercial real estate.
While the support of McGranahan and his undeniable skill as a hairstylist are key ingredients of the aforementioned secret sauce, it doesn’t take much time spent with McMillan to see that his affable personality is the other vital ingredient and why he has such a loyal client following.
“It wasn’t until I started sitting in the salon every single day and watching Chris transform people, I was like, ‘this guy really is the best.’ There’s magic here,” added McGranahan. “That’s what initially propelled me to be like, ‘you should do this.’”
For the debut products, most of which come in what McMillan describes as French blue colored packaging, fragrance was important, with three distinct smells.
Take the blowdry spray, for example. “The smell is a big deal for me,” said McMillan. “I took my two favorite suntan lotions, because suntan lotion is a base tone. I love perfume, but I didn’t want a perfumey smell, because I want things that are going to layer on top of my body wash. I wanted this to smell like a body lotion, or like the under layer of your fragrance.”
Another key part of his vision is education. McMillan is a clear master of his craft, but he doesn’t think the art of the perfect blowout should take decades to learn.
“I want to teach people the basics of what to do with their hair, especially from when they get out of the shower. I’ll keep it really simple. That’s why I like to teach classes. I like to connect with people and then teach people that it’s not as hard as you think.”
When it came to retail, partnering with Sephora was a no-brainer for him. After all, he worked on the development of both Living Proof and Drunk Elephant’s hair range, and since being connected, he’s been developing the line with the retailer.
“Me, personally, I’ve always connected with Sephora. Living Proof was in Sephora. My image and my likeness was in Sephora when we did the dry shampoo. Then Drunk Elephant was at Sephora,” he said. “They’re awesome to work with.”
The feeling is mutual.
Artemis Patrick, president and CEO of Sephora North America, noted that McMillan has earned his place among the greats. “He has defined hair trends for over four decades, creating some of the most iconic looks of our time as a working salon stylist as well as on the red carpet. Now he’s finally launching his own line, exclusively at Sephora,” she said.
It’s also a good time to enter the prestige hair category, according to Circana’s latest data. Prestige benefited from hair, which grew 4 percent. Styling products swelled 12 percent.
For the styling category, McMillan is inspired by the makeup artists that have founded color cosmetics brands.
“There’s Patrick (Ta), there’s Gucci (Westman), there’s Pat (McGrath), there’s Mario (Dedivanovic). All their names are on their brand. They’re experts,” he said. “This is my name, and I’m putting it out to the world.”
