Jennifer Lawrence Launches Mes, a 'Biodesigned' Haircare Brand Built With Arcaea

Jennifer Lawrence has a new project, and it isn’t a movie. The Oscar winner on Tuesday, Oct. 27, launched mes°, a haircare brand she created with Jasmina Aganovic, founder and CEO of the Boston biotech beauty company Arcaea. The debut collection of three products went on sale the same day exclusively at the brand’s own website.

The launch came with a cover story in New York magazine’s The Cut, in which Lawrence spoke candidly about nerves, her own hair history and why she wanted to make a beauty product at all. It drew wide attention across entertainment and beauty coverage.

What is mes°?

The brand calls itself “biodesigned haircare.” According to the company’s launch announcement, the idea is to use biology to understand why hair problems happen, then build multitasking formulas so people spend less time on styling. The company’s slogan for the approach is “Unbothered Beauty.”

The name is pronounced “mess,” The Cut reported; Lawrence said that spelling was already trademarked.

“For too long, the conversation around beauty has been about doing more. More products, more steps, more time and more maintenance,” Lawrence said in the announcement. “I wanted to create something that could keep up with real life, rather than asking you to organize your life around your beauty routine.”

The three launch products and prices

The company’s release also lists lab-style performance figures, such as “6X less breakage” for the mask and “86% less frizz” for the serum. Those are the brand’s own claims and have not been independently tested in the reporting we reviewed.

How a TED Talk led to a company

The Cut reported that Lawrence, who calls herself a “hair girl,” spent years searching for products that would let her style without heat. In 2023 she watched a TED Talk by Aganovic, an MIT-trained chemical and biological engineer, and emailed her to set up a meeting.

Aganovic told The Cut she was initially wary that a celebrity partner could be a distraction, but Lawrence flew to the Boston lab and committed to the long haul. Among the details from the profile:

• Lawrence tested the products on her own naturally curly hair, including on movie sets.
• She sent the restyling serum back to the lab almost 150 times.
• She worked on the scent, the logo and the vase-like bottle design.
• Arcaea, which Aganovic said has raised $78 million, is funding mes°.

Lawrence’s nerves about the launch

Lawrence was open about the risk. “What if nobody gets it?” she told The Cut. “What if everybody hates it?” She acknowledged that celebrity beauty lines are often viewed cynically, and said she plans only minimal promotion. She joined Instagram in September, The Cut reported, and quickly passed 8 million followers.

Her biggest worry, she said, is that buyers will judge the products before learning how they work: “These are brand-new products.”

Her film work continues

The brand doesn’t mean a break from acting. Deadline reported on Oct. 2 that Gene Stupnitsky, who directed her in No Hard Feelings, is in final negotiations to direct One Month Mark, a romantic comedy from Apple and Chernin Entertainment that Lawrence will star in and produce. The Cut noted she also recently shot a Martin Scorsese film, What Happens at Night.

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