Afro Unicorn’s Children’s Haircare Makes Retail Gains At Walmart, Target And CVS

Afro Unicorn, which has over 500 stockkeeping across more than 25 categories, including toys, apparel and books, is bringing its Magical Tresses children’s haircare collection to Target.

The six-product collection contains Never a Knot Detangling Shampoo, 1-2-3 Wishes Silky Conditioner, Freezie Free & Shine Curl Refresher, Sparkle Bright Edges & More, Bye Bye Dry Scalp Serum and Swirls & Twirls Curl Cream. Swirls & Twirls Curl Cream has been a big hit with Afro Unicorn’s mainly 5-year-old to 12-year-old audience. Each item is under $10 and smells like a “rainbow,” according to founder April Showers. The rainbow smell is derived from a mix of berries, peach, papaya, kiwi and other fruit.

Afro Unicorn’s Magical Tresses haircare collection made its debut in August last year on Walmart’s website before arriving at Walmart stores the following month and CVS locations in January. Starting later this month, it will be available at over 5,000 Walmart, CVS and Target stores. Speaking of Afro Unicorn’s distribution strategy, Showers says, “I look at it like a Bingo card. So, if you don’t have Walmarts in your area, but you have Targets in your area, you should be able to get the full line of Afro Unicorn wherever you go right now and have a complete experience.”

Given its name, a lot of people assumed Afro Unicorn, which launched in 2019, had a haircare collection prior to last year. Showers had thought about it, but it fell by the wayside as the brand focused elsewhere. The idea for a haircare range turned into action when CVS and Walmart reached out at around the same time requesting it from Afro Unicorn. The brand teamed up with global licensing partner Magical Beauty to make it happen.

Select Afro Unicorn products are available in dollar stores, and the brand’s plan is to place the Magical Tresses collection in beauty supply stores next. Showers says, “Being from Los Angeles, sometimes I can live in this bubble thinking, ‘Oh, well, there’s always a Walmart, there’s always a Target,’ but then in these rural areas, no, there’s not. Sometimes it’s 30 minutes out, but you have a local beauty supply shop within walking distance, so we got to be wherever the customers are.”

Sales of Afro Unicorn’s Magical Tresses collection are expected to increase 45% this year. For the collection, the brand has been ramping up in-store and community-centered marketing to complement its usual organic, grassroots strategy. Showers says, “It’s been more amplified because this is a different industry than all the other SKUs that I’m in, and there aren’t many people on the kids’ side for haircare. So, it is definitely different, but the same.”

When Showers launched Afro Unicorn, she didn’t have children in mind as its primary end consumers. A friend of Shower’s regularly referred to her as a unicorn because she’s a serial entrepreneur and a single mom of two kids—and that’s how the brand got its name. She didn’t think kids qualified. Showers explains, “People were like, ‘April, kids are going to love it,’ and I’m like, ‘Why? They aren’t unicorns. How could a kid who does absolutely nothing be a unicorn?’ And people were like, ‘Well, kids really like unicorns.’”

Showers eventually embraced Afro Unicorn’s appeal to kids. She says, “I’m happy that I did because of the way that it’s changing, especially this haircare line, how little girls view themselves.” It’s not only Black girls who are changed by the brand. “I created Afro Unicorn to help normalize Black beauty and what I mean by that is that I wanted it to be as normal as your Snow White, as your Cinderella so that everyone feels just as comfortable with it,” says Showers. “We’ve never questioned whether we can rock Cinderella or Snow White, so there shouldn’t be a question if anyone, regardless of nationality, can rock Afro Unicorn because it’s just a beautiful unicorn.”

Showers hopes to expand Afro Unicorn internationally, starting with Magical Tresses. She reasons, “I just think it’s easier to break into other territories with haircare than it would be for me to just randomly drop Afro Unicorn fruit snacks in the Netherlands and they’re like, ‘Well, what is this?’”

Afro Unicorn promotes Showers as the first Black woman to own a licensed character brand sold at major retailers nationwide. However, since Afro Unicorn doesn’t yet have an entertainment property that sits alongside its products—think Coco Melon or SpongeBob Squarepants—it’s more difficult for the brand to travel overseas, emphasis on yet. Last February, it announced a partnership with the studio Pure Imagination. The two companies will produce television, digital, theatrical and gaming content rooted in Afro Unicorn’s intellectual property.

“We’ll break into these other countries with Magical Tresses and they’ll see how well it’s performing and then they’re just going to want more of the brand and by that time we’ll have the content out as well,” says Showers. “This is a worldwide brand. It’s going to be a household name, so I just want to make sure we make it accessible.”