Fairytales may be beloved, but even they don’t always promise a rainbow at the end.

For personal care brands, (especially a legacy brand calling it the same) a dose of reality is favored over flights of fantasy. For Fairy Tales Haircare, “real life gets messy,” after all. Last month, the children-, tween- and teen-focused haircare brand introduced The Hairy Godmother – the brand’s first spokesperson in its quarter-century in business.

“I’m a former stand-up comic, so bringing humor into education felt authentic,” founder and CEO Risa Barash told Happi. “The Hairy Godmother allows us to tackle real hair struggles mixed in with real-life issues in a relatable and memorable way.”

Barash planted the seeds for Fairy Tales in 2003 after learning of a children’s hair salon on Long Island that sold a rosemary-based shampoo believed to help prevent head lice. After formulating her own shampoo for the same, Fairy Tales Hair Care took root and operated without a website and only a few SKUs distributed through salons in the New York area. The brand eventually hit shelves at big box, pharmacies, salons, supermarkets and specialty stores across the country.

“After 25 years, I wanted to personify the brand’s voice in a way that felt playful, but authoritative,” Barash told Happi. “It speaks to our brand – we solve everyday problems with humor and light. Kids today are growing up in a very visual, social-first world. They respond to characters. Parents respond to expertise. The Hairy Godmother bridges both.”

Age-Appropriate Beauty

The timing for The Hairy Godmother comes as the brand says it’s turning the page on a new chapter with expansion into tween care and embracing more personality in its brand storytelling.

“Our core audience has always been kids – typically ages 3-12 – but as our original customers have grown up with the brand, we are on our second generation of customers,” Barash explained. “Today, we support children, tween and teens with specific collection designed for their changing needs.”

Fairy Tales offers a range of haircare products to address developing hair and scalp care needs in tweens and teens, from oily roots to evolving texture, frizz and scalp imbalance that may result from the emotional pressures of fitting in. The brand is also an advocate for kids embracing their age and using appropriate products that fit their developing needs.

Finding Humor in ‘Hairy’ Situations

In a new promotional video created by California-based agency Raindrop, Fairy Tales captures how “before-and-after” is more believable than the “Once Upon a Time” narrative.

Watch a clip of The Hairy Godmother, here: