“No woman over 40 wants to be told she’s dry.” That’s how Brooke Shields first introduced her new hair brand, Commence, to me. Shields delivered the tagline with a chuckle, but it was also the honest inspiration for her deeply hydrating, solution-oriented break into the beauty industry. “My goal is to encourage 40+ women to age fearlessly in a way that is not often publicized—with excitement, joy, and confidence,” the actress exclusively shares with Marie Claire.
Her 2-in-1 Instant Shampoo, 3-in-1 Leave-In Conditioner, and Root Serum are chemically formulated to address the unique needs of more mature hair (like dehydration, thinning, and brittle texture). They also coincide with marketing that feels inspiring—not clinical or juvenile. Commence was designed specifically for the often “stepped over” demo of women in their forties and above, which are currently more than 80 million people strong in the United States alone.
Commence's bottles are fun shades of pink with large bubble letter font (no more squinting!), and you won't find a mention of "anti-aging," "perimenopause," or "for mature women" on the labels. Yet the products are very obviously not stolen from a tween’s beauty cabinet.
But how does Commence hair care actually perform? According to Shields, the brand’s special Commence Complex—which is infused with peptides, antioxidants, and scalp-first bio-fermentation technology—is effective at supporting hair growth, volumizing and thickening texture, and nourishing the scalp. She’s confident: “I want repeat business. To do that, we must establish ourselves as hair and beauty care experts.”
Still, we like to test products ourselves at Marie Claire. To do so, we enlisted the help of three women over the age of 40 to try the full range and share their honest reviews.
Three Testers' Honest Commence Reviews
Mindy Holender
"I was into [Commence] before I tried it. I’ll be honest: I think I have pretty great hair for my age. I’m 56. But I have pretty crappy eyes. I’m always stepping out of the shower, soaking wet to grab my reading glasses, so I can see if I’m using shampoo or conditioner. I can actually read the labels on these products—it’s a game-changer. So thank you, Brooke Shields, for using a large font size!"
"My favorite product is the leave-in conditioner. My hair gets so frizzy that I’ve seriously considered getting a wig to wear in the summer because it's so unmanageable. I’ve tried every treatment short of chemical keratin, and nothing works. This made a huge difference, though! It made my coarse hair feel softer and sealed my split ends. While it didn’t completely prevent frizz—nothing can—it stopped my hair from getting too large."
Dabee Kaye
"I’m going to Cincinnati tomorrow for a work trip, and I was concerned I would hate the products and that my hair would look weighed down and oily by the time I left. I never use leave-in conditioner—ever. But I used [Commence's], and my hair is still light and fluffy. I don’t want to use the word fluffy, but it's fluffy."
"I also used the root serum. When I was blow-drying my hair, it felt thicker. Maybe it was mental, but I swear it felt denser. I also didn’t have to use a smoothing serum after. With this humidity, I normally have to use a glossing finish, but I was good to go with just these products."
Randi Becker
"My hair is coarse, but it’s actually kind of thin. Still, I try not to wash it more than twice a week to keep my color fresh. Since my color is dark, it’s easier to hide [when it's oily]. It looks a little rough around the edges when I get to day three or four, though. I don’t have dry shampoo that I love. I try not to use the aerosol cans, but a lot of the powders leave my texture too stiff or give me a head full of white flakes."
"I’m honestly pretty impressed with [Commence's]. It took me a few uses to figure out how close to hold it to my scalp, but once I got the hang of it, we were in business. It really does make my hair look cleaner and gives me some good volume. I’ve also found that my scalp hasn’t been as itchy."
Shop All Three Commence Hair Products
A dry shampoo alternative, this oil-absorbing powder gently cleanses the hair while simultaneously moisturizing dry areas on the scalp. It non-aerosol, benzene-free, and truly invisible.
