Within the beauty industry, there is an emerging trend of ultimate personalization — and we’re here for it. Gone are the days of settling for retail brands that don’t deliver on their promises. There are brands that let you customize every part of their products, from the creation of their specialized formulas to the packaging you receive in the mail. 

The best part about these emerging personalized brands is that there is one for every area of the cosmetics industry. You can customize your skin care routine, your foundation formulas and your shampoo and conditioner for results that check the box off every one of your beauty goals. 

Among all of these personalized brands is Function of Beauty. Focused on custom hair care, this brand has been a curly girl’s dream for my sister, Maddy Grimm. She’s been using the brand for their custom shampoo and conditioner products for about three years, and has hyped up her experience with the brand for just as long. 

Maddy has fine, curly hair which is a tricky combination. Most retail brands that she’s tried, like Shea Moisture, are intended for thick curly hair. Whenever she tried them, they would just end up weighing her curls down and no one likes the icky feeling of having too much product in your hair. Now that she’s tried Function of Beauty, she can never go back.

“It’s so much better than being stuck with like five brands that you just keep trying over and over,” she said. 

Function of Beauty lets you select up to five hair goals when customizing your formula and features your own unique name printed on the label. Maddy’s hair goals are hydrate, curl definition, volumiz, reduce brassiness and color protection. She had to adjust her formula slightly after she first received her “Function of Maddy” formula, but was pleasantly surprised with the customer service team that fixed up her formula and shipped it back to her right away. Her hair transformation since then has done a complete 180.

“It pretty much just hit all my hair goals,” she said. “It gave me more volume, less frizz. I can go longer between washes. My hair used to get really dry, and now I feel fine as long as I dry shampoo between washes.” 

Aside from all of her curly-hair-benefits, she loves the experience that comes with the customization. The fun stickers she gets, seeing her name on the bottle, and one of the best parts — the easy pump dispenser. Maddy couldn’t stress her love for the pumps enough when she was telling me about the brand. 

“I love the pumps,” she said. “It’s true luxury. You never know how much you care about the pumps until you have them.”  

All her hype has made me consider trying the brand myself, but I can’t bring myself to spend $50 on shampoo and conditioner, even if my sister claims what you’re getting is worth the value. However, Function of Beauty is now offering a slightly less specific version of their custom formulas at Target with more affordable pricing. Starting at just $10, you can create a Function of Beauty hair formula at Target, mixing up to three of their “booster pods” and achieving your personalized hair goals at your convenience. Just one more reason to love Target, right? 

It’s exciting to see all of the opportunities beauty brands are giving their consumers now. It’s like we’re finally being heard. No, we don’t all share the same skin type. Yes, curly haired girls require different hair formulas that suit their unique hair textures. This is the future for the beauty industry.

“I’m here for it,” Maddy said. “I’m sick of buying shitty products that don’t work.”  

And I have to agree. 

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Hi, I’m Maria McGinnis, a senior journalism student from Stow, Ohio. I’m also the editor-in-chief of A Magazine. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty, and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.