Embracing Natural Curls With Tia Mowry, Founder of 4U By Tia — E.567 Summary

4 min readOct 27, 2023

Tia Mowry is an American actress and the creator of the “4U by Tia” hair care line. She says she created 4U by Tia after discovering that there were very few products on the market designed to care for her own hair type.

“My vision was to create a line that catered to the textured community, whether your hair is a curl texture of 2A or 4C. More importantly, I wanted the community to basically have high-performing ingredients, or a high-performing hair care line, that was in fact accessible,” Mowry says. “So, this is a line that is not sacrificing the quality of the product for the price.”

Mowry notes that women’s hair care routines are often complicated, so the goal with 4U by Tia was to simplify the process of caring for one’s curls. Especially for family units with representation of different curl textures, there can be a huge amount of different hair care products that do not necessarily all get used. Therefore, Mowry aimed to create products that were effective on all different curl textures and could be mixed and matched to the consumer’s liking.

“I really had my children in mind when creating these products, and also just women in general,” she says.

4U’s president, Karima McDaniel, points to hemi15 in the line’s products as an example of how the company is integrating biotechnology into the hair care line. McDaniel says hemi15 is an alternative to silicone that is synthesized from sugarcane. While silicone prevents the absorption of moisture — which is detrimental to curly hair — hemi15 does not have this detriment. McDaniel also says 4U products are tested across different curl types, ensuring their efficacy for all consumers.

“I’ve realized that I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur ever since I knew what the word meant, and I first heard about the word when I was in high school and I didn’t even really know how to pronounce it,” Mowry says. “But when I look at entrepreneurs, I feel like they are very community-based, meaning they are all about building and supporting a community, building a brand towards that community, being a leader when it comes to that community. And I just feel like that’s something that I naturally am really passionate about. It gives me purpose and drive.”

Mowry says she is deeply involved in her brand beyond the superficial aspect of placing her name on its products. With years of work in the beauty and personal care industry as an influencer behind her, she began to see the value in building her own brand and filling the gap in the market for hair care products that target women with curly hair.

“Nothing ever goes as planned. When you’re an entrepreneur, it’s all about learning how to pivot, how to adjust, how to switch it up,” Mowry says with a laugh. “There’s always deadlines that you have to make that you don’t necessarily make.”

Mowry compares her career as an entrepreneur to her career as an actor, saying that both are fast-paced and need good judgment and a level head under pressure. While some brands skyrocket to success, others take more time to see success, so Mowry has had to exhibit patience as an entrepreneur.

Meanwhile, McDaniel emphasizes the importance of finding the right team to work with as a business owner, saying that 4U’s team has a clear vision for what they want the brand to be.

“Go after something that you’re passionate about,” Mowry advises budding entrepreneurs. “because where there is passion, it doesn’t become about money, and it doesn’t become about even having this timeline. When you love what you do, you just keep your head down, focused, working extremely hard. And then before you know it, when you look up, you’re like, ‘Wow, this has really taken off!’”