When Jen Atkin, hairstylist to the stars, tells you to sleep on a silk pillowcase for healthier hair and skin, you listen.
At least that’s what Slip cofounder Fiona Stewart had in mind when she signed Atkin as spokesperson for the Australian-born brand of silk pillowcases and sleep masks.
“It’s a matter of making it common knowledge,” said Stewart, on the phone from Australia. “If you’re spending money on creams and serums and blowouts, it’s an investment in your beauty routine. It’s just a matter of getting it out there and making it an everyday thing.”
Stewart launched Slip in the U.S. last year, and her products — silk pillowcases run from $79 for a queen to $99 for a king and sleep masks are $45 — have picked up distribution on Net-a-porter and in Nordstrom, Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue, Cos Bar and Bloomingdale’s, among other retailers. Slip products are designed with Slipsilk, a proprietary silk developed for the brand.
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Stewart, who once struggled with acne and thinning hair, founded the line after discovering that sleeping on silk led her to better skin and less damaged hair. She noted that education is a key component of getting shoppers to buy into the line and switch from cotton to silk. Atkin, she said, was a natural fit to help convey that message to consumers.
“Hairdressers know the excellence of sleeping on silk,” Stewart said. “And our brands are in the same stores. There’s a great synergy for us.”
Atkin, a hairstylist who launched her hair-care line Ouai last year, will shoot informational videos and appear at in-store events on behalf of Slip. Aside from her own line, Atkin is also a spokesperson for the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer. “I try to create solutions to women’s problems,” Atkin said. “[The Slip pillowcase is] really helpful if you have frizzy hair…and it’s a really chic looking product, and it’s going to affect your sleep. The advantages just made sense.”
Atkin is known to preach a beauty from the inside-out approach. Ouai contains a supplement range and she espouses a vitamin and supplement regimen that she passes on to clients. “What I’ve noticed the most [now] is that women want to take care of themselves….Millennials and even Gen Z are focused on overall health,” Atkin said. “Hairstyles are not going to go back to complication…healthy, long shiny hair is coming back. I’m teaching women to find something in their day to help with their hair health.”
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