Vanity Affairs: Bread Beauty Supply Founder Maeva Heim On Her New Haircare Routine After Embracing Her Natural Texture

Plus, why she founded a haircare brand when existing products weren’t doing the trick. 

Welcome to Vanity Affairs – an editorial series where we document the early morning beauty routines of notable men and women.

There are some people who have an I-can’t-put-my-finger-on-it kind of glow – a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. You know the ones – their hair falls just right, their skin is dewy but never shiny, and they exude confidence without being arrogant.

In the interest of public service, we’ve set about tracking these aforementioned unicorns down to find out their secrets. So far, GP has spoken to model Georgia Fowler, personal shopper Gabriel Waller, Queer Eye’s resident grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness and supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (amongst others).

Today, Maeva Heim, founder of Bread Beauty Supply, takes centre stage.

When Bread Beauty Supply launched earlier this year – in the midst of a pandemic, no less – it made waves both in Australia and abroad. Closer to home, Bready Beauty Supply is available direct to consumer via Breadbeautysupply.com; however, over in the States, Heim managed to get her foot in the door at Sephora before she’d even launched a product.

Heim grew up in Perth where she spent a good chunk of her teenage years working at her mum’s African hair salon. After school, she moved to Melbourne where she embarked on a career in marketing at a little company called L’Oréal (you may have heard of it?).

The lightbulb moment for Bread Beauty Supply came when Heim made the decision to transition back to her natural hair texture after relaxing (chemically straightening) her hair since she was six years old. She soon discovered that the market was severely lacking in brands made specifically for textured hair; Bread Beauty Supply was created to fill that gap.

Her beauty background means that Heim considers herself more of an “industry enthusiast” than a through and through beauty girl. But having said that, she can “appreciate a good moisturiser or mascara as much as the next person!”

If you have textured hair yourself, you’ll want to read this one – Heim’s haircare advice is good (she’s a 4C girl herself). Here, every single product she uses in the morning from start to finish.

“I try to keep my morning skincare pretty gentle, and focus on more heavy duty cleanser and exfoliants in the evening.

My cleanser is usually either Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser (USD $9) or Kate Sommerville ExfoliKate Cleanser ($61). However my current favourite that I have been loving is Go-To Fancy Face Nourishing Oil Cleanser ($45). I have very dry skin, so I like that it feels super gentle and cushioning on the skin, and leaves me with a really soft but clean face.”

“I’ve never really been big on serums, but if it counts as a serum I use the Sunday Riley Good Genes Lactic Acid Treatment ($136) every other day. The first time I used it, I hated it. But I worked my way up by using it sporadically as a mask, rather than a leave-on. Eventually I built up to being able to apply it normally, and I now love that it gives me a gentle but refreshing glow.”

“For moisturiser, I love Topicals Like Butter Hydrating Mask (USD $32). It’s intended to be a face mask, but can be used as a moisturiser if used sparingly in a thin layer. It gives a lovely soft finish that is perfect for my dry, dehydrated skin.”

“I can’t not use a face oil. It’s my favourite part of my skin routine. I’m currently use the Fluff Face Oil #1 ($24). Which is lovely and lightweight, but I also love Andalou Naturals CannaCell Beauty Oil ($29.99).

“I feel as though makeup tends to be the first foray into the world of beauty. It’s probably why in the beginning of my career, I wanted to manage the marketing for makeup brands and didn’t care too much for skin and haircare. That has certainly flipped as I’ve gotten older! I wear a lot less makeup now, but still like to discover.”

“My current go to products are pretty minimal, especially in the current Melbourne lockdown. These days my makeup is generally for Zoom purposes. For my everyday Zoom face I wear: Fluff Bronzing Powder ($43) – it’s the perfect shade for me, with zero glitter or shimmer, which is what I prefer for a bronzing powder; Sephora Collection Outrageous Oversized Mascara ($20) – this works really well with my lashes, which are naturally curled; Kosas Colour & Light Creme Palette in 8th Muse ($54) – in addition to bronzer, I love a flush of colour of my cheeks, and the cream blush in this palette is perfect rosy tone; MAC Matte Lipstick in Marrakech ($30) – such a beautiful terracotta colour that is a nice alternative to my usual red or pink lipstick tones.”

“I have very textured, curly hair, which is usually dubbed as hard to manage or deal with, but I have a very casual, lazy-girl-hair approach to my hair routine (which is part of the reason I create Bread Beauty Supply). I usually use Bread Beauty Supply Hair-Wash ($20) and Hair-Mask ($28) once every seven to 10 days, and use a styling cream and oil between. Generally I’ll do a blow-dry and braid out so my style can last a really long time before needing to wash again.”

“My favourite go-to at the moment is Bread Beauty Supply Hair-Oil ($24) of course! I never knew how much I could love a hair oil until we developed it. Having said that, I never expected it to take off the way that it has. People with all types of hair have been raving about it, and we were lucky enough to have been awarded an Allure Best of Beauty Award 2020 just two months after our launch. It’s the perfect mid-weight oil – not too heavy, not too light, which makes it perfect for everyday wear. It’s also silicone-free, which can be hard to come by. It’s also completely multi-purpose, so I love using it as a leave-in oil and also as a pre-wash treatment oil.”

“Other than that, I keep my styling products to a minimum or generally try something new every month. The only other products I sometimes use if I’m doing a wash and go style is the adwoa beauty Baomint™ Moisturizing Curl Defining Cream, which is a lovely texture and gives my hair a nice hold.

“Growing up, my Mum was an absolute fragrance fiend. I loved rummaging through her cupboard and bathroom cabinet to discover new scents, and definitely developed my preferred fragrance palette from her collections.”

“I always look for fragrances that give me an immediate sensation and smell good on my skin. I know I’ve landed on a winner when I’ve worn it a few times and something always comments on it and asks what I’m wearing.”

“I usually don’t distinguish between everyday and special events. Once I find a fragrance that I like, I like to adopt it as a signature scent – whether weekday, or weekend. I generally just wear whichever fragrance I’m feeling most drawn to that day or night.

A few of my favourites right now are Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gioia ($149 / 100ml) – I would have never picked something so classic or ‘fresh’ but this was gifted to me by a friend, and it has ended up becoming one of those fragrances that someone comments on everytime I wear it; Sigil Scent Anima-Mundi ($120) – a lovely deep and all natural fragrance that has notes of Jasmine; Cacharel Eden – this is one of those weird vintage, grandma-looking fragrances that I absolutely adore and used to be a staple of my mum’s back in the day.”