Why Cardi B Says She's "Scared" Of Instagram Live

Cardi B hadn’t yet arrived, but a small crowd had already formed outside the Walker Drawas Showroom in Soho. Unusually, the hype wasn’t just about spotting the “Bodega Baddie” IRL. Her Grow-Good Beauty Supply Tour Bus popup shop was the real attraction, with a block-long line of people waiting to get their hands on her new hair products — ones that have been years in the making, if you’ve been paying attention.

You might remember when Cardi B’s DIY hair mask — made of avocado, eggs, and mayo — was all over Instagram in 2020. Sure, people were bored in the house, but that’s not the only reason it went viral. It was the wig queen herself casually revealing a full head of long, thick, healthy-looking hair that made people want to try her hack even more — though, getting her strands to that point wasn’t always easy.

“My sh*t was chopped suey,” Cardi B tells me, laughing. There was the at-home bleaching in her early 20s, then the breakage, and finally returning to the recipes she grew up with — like the avocado protein mask — while she waited for her hair health to catch up.

A few years (and a lot of inches) later, it has. The fluffy, waist-length blowout she’s been wearing lately feels like a far cry from those damage-control days, even if that same kitchen beautician approach is exactly what Grow-Good is built on.

The line includes Wash Cycle and Wash Cycle+ shampoos and Soft Serve and Soft Serve+ conditioners, designed for different levels of hydration and repair — plus Get Rich, a nourishing mask inspired by those real-food ingredients (avocado oil, banana extract, mango seed butter), and Everything Serum, a heat and humidity protectant. It’s a tight lineup, with each product under $20 — and judging by the pre-sale stock selling out in under an hour, fans were ready for it.

Ahead of the official launch on April 15, I caught up with the 33-year-old rapper inside the showroom to talk all things hair, from her hair mistakes to fellow celebrity beauty brands and why she won’t be getting back on Instagram Live anytime soon. In true Cardi B fashion, nothing was off-limits.

Who were your hair icons growing up?

I actually liked a lot of That's So Raven hairstyles. I was like, "Oh, her hair is fire." And I always liked my mom's hair. My mom has really beautiful, curly hair.

Did any of your Instagram hair mask recipes make it into Grow-Good?

Absolutely, almost everything.

You used to be on Instagram Live all the time.

I love me an Instagram Live, but I haven't been on in a long time. I get in trouble every time. Either something good or something bad will happen. Like, I’m scared.

The response to Grow-Good has been amazing. Why do you think people are so excited about it?

I think because everybody’s seen the growth. I’ve been doing this for a minute now. Everything that I do, I put a lot of effort in it.

There are a lot of celebrity beauty brands out there. What did you want to do differently with Grow-Good?

To be honest with you, I just know about three people with different haircare lines, and I want to do what they’re doing because they're doing really good. Cécred, Pattern, Fenty — when you look at the numbers, they're doing their sh*t.

Yours is so accessible. People are in the comments like, “I need this because I can buy the whole line for $60.”

That's just how I am. I actually think of money seasons in my head. As somebody that used to work in the strip club, we know the dry seasons, and we know when people got money and they want to spend it. That's how I think of stuff — like 20-year-old me, what would she like to spend her money on?

You're a Libra, so you have to think about what you're spending money on.

You know what? It's really weird because I will buy a $140,000 purse, but then I’m budgeting everything else. I don’t budget with the things I want, but I budget with the things I need.

I think everyone is either a purse, shoe, or jewelry girl.

I’m a purse girl. I’m not even going to play with it. Jewelry second.

You just dropped a promo on Grow-Good’s Instagram where you’re speaking Spanish. Why was it important to speak directly to your Latinx audience?

If I could speak Chinese, I would speak to Chinese people, too. If I could speak French, I'll talk to them. If I could speak whatever the crap ... I'll speak every language. I'm talking to everybody.

As an Afro-Latina, did you feel like you had representation with your hair growing up?

No, and that's really, really hard. I feel like people do not understand that we all have different hair textures and we all don’t look alike, especially Dominicans. Some of my cousins don’t even look like we’re related to each other. I have some that look so white, and then I got some cousins that look so brown — and we all have different hair textures.

Sometimes, people will be like, “Oh, but ain't you Dominican? You're supposed to have that good hair.” And it’s like, “B*tch, you’d be f*cking surprised, so don’t even come with that.” I’m one of those Latinas that is tan, kind of in the middle of being light and dark, but I have a lot of Afro features in me. It’s hard to make people understand that. I’m representing the “me’s” of the world.

What’s one hair mistake you’ll never make again?

So many. Dying it, bleaching it. I would never bleach my hair by myself. That's one thing I would say. I did that for five or six years straight in high school and my early 20s — never again.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.