In 2017, when Shelby Wild was about to launch her first hair care brand, Playa, she was living a low-key version of the California dream. The former fashion stylist had left the New York grind and set up camp in a beachfront Venice house, where she balanced work hours with the occasional surf break. Wild’s sun-streaked hair had an earned authenticity, but Playa also aimed to simulate that effortless effect, with a pared-down introductory lineup that included an instant-favorite dry shampoo and a sea salt mist named after the 1966 documentary, Endless Summer. Seemingly everyone, on the water and on land, was after the perfect wave.
Six years later, Wild is smiling over video chat from her Palisades home—a roomier place to raise an energetic three-year-old. “I have a view of the ocean, so not much has changed on my end,” she says. But that geographic shift accompanies a broader one: away from the world of high-end niche beauty (she sold Playa in 2020), toward a more family-friendly vision where all are welcome. Such is the spirit of California Naturals, her new hair and bath line launching this week at Target. “I really wanted to create something that was super sustainable and super natural that would force the institutional players to evolve, to create things that are better for everyone,” Wild says. “I just don’t think that the masses have had access to that.”
A breezy, unflappably cool aesthetic has always been one of California’s most recognizable exports. The 1960s had the Beach Boys and a nascent surf scene; the ’90s saw West Coast style and skate culture disseminated to landlocked mall kids. The state has always had its ambassadors of offhand luxury—as seen with a prime-time Zip code like 90210, and paparazzi photos of Hollywood types swaddled in The Row. But the California of this moment feels less of an aspirational place than a conscious one, where locals are tasked with adapting to fraught new normals all the while soaking in the richness of the landscape itself—from wildflower fields to coastline to wooded hiking trails.
That desire to tread gently undergirds the California Naturals range, whose palette of ingredients—avocado butter, olive oil, coconut milk, and the like—would be at home on a food co-op shelf. There’s shampoo and conditioner, along with a two-in-one (for no-fuss types), a leave-in, and a mask, Wild’s personal favorite. The brand’s ability to pare back costs while committing to botanical-led formulas stems from the market’s evolution in recent years. “Coco-glucocide costs one-fourth of what it used to—that’s the natural surfactant that I like to use because it doesn’t strip the hair,” says Wild. Similarly, developments on the packaging front have paved the way for bottles made from 100% PCR plastic—what Wild calls “ocean-bound” because that’s where it would otherwise wind up.
“We really want this to feel like Stüssy meets Dr. Bronner’s,” says Wild, eyes lighting up at the idea of ’90s nostalgia aligning with a good-values benchmark in personal care. California Naturals’ positioning comes across in the easy-going campaign casting: a mix of mostly friends and acquaintances, like the white-bearded father-in-law of the brand’s ops director. The voiceover in an introductory video has a laconic, everyman vibe—a nod to a Spicoli type, says Wild, referring to the Fast Times at Ridgemont High character. Even the name, more generic than cleverly specific, feels inevitable.