Breaking barriers: Amena Khan is the first ever hijab-wearing model to front a hair campaign

L’Oreal Paris Elvive has cast the first ever hijab-wearing model to front a haircare campaign.

Amena Khan is a successful beauty blogger (with more than half a million followers on Instagram) and co-founder of beauty brand Ardere Cosmetics.

The campaign, which was shot by photographer Ian Rankin, features Khan wearing a pink headscarf and matching pink lipstick on a pink background.

She joins a group of 15 British ambassadors and influencers - including Cheryl Tweedy, model Neelam Gill and McFly’s Dougie Poynter- chosen to celebrate and explore the relationship they have with their hair.

The decision to cast Khan isn't just history-making, it also marks a major step towards reversing a common misconception that because a woman doesn’t show her hair, she doesn’t care about her locks.

“You have to wonder – why is it presumed that women that don’t show their hair don’t look after it?” Khan said in an interview with Vogue earlier this week.

L’Oréal Paris, which is the number one hair care brand in the UK, has a powerful voice with which to upend such notions.

“How many brands are doing things like this? Not many,” Khan tells Vogue. “They’re literally putting a girl in a headscarf - whose hair you can’t see - in a hair campaign. Because what they’re really valuing through the campaign is the voices that we have.”

While Khan might wear a headscarf in public, she spends much of her day at home, surrounded by her family, not wearing a scarf.

“For me my hair is an extension of my femininity. I love styling my hair, I love putting products in it, and I love it to smell nice. It’s an expression of who I am,” she told Vogue.

Posting the campaign video on her Instagram, Khan said: “So... lately I’ve had a complex relationship with my hair feeling lacklustre. When I take off my scarf, I want my hair to be more radiant - don’t we all… I’m so excited and incredibly proud to announce that I‘m part of the new L’Oreal Paris Elvive World of Care Campaign which showcases Elvive’s breadth of products catering to a wide range of demanding hair types. I’m The Pink One which has been specially formulated for dull hair to boost shine.”

The move is part of a wider trend in the beauty industry to move away from Eurocentric ideals of beauty and instead create campaigns and products that more accurately reflect and serve consumers.

In the past year alone we have seen the launch of inclusive beauty ranges such as Fenty Beauty, the casting of more diverse faces on the runway and in editorial - including the first hijab-wearing model to grace a Vogue cover - and a movement against the use of photoshop.

L’Oreal, who has recently evolved its signature "Because you're worth it" slogan to "Because we're all worth it," is joining the movement and being very vocal about putting equal representation at the heart of their business.

“At L’Oréal Paris we want to create campaigns that deeply connect with our consumers through spokespeople that inject sincerity, emotion and personality,” says Adrien Koskas, UK General Manager of the brand.

The beauty industry has a long way to go before it is fully representative and inclusive, but with the appointment of Amena Khan, L'Oreal Paris just took a good step in the right direction.