A famous African-American poet once said, "If at first, you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again," and I felt that in my spirit. Failure is the inspiration you need to get it right the next time and after launching her haircare business in 2017, Gabrielle Union learned that this statement is big facts. In a recent interview with People, the actress gave us a lesson in authenticity and got real about how she had to go back to the drawing board and rethink her blueprint before she could build a successful business.

Gabrielle, who initially teamed up with a group of investors to launch her brand three years ago, told People that although she was able to push through in the pursuit of her hustle, she was battling a dark battle behind the scenes. Months of IVF treatments left the actress with what she described as "massive" bald spots that forced her to wear wigs and clip-ins to keep up appearances:

"I felt like such a fraud selling products. I literally didn't have hair. But, our investors were pushing us to launch, so I was put in a position where I had to wear wigs and clip-ins. It felt so inauthentic to me. For all those women who've dealt with hair loss or balding, it's debilitating and humiliating, and there's a lot of shame involved."

After working with hairstylist Larry Sims to get her hair back into healthy condition, Gabrielle is ready to share her hacks and remedies with other Black women who have experienced hair loss. The collection, which will be available for purchase on Amazon on August 3, features a 3-Minute Restorative Conditioner and Exotic Oil Treatment that promise to get your tresses all the way together. She told ESSENCE:

"We started with restructuring the business between Larry and myself. We are a majority Black-owned company. Black-owned and Black marketed. We needed to do this completely differently. A lot of our hair products that are targeted for African-American hair textures contain silicone. We wanted to take those out. We wanted to really lean into the new technology, new innovation and incorporate hair growth and hair strength, because those are the things that I was dealing with. And I know so many of us have dealt with hair loss, balding, breakage, damage."

Despite the hair struggles she's experienced behind the scenes, Gabrielle has never ceased to give us a natural hair slay and we stan a protectively styled queen.

Featured image by Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com