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For decades, Hip-Hop star and Drink Champs host N.O.R.E. was known for his signature “bald” look—a staple as recognizable as his raspy flow and larger-than-life personality. But in early 2023, a trip to Paris changed everything for him.
Sitting in a barber’s chair, N.O.R.E. noticed something alarming: the barber’s blade had blood on it. And that was all it took for him to not want another haircut. “I wasn’t letting him touch my hair with that,” he recalls. “So I let him use the clippers, but not the blade. And just like that, my hair started growing out.” What he didn’t anticipate though, was his wife’s reaction—she loved the new look. And that alone, was reason enough to keep growing his hair.
For someone who had spent most of his career with a low caesar, seeing himself with hair was surreal—and as expected, with growth also came grays. The natural occurrence was something he never had to think about before—but that’s when N.O.R.E was put on to Rewind It 10, a men’s beard and hair color brand co-founded by his brethren Fat Joe and Its A 10 haircare creators, Carolyn and Jeff Aronson. At first, it was just about “trying something new,” but now, he’s the brand’s newest ambassador.
“Joe don’t put his name on nothing he don’t believe in,” the Afro-Latino rapper asserted his co-sign. “Men don’t have hair care. You go to a CVS, and everything’s for women. We finally got a little section now. And look, we ain’t young boys no more. Them grays come in quick. You get a haircut on Monday, by Wednesday they back. So why not rewind time a little bit? Why not keep looking fresh?”
Last year, Fat Joe told PEOPLE, “I’d been using other products because I’ve got a complex—I don’t like to see no white hair on my beard—but they were not good. They would only last two days [and/or] they would look unnatural. So people started clowning me on X saying that I got a fake beard and stuff like that. So I was like, ‘We’ve got to do something. Let’s make a product for the guys.’ And Carolyn aced it. I call it the Big Mac or Rolls-Royce of hair coloring.”
N.O.R.E., né Victor James Santiago Jr., now joins the brand alongside a star-studded list including: NFL star Travis Kelce, DJ Khaled, Tyson Beckford, Nicky Jam, Brody Jenner, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, Jencarlos Canela, Kevin Creekman, and of course, the Terror Squad bossman himself. For the podcaster, it’s about more than just hair, it’s about breaking stigmas. Giving his take on other quick fixes for men like wigs and toupées, the 47-year-old said, “Look, I don’t necessarily agree with a man piece but at the end of the day, whatever gets you up and makes you feel like the man, do it. You think men don’t like getting manicures? Massages? Come on. We want to be pampered, too. We want to feel like kings.”
Growing up in Queens, the multifaceted artist admitted to always admiring the legendary rap group ONYX, whose bald-head aesthetic became iconic. “The best baldy in the game? Gotta give it to Onyx,” he responded when asked about who has the best bald look. “I even heard a rumor Michael Jordan started shaving his head because of them. I don’t know if that’s true, but the fact that rumor even exists? That’s legendary.” Inspired by the Hip-Hop quartet, he had stuck with the low Caesar for years, but now, he’s embracing a short curly fade. “I’m growing it out now just to show people I got curls and all that,” he said. “I want to go natural. I’m just bugging out right now. I might do the JAY-Z/Nas thing and get dreds.”
Upon the “Nothin‘” spitter revealing his transformation, he also recalled how his peers didn’t let it go unnoticed—with many of them assuming he had undergone a hair transplant. “Tory Lanez called his manager and said, ‘Tell N.O.R.E. to give me the doctor’s number,’” he laughed. “And I was like, ‘The doctor’s number is my mother and father.’ People were calling me, pulling me aside, like, ‘Yo, please, man, hook me up with the doctor.’ And I’m just playing along with the joke, but nah—this is all me.”
But one thing he has quickly learned after trying out other hair brands is that not all hair products are for him. “When I was using a little bit of those products before with other people, it would break me out around my neck,” he shared. “So this one really works. It works for me. It doesn’t break me out.” His partnership with Rewind It 10 is just the beginning. N.O.R.E. has also been thinking beyond hair—about grooming, about luxury and self-care for men who, like him, appreciate the finer things. One idea he has is for his own high-end scented lotion.
“People think it’s weird,” he laughed. “’Like, what? You want to push lotion?’ But listen, I love scented lotions. Bvlgari lotion? That’s my favorite but I can’t get it nowhere. So I started thinking, why not make a lotion for people with expensive taste? Something high-end, something you can get anywhere.” As N.O.R.E.’s lotion may be on the horizon, for now, it’s all about Rewind It 10. The father and husband is dialing back the time, feeling good, and looking younger than ever.
“No grays,” he grinned. “It’s a beautiful day.”
With announcement of N.O.R.E.’s partnership, check out Rewind It 10 official website and its beard and hair color treatments available in Jet Black, Dark Brown, Light Brown, and Medium Brown.
English (US) ·