La La Anthony Introduces Her First Hair Product: 'Power Potion'

"It's not okay to just be happy when your hair looks good," says Anthony, who was inspired to create a leave-in treatment by her own damaged hair.

Today, Anthony, 39, launches Inala ($55), a leave-in hair-strengthening treatment. In an exclusive interview with People, Anthony discusses how the opportunity to practice self-care during the pandemic inspired her to create a "power potion" that even her 14-year-old son Kiyan approves of.

Anthony, like most people, was always on the go before the pandemic. However, when she was forced to slow down, she realized her self-care routine needed to be revamped.

"A lot of my hairstyles were clip-ins, wigs, braids, or weaves," she tells PEOPLE. "I also realized how damaged my natural hair was as a result of not caring for or paying attention to it."

When Anthony looked in the mirror, she noticed damage all over her body, ranging from thinning along her edges to breakage on her ends.

"And I was like, 'It's not okay to just be happy when your hair looks good when you have all this other stuff in it,'" she confesses. Anthony was motivated to find a solution as a result of that experience.

"I began investigating and experimenting with rice water. I even tweeted about it. In China, I discovered a village where the women's hair reaches the floor." It's all part of the process.

"When I was growing up, every [treatment] you needed was in the kitchen: avocado, egg, olive oil." 'Go to the kitchen!' my grandmother and mother would say. Apply this to your face! 'Put some of this in your hair!' So I was doing it myself – fermenting the rice at night and spraying the rice water in my hair the next day, letting it sit, rinsing it out, and repeating," she says.

While Anthony claims to have seen "amazing results," there were some drawbacks, such as how time-consuming the process was and how quickly the solution spoiled.