In a major win for diversity, there has been increased awareness of Black Beauty founders and their brands in recent years. This is Tit’s due in part to growing opportunities to mass-produce their products, market their brands, and sell them on sites like Amazon or in stores like Target. As a result, more and more consumers now have access to these products, and not all of them are black.
This poses a conundrum when the products are sold, making them less accessible to everyone, including the black consumers for whom many of the products were made.
Second McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility “The Report on Black Representation in the Beauty Industry, Beauty products from Black brands make up less than 7% of what’s on shelves and only capture 2.4% of total beauty market revenue, despite 11.1% of beauty spending coming from black buyers.
Many consumers of color want products created for their needs to be unique to their community, but is that always the vision of the founder? What do the founders of Black Beauty want?
“Many black companies, including mine, are stepping in not only to fill gaps in the industry, but also to address culturally unique needs that existing companies have overlooked out of choice or sheer ignorance,” he said Brianna Arps, former beauty editor and founder. of the magazine. Moodeaux perfume. “The whole ‘I couldn’t find X, so I did’ story is arguably the most inspiring, if common, thread in any Black founder’s journey.”
As demand for a Black beauty brand begins to grow, the founder must expand, which may change how the brand is marketed and who now has access to buy it. We spoke to the owners of Black beauty brands to find out how they feel about who uses their products and how the whole process works.
Black consumers may be frustrated.
When Mielle Organics Rosemary Peppermint Oil sold out after a viral video of a white TikTok influencer promoting the product, loyal fans of the hair care line attributed the unavailability of the product white consumers using the product. According to McKinsey, 73 percent of report participants said Black beauty products are often out of stock, and 54 percent reported they are hard to find when in stock.
“We can’t have anything!” was a common sentiment expressed online by many black women who want to keep this product made just for them. The product sold out, which may or may not be because white women discovered the product. It may have been a limited supply due to Procter & Gamble’s acquisition of Mielle Organics, which was announced a few weeks later. Many black women wanted the brand to be the best kept secret in the community. Unfortunately, this is not always the view of founder Black.
Arps thinks it’s something we need to talk about more. “We have the disproportionate burden of remaining authentic but widely accessible without being labeled as sold out. It’s such a complicated dynamic because I myself never want to offend ordinary people,” she said. “I also don’t want to compromise growth or the opportunity to expand to become a major player in the market.”
The complicated relationship between Black Beauty founders and consumers is not new. For years, black Americans have been made to feel inferior, including how we look. “People don’t think of textured hair care as beauty or even beauty. There are laws in the United States that prohibit people from wearing their natural hair,” she said Adwoa Beauty founder Giuliano Addo.
Style and beauty images were limited in representation and services that could treat and care for our skin and hair needs were not available in a store. The women in our families created the care products we needed from their kitchen sinks. That’s why black historical founders like it Annie Malone and Mrs CJ Walker they became heroes and notable historical figures because they and others like them pioneered the consumer experience of black beauty.
The late Fred Luster Sr. is one of those leaders in black hair care. In 1957 he founded the former barbershop Luster Products Inc., which has retained its status as a black-owned, family-owned company. Luster’s pink moisturizing hair lotion is nostalgic for many black women, and the products were a staple in black households. The company now has approximately 200 employees and manufactures products for men and women. Fred’s niece, Resa Lustre-Mac, is Luster Inc.’s senior brand manager. and shares that the company manufactures products and conducts research and development, quality control and internal test releases.
“Many of these new brands rely on third-party companies that look nothing like us to help bring these products to life,” he explained. “And we’ve never had investors to help support us or grow us.”
Growth of Luster Inc. without investors is impressive, but most beauty founders today struggle to attract investors or even change product formulas at scale. This can make it difficult to deal with black consumers when they discover that the founders have other plans, goals and ideas for their businesses.
Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Devin McGhee / Ryan Stokes / Adwoa Beauty
Being made by a Black founded brand doesn’t mean only Black people can use it.
Not all Black Beauty founders want to limit their products to consumers of color. Although this was their original goal, some of them accept that their products are used and work for everyone.
Lustre-Mac is part of the next generation of leaders who will keep the family business intact. She, her siblings, and her cousins provide a voice and perspective on what it sounds like. Some of the future opportunities are in product offerings. “We started by connecting to the African-American community, but one thing I don’t think people realize is that we’re also an evolving multicultural family,” she said. His family now consists of black, Asian and Hispanic members with hair of various textures. Regardless of a person’s ethnicity, textured hair needs products to hydrate and strengthen; this is the purpose of Luster Inc.
“Our product talks to the hair,” said Lustre-Mac. “We are here to create and meet your hair needs. We test our products on textured hair and if the product works for you and you’re of a different ethnicity, we’re happy it works for you.”
Addo’s goals for Adwoa Beauty are similar, with a diverse male and female clientele. “Our brand has a global focus. Adwoa Beauty is formulated for all people with curly, wavy, curly or wavy hair, but we also have people with straight hair who appreciate our formulations,” she said.
Other black founders create products because what’s on the market isn’t working for them and other black people. “When Black Girl Sunscreen was created in 2016, there were no sunscreen products on the market that targeted people like me, who wanted to feel confident in their skin while enjoying the sun, that didn’t let a white tint. someone’s skin,” said Shontay Lundy, the company’s founder Sunscreen for black girls.
Black Girl Sunscreen’s main demographic was women with deeper skin, but since the product’s launch, the brand has been embraced by women, men and children. “We are honored and love when more people discover Black Girl Sunscreen. To me it means that despite the name, the product works, people feel safe using the product, and the conversation about sun safety is growing,” she said.
Representation is what matters most to the founders of Black Beauty.
There are several Black-founded brands in the fragrance and wellness space that are not intended to target Black consumers, but were still created by different owners.
Devin McGhee, CEO of Deon Libra, an adaptable beauty and wellness brand, is unapologetic about targeting consumers of color, even when investors demand it. “It’s not like the products we make are just for black people. It works for anyone with a body, but I’m building it for people of color,” she said. “I always say that prosperity is very thin and feminine and white, and I’m one of the three who is feminine. If we ever think, it’s always an afterthought. I said what I’m going to build will be for black people first.”
Regardless of who the Black Beauty founder’s target consumer is, there is still so much to be excited about when it comes to a person of color building and/or leading a brand. Their existence opens doors and changes the playing field.
The success of founders like Melissa Butler, whose company just became The Lip Bar the greatest trick possessed by black brand Target, is helping bring more black-owned beauty products to store shelves.
Desiree Verdejo, an Afro-Latina founder hyperpigmentation that battled acne and dark spots, the company began to address skin care concerns unique to deeper skin tones, but works for all skin tones and types. “I set out to create a brand that reflects the multiculturalism of the world around me, which means you’ll see a model from the Dominican Republic, content from our favorite Asian influence, and the faces of diverse men and women of color who support the US community of day by day,” he said.
Essentially, the founders of Black Beauty want people who look like them to feel included, seen and heard in their products, even though the products may work for everyone.
I am an experienced author and journalist with a passion for lifestyle journalism. I currently work for Buna Times, one of the leading news websites in the world. I specialize in writing stories about health, wellness, fashion, beauty, interior design, and more. My articles have been featured on major publications such as The Guardian and The Huffington Post.