It’s been a long time coming for the beauty industry to expand beyond it’s black and white complex but, we can thank brands like Hanahana Beauty for catering to a community who has felt left out of a billion dollar industry. From hair products to makeup goodies black women spend nine times more in makeup and hair than any of their peers. While companies have now just started (sigh) to put two and two together, the earned capital from this community has sparked a number of beauty products emerging that cater to black women. Then, there comes this confusion on truly what to purchase because although you do want to buy the best products, it is equally important to support brands who care about their consumers.
While I was interviewing Abena Boamah, founder of Hanahana beauty and daughter of two Ghanaian natives we started talking about the importance of supporting brands who go the extra mile to live in their mission. She herself was born in the states but lived in Ghana as a child and is currently residing there in hopes to gain her Ghanaian citizenship, as well as scope out natural products for her brand Hanahana Beauty. After doing extensive research in Ghana, avocado oil, lavender, and mango butter are a few of the ingredients she uses in her lotions, scrubs, and lip balms but, while chatting with her on the phone we got to talk about so much more.
Read Below how Hanahana began, how she chooses her ingredients, and where she hopes her brand can reach.
On how Hanahana started:
“I was teaching and I was having these conversations with the students about what their eating in their body, Hot Cheetos especially. And they asked me what did I use in my body and I remember looking at these products and I didn’t know what was really in there. My mom use to make Shea but I didn’t like it because it was hard, and then I saw white women making Shea Butter and I was like, I can make my own thing. I did the recipes and then the recipes I found, I didn’t think it was was actually working on my skin so I did the research on the oils and the ingredients. It kind of started from there and that was three years before I started Hanahana Beauty.”
How special it is to her to cater to black women:
“It just is really natural. When I made the products the intention was to make it for my skin. Black women inspired me to create the product and that is who the product is for. I think when products are made, black women are not thought of, now we are for capital reasons and marketing reasons but I don’t think black women are intentionally thought of. For me, it wouldn’t make sense to not have black women be representative in our photos because at the end of the day the people making our products are also black women. It’s about the fact that I have a privilege and I think it’s important for us to be transparent about who is making the product and who is behind the product and I don’t think the beauty industry does that as much.”
On how she finds ingredients to cater to different skin types:
“Shea Butter is for everyone, whoever can use it, and it will work for your skin because the ingredients in it. Avocado oil has protein and that means that it strengthens your skin and hair, it works for everyone. I look at what the ingredients does. The science of Melanin and what it does has to be thought of when creating these products.”
On how to choose brands to support:
“Everyone is not genuine. I think it’s about the mission and who’s behind it. We have to also get the chance to give brands the chance to learn and change but as a consumer, it’s hard to tell if it’s genuine or not. If I am going to make a brand I am going to make it authentic and purposeful because that’s what I want to be as a person. Being able to work with brands like Glossier and see how they interact, I’m like wow, they are showing me who they really are. A company that is ran by a white woman can be multi-faceted and why can’t a black small business turn into that? For me, I want to be big, I don’t want to be a small business for the rest of my life. Why not elevate and expand?”
On Hanahana Beauty products:
“We have the Shea body butter, I use that all over my body after the shower and in my hair. It’s the consistency and it’s fluffy and it’s nice to go in your hair and do your twist outs but you can also use it on your skin. The Shea Balm is for your lips but in the summer this girl told me she use it for your eyebrows [laughs]. I love using the exfoliating bar, and in the summertime, it’s great if you don’t want to use a lot of Shea. Our black and brown scrub is new and I’ve been working on that for two years. That has a natural black soap which is ashes from plantains in Ghana and Shea and it has brown sugar. It’s a really nice scrub.”
Her every routine:
“Out of the shower, I use Shea Butter. If I’m feeling luxurious I use the bar. Washing my face I definitely use the black and brown scrub. Getting ready, I can use the Shea butter on my face in the winter but I really like to use Jojoba oil on my face. If I’m not doing anything I can go out and I feel really good in that. If I want to put mascara on I use the orange blush from Glossier and then Shea balm for my lips and I put lip gloss over.”
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