If you’re looking to add a few items to your self-care routine, Hanahana Beauty should be your next purchase. The clean beauty brand is crafting products that are must-haves while contributing to continuing conversations in the industry about things like the transparency of ingredient sourcing, accessibility of products and responsible environmental practices.
“A lot of us came into March thinking ‘fear’ as a small brand,” Hanahana Beauty Founder Abena Boamah tells ESSENCE. “We’ve [Hanahana] found our way in this amazing space because we are sustainable, ethical, and a beauty brand. Right away, we saw growth,”
Boamah, a double citizen of Ghana and America, uses her historical roots to manufacture her products. From Shea body butters, to exfoliating cleansers, to a moisturizing lip balm, Hahahana’s mock-up combines traditional self-care modules with present day advancements.
Boamah emphasizes that the past year has been exceedingly paramount when discussing the growth of her self-made brand. A driven entrepreneur to the core, she made the products herself until last year when she was able hire an operations team and a secure a studio space to house her on-demand business.
“It feels like an accelerated year of growth in a time where we actually had time to attend to it,” she says. “If all of this was happening, and the world was open outside, I probably would’ve been pulled in so many diffrent areas.”
“It’s all about creating. your narrative and your community and really meeting what your product says it does.”
Last year, the world was blanketed in global unrest sparked by back-to-back instances of police brutality and racism against Black and Brown bodies. As a result, many industries took a much-needed step back to reevaluate and began to establish protocols for granting marginalized communities access to the same resources and opportunities as their counterparts. The beauty industry quickly followed suit, providing grants, mentorship programs, and additional shelf-space for Black-owned companies. One of many businesses who were able to take advantage of these new opportunities, Hanahana Beauty became a recipient of the Glossier Grant Initiative for Black-owned Beauty Businesses, which provided selected recipients with $50,000 in grant money.
“It’s the separation of what’s genuine and what’s not,” Boamah exclaimed, when asked about the recent support that Black-owned brands are receiving. “I’m not going to stop any blessings coming my way but, I am very intentional about what I give my energy to and what we will participate in.”
Under a fresh rebrand with new packing, Hanahana Beauty is going into 2021 with an authentic push.
“There’s a lot of room in the clean beauty space, even though people feel like its over saturated. I don’t think it is, and I think Hanahana is a testament to that,” Boamah concludes. “It’s all about creating your narrative and your community and really meeting what your product says it does.”
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