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It’s no secret that the beauty industry at large has a lot of work to do when it comes to diversity and inclusion. All too often, people of color go to beauty counters and find themselves not represented, either in a brand’s ad campaigns or in its range of shades. Eventually, Black people started exercising their options, with many creating their own beauty companies or products to complement their skin tones and hair types.
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For Black History Month, we celebrate these ambitious beauty entrepreneurs who got tired of not seeing themselves reflected in the beauty world’s mirror. These 30 skincare, makeup, hair care and wellness brands put Black beauty first, not as an afterthought, while making products for all to use.
1. Thank God It’s Natural
When your hair or skin is in need of some deep moisturization and you’ve tried everything else, this is a brand you can count on. TGIN sells hair products, like the top-rated Butter Cream Daily Moisturizer, and body items, such as moisturizing bar soaps and serums. Your hair and skin will thank you for adding these into your routine.
Shop Thank God It’s Natural on Amazon
2. Mielle Organics
Whether your hair has tight coils or loose curls, you will find something to fit your needs from Mielle Organics. Want something to stimulate your scalp or to smooth the damaged ends? Mielle’s got you covered. If you’re not sure exactly where to start, the Moisturizing Avocado Hair Milk suits all hair types and has over 1,400 Amazon reviews and a 4.6-star rating for its hydrating formula.
Shop Mielle Organics on Amazon
3. Lys Beauty
Lys Beauty’s standout product is its Triple Fix Serum Foundation that’s available in 35 shades—very fair to deep—and aims to even out your skin tone with light to medium coverage. You can also snag the brand’s cream blush to give your cheeks a natural peachy or rosy flush, its powder bronzer to warm up your complexion and much more from the Sephora-sold brand.
4. The Lip Bar
The Lip Bar remains one of the most visible and successful Black-owned beauty brands and it continues to reinvent the wheel with its products. If you want a bold lipstick that’ll last all day, look no further than its Liquid Matte Lipsticks. Or for a pop of color on your eyes, check out the Quick Lid One Swipe Eyeshadows that come in a range of shimmery tones.
5. Camille Rose Naturals
Camille Rose Naturals makes myriad hair products, from a cleansing rinse to curl jelly to a twisting butter, that Amazon reviewers rave about. You can shop the brand by hair type or its collections, including signature, lavender, coconut, and leave-in. Whether you have a straight, wavy, curly, coily or kinky texture, you’ll find something in this line for you.
Shop Camille Rose Naturals on Amazon
6. Topicals
You may recognize this buzzed-about brand from its online advertisements. Topicals offers two skincare products specially designed for common Black skin issues. Faded is a gel that claims to brighten and even out your skin’s tone and texture, and reviewers praise its ability to reduce acne scarring. Like Butter is a whipped mask that claims to hydrate and moisturize dry, flaky skin and protect the skin barrier.
7. Danessa Myricks Beauty
Makeup artist Danessa Myricks created her namesake brand that’s now sold at Sephora. The line offers several fan-favorite cream products, like a contour balm, cream bronzer and cheek and lip palette. The most praised item, though, is the multi-purpose Colorfix Eye, Cheek & Lip Cream Pigment that comes in matte, metallic and high-shine finishes and in a variety of shades to suit any look.
Shop Danessa Myricks Beauty on Sephora
8. Kosa Professionals
If you have coarse hair, you probably have a love and hate relationship with a flat iron. On one hand, you love a sleek look and on the other hand, you hate the heat damage that comes with it. The Kosa flat irons are made with tourmaline plates, which the brand claims prevents your tresses from breaking or undergoing too much damage. Now you can have the versatility you want without putting your hair through the heat stress.
9. Inside Outer Beauty Market
If you want to shop at one location for your Black-owned beauty needs, Inside Outer Beauty Market is your dream destination. Whether you need skincare products for yourself or need home products such as laundry and dish soap, you’ll feel satisfied that you are supporting multiple Black-owned brands in one online shopping spree.
Shop Inside Outer Beauty Market
10. Ace Beauté
The standard for quality eyeshadows should be rich, blendable pigments. You can expect that and more with these Ace Beaute palettes, which are striking on the eyes and come in gorgeous packaging. Get ready to feel and look like a queen with these makeup must-haves.
11. Bossy Cosmetics
When you want that perfect pout, Bossy Cosmetics gives you rich, liquid matte colors that stay on your lips all day. Whether you love a bright fuchsia or a subdued chocolate brown, the colors complement a wide range of skin tones. Get yourself some Bossy lips!
12. AJ Crimson
AJ Crimson is a celebrity makeup artist, beauty guru and entrepreneur, so if there’s anyone who knows how makeup should look and perform, it’s him. His finishing powders, pressed powder foundations and cream kits come in rich shades, from fair to deep. With them, you can achieve artistry-level makeup at home.
13. Dr. Locs
When you are looking for products that won’t add a build-up to your dreadlocks, Dr. Locs is for you. Long or short, you know that the key to maintaining healthy dreads is to use products that don’t weigh the hair down. Dr. Locs has both water and oil-based products, depending on how much moisture your hair needs, that’ll keep locks looking and feeling fresh and clean.
14. Caire Beauty
Age ain’t nothing but a number, but if you find that your skin is losing its luster as your birthdays tick by, turn to Caire. This beauty brand focuses on the skincare needs for older babes who want firmer, smoother and overall younger-looking skin with two products: the Triple Lift Molecule Mask and the Theorem Serum Boost. The key ingredient in both is hyaluronic acid, which hydrates and plumps the skin for a more even texture.
15. Design Essentials
Design Essentials helps you identify what your hair needs depending on its type and texture. This makes the shopping process—and your actual hair routine—easier. For example, those with straight hair should consider purchasing the Almond Butter Express Instant Moisturizing Conditioner, which has over 6,000 Amazon reviews and a 4.7-star rating for its deeply moisturizing formula that makes detangling a breeze. And if you have curly hair, try the Natural Curl Enhancing Mousse with over 11,000 Amazon reviews and a 4.4-star rating, thanks to its ability to define curls without weighing them down.
Shop Design Essentials on Amazon
16. House Of Bombshell
Wearing a weave does not mean that you don’t care for your hair or your bundles. At House Of Bombshell, you can expect solutions for both your natural hair and your extensions. For example, you can find serums that claim to promote hair growth, as well as a control paste and hair spray for styling your extensions or natural hair just how you like.
17. Mom’s Recovery
If you recently had a baby, you know that the first few months postpartum bring new kinds of challenges. During this, you’ll want to give yourself as much self-care time as you can. Mom’s Recovery helps you do just that with products like its bath soaks and oils that claim to relieve joint and muscle pain while smelling divine.
18. Kadalys
Kadalys uses the banana plant in its skincare products to help you attain cleaner, brighter, and more youthful-looking skin. The Radiance Precious Oil, for example, is made with a yellow banana bio-active, which Kadalys claims has more skin-protecting antioxidants than your typical active ingredients, like grapeseed or argan oils. You can also find other products, like a cleanser, night cream and banana lip balm.
19. ConditionHer
Ingrown hairs and skin irritation can happen anywhere your body grows hair, which includes your intimate areas. If you have experienced dryness or irritation around the skin and hair down there, try ConditionHer, both a brand and product. This wash claims to fight chafing, combat ingrown hairs, soften hair and moisturize the skin while also leaving you feeling clean. After all, skincare isn’t just for your face.
20. Kaleidoscope Miracle Drops
Everyone could use a secret ingredient in their hair routine that fixes everything. The Kaleidoscope Miracle Drops claim to add shine, moisturize dry scalp, and help relieve hair loss with ingredients like tea tree oil, aloe extract, and essential oils.
Shop Kaleidoscope Miracle Drops on Amazon
21. Satrell Beauty
If your beauty obsessions include lip gloss or nail polish, you must give Satrell Beauty a try. This small but mighty Black-owned brand offers a range of six lip glosses, from a bright red to a shimmery nude, and a collection of 12 nail polishes featuring unexpected shades like subdued grays and neon yellows.
22. Fafah Fashion
Everyone wants to look and feel their best and makeup can help enhance our favorite features and add creativity to our beauty routine. Fafah’s Affirmation Eyeshadow Palette is a bold and bright color palette that can create almost every color in the spectrum when blended together on your lids. And it’s just one way you can play with your look and get in touch with the fun side of makeup.
23. Kawaii Girl Cosmetics
Do you love false eyelashes that make your eyes look dreamy? Kawaii Girl Cosmetics’s Tokyo Lash collection is made up of 10 pairs of falsies in different shapes and sizes to suit your eye shape and style. You can also shop the brand’s The New York Powders, pigments that can be used for blush, eyeshadow and even eyeliner.
24. Ornami Skincare
This cute brand offers skincare products for the face and body, with clever names, like the Let That Mango Body Butter, Glo Getta Body Oil and the No Scrubs Ex-foliator Sugar Scrub. Ornami also sells complementary self-care items, like a candle and a journal.
25. Zena Foster Beauty
Everyone deserves beauty products and tools that can transform their grooming routine into a spa experience at a moment’s notice. Zena Foster Beauty helps you achieve this with its face and body massage tools and exfoliating mitts that promote circulation and leave behind silky-smooth skin.
26. Glory Skincare
If you’re a fan of beauty subscription boxes, Glory Skincare may be your new go-to with its quarterly subscription. Instead of filling out a quiz and hoping you receive items that you’ll put to good use, you can build your own “wellness box” with Glory. The products you can choose from change seasonally, and you can choose from not only skincare items but also items like tea or candles.
27. Holly Hall Supply Co.
Holly Hall Supply Co. founder Justin Moore created this skincare line for men with a big assist from his dermatologist father and brother. The brand has products for preventing ingrown hairs as well as a shave gel to make grooming even easier, and basics like moisturizer and cleanser. If you’re still forming your routine, the company also offers travel-sized options and bundles for you to ease in.
28. Gina’s Love
Gina’s Love offers several vegan soaps that are meant to be used on your face and body interchangeably. Shop the brand’s selection of scrubs, bar soaps, creams, toners, cleansers and more.
29. D.I.D. Nail Paint
This nail polish line comes in funky, bright colors as well as natural and muted hues. The polishes claim to last long and leave a shiny finish. Use your nails as an accessory with these bold tones.
30. Arcani Coil Care
You may have seen Arcani’s ad on Instagram or Facebook with its “five-star edge control” that claims to keep hair laid down for up to five days. But if not, here’s your introduction: The Enthroned Edges Long Lasting Edge Control keeps stubborn flyaways in place without making your hair feel hard or leaving residue on your skin. Created by licensed cosmetologist Jerricha Hoskins, Arcani Coil Care sells a smattering of hair care products, including items for children and beard care for men.
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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
