13 African Beauty Brands We Can't Stop Using

All year round, we’re continuing to celebrate the beauty of Black Joy and all the hope and transformation it brings. From personal essays to deep-dives into history and culture, join us as we amplify Black voices and explore the products, traditions, and people leading the way.

African beauty—coined A-beauty for short—is rich, decadent, natural, and grounded in ancestral knowledge and generational wealth. Through centuries of remedies, stories, and healing archetypes, the ingredients used to create these products are raw and molded from the royalty of the earth. Ingredients such as shea butter, argan oil, coconut oil, marula, and baobab oil are manifested from the soil, blended within a formula that celebrates a connected root, a life cycle, a synergy of sorts.

Culminating centuries of knowledge and expertise, A-Beauty feeds the skin and body with natural and organic ingredients from the content of Africa, unearthing a beauty perspective that much of the world hasn’t yet seen. Founded upon rooted wealth and explored in abundance, it glorifies a past, present, and future rebirth of beauty.

A-Beauty is not a new concept, but has been celebrated within the Black community for generations—that simple, effective, and healthy ingredients can marry together to deliver a radiant complexion. "The raw ingredients used in A-beauty formulations are clean, simple, and effective and derived from the rich African soil," CEO and founder of R&R Luxury, Valerie Obaze, explains. "Most of these raw ingredients are sourced from the ‘shea belt’ which runs across the African Savannah, stretching from West to East Africa, and are unique to the continent." Shea butter is a famous ingredient that can only be sourced in its entirety within the African continent, and it can be found in all of R&R Luxury’s formulations. "At R&R Luxury, most of our product formulations are modern versions of ancient African skincare secrets that have been used by our ancestors for centuries as the key to ageless skin," Obaze explains. "We use all-natural, plant-powered ingredients that are great for the skin and, because of the power of the ingredients, our formulations feature one to five ingredients maximum."

Similarly, Emilia Ramos, Founder of Agrestal Beauty, says that for A-Beauty products, "each ingredient is uniquely sourced from the motherland, offering pure and organic plant-based products that nourish and soothe the skin." Ensuring the preservation of the earth while utilizing its natural and healing abilities, formulas are then inspired by the land’s richness to deliver results. “Much of the continent is divided into three main biomes: subtropical desert, tropical savanna, and tropical forest, providing a rich bio-environment," explains Nomshado Baca, founder of A Complexion Company. "There are many efficacious ingredients which are cultivated using native farming practices, while others are sourced through careful wild harvesting by the local population. The connection between community and environment greatly impacts how ingredients are sourced, with many traditional beliefs emphasizing the responsibility of all community members to care for [the] environment and to have reverence to their ancestral lands."

So, why do we find that A-Beauty struggles with having a seat at the global beauty table? According to a 2020 article from Business of Fashion, Africa withstands an annual growth rate of 5.6%, surpassing expectation, and prior to the pandemic, the e-commerce market alone was projected to have reached $19.8 billion. In addition to this, South Africa alone amounted to an estimated $3.5 billion in 2018 with a forecast reach of $6.16 billion by 2024, according to Statista.

With so many skincare elements being inspired by historical and cultural rituals (see: K-beauty and J-beauty), it’s interesting to note how A-beauty has gone unnoticed outside of the Black community in terms of representation. "I believe African beauty to be the canvas of which we can share our narrative with the world," Baca says. "As a community, we are storytellers, and the accumulation of indigenous knowledge passed down the generations make us master botanists. We can share stories of our rich heritage through the knowledge of our environment and through the use of each ingredient."

Mastering the art of storytelling, community, and streamlined routines, A-beauty has a potency and strength that doesn’t require excessive layering, and can soothe even the most stubborn skin problems, such as eczema and psoriasis, notes Charis Udeh, founder of Kyalli Skin. “The most beautiful part of A-beauty is the bond when beauty formulas are created, and rituals are exercised,” she says. “It is similar to the bond and togetherness shared amongst families at a dinner table in the Western culture; think an Italian family feast. The love and camaraderie is so tangible, it’s infectious to everyone who encounters it.” 

Ahead, discover some of our favorite brands that are rooted in Africa’s natural resources.