Black-owned beauty brands: How far has it come?

The history of black-owned beauty brands in America goes back many years. In the early days, Black women developed formulas at home for their own skin and hair and shared the products with family and friends.

Since the 1960s, Black women started to realize their own beauty and the need for beauty products that are effective for their own skin and hair. Especially, at the time, the popularity of afro hair was on the rise, and the demand for related products increased. As a result, many Black women established their own brands.

In the 1980s, the growth of Black-owned beauty brands accelerated remarkably and released various types of products. Those products addressed specific concerns for skin types, colors, and hair texture of Black women, and they helped the appreciation of Black beauty.

Currently, Black-owned beauty brands keep releasing various products to fill the gap left by traditional beauty brands and satisfy the needs of Black women. Their brand policies to bring more appreciation of Black beauty and self-pride in their own beauty are promoting diversity and tolerance of difference in their effort to make the world better. At the same time, these brands are creating opportunities for Black entrepreneurs who were relatively given fewer opportunities and contributing to reducing economic discrimination and the racial gap.

Here are some of the Black-owned beauty brands.

©Fenty Beauty

1. Fenty Beauty by Rihanna is a brand owned by the singer-actress from Barbados and offers various products for Black women. They are known for superior quality and a broad color spectrum. Launched in 2017, the brand received the acclaim “The Best Inventions of 2017” by Time Magazine and gathered a lot of attention.

With a product line that covers all colors of skin, it emphasizes diversity and tolerance, raising awareness of the discrimination and lack of diversity in the beauty industry. One of the major changes brought by Fenty Beauty is that its foundation offers more than 40 colors to match various skin colors.

In addition to cosmetics, beauty tools, and makeup accessories are subsequently released to offer a wide variety of choices. Social responsibility plays a big part for the brand, where it launched a special collection in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

©Pat McGrath Labs/cew

2. Pat McGrath Labs is a brand founded by the famous British makeup artist Pat McGrath. Pat McGrath is a globally renowned makeup artist who collaborates with many famous brands. Since its launch in 2015, it gathered interest among many and grew quickly.

The brand is known for its high quality and trendy design. From lipsticks to eyeshadows, highlighters, and foundations, a variety of products are included in the lineup, and Pat McGrath personally takes part in product design and development.

Its promotional campaigns featured celebrities and garnered a global fandom, which is fascinated by the superb quality and trendy design.

©Black Opal Beauty

3. Black Opal Beauty is founded in 1994 with the goal to solve the skin issues specific to Black women. It ranges from makeup products to skin care products.

It is loved for products designed for various skin colors and types. Its products are known to blend in with skin easily, last a long time with little irritation, and promote healthy skin. With its brand image, it contributes to the self-esteem of many Black women. Black Opal Beauty is one of the oldest and most popular Black-owned beauty brands.

©Briogeo

4. Briogeo is a natural hair care brand whose name combines the words “Brio” and “Geo”. Most of Briogeo products are certified vegan, and they are made without harmful ingredients such as silicon, chemicals, artificial colors, paraben, and sulfate.

Briogeo releases product lines that address diverse types of hair. Products are made of natural ingredients and contain herb extracts, plant-based oils, and fruit extracts. Briogeo products help you grow healthy and glowing hair while facilitating more voluminous and bouncy hair.

Working with various women’s rights organizations and donating part of its profit, it’s currently one of the most popular natural hair care brands in America.

©The Lip Bar

5. The Lip Bar’s founder Melissa Butler used to work at a university before she founded the brand in 2012. She noticed the lack of racial representation and diversity in the beauty industry and established the Lip Bar with the goal to address those issues as a beauty brand.

The Lip Bar’s products don’t contain harmful ingredients like artificial colors and paraben and delivery cruelty-free options for lipsticks, lip glosses, and lip liners. Available in various colors for diverse skin tones, it is well known for its soft and creamy texture that protects lips with bright colors.

©Beauty Bakerie

6. Beauty Bakerie offers products centered around a bakery motif. The product lineup includes lipsticks, eyeliners, eyeshadows, cheek palettes, and more. One of its distinguishing factors is its long-lasting characteristic.

The product glides smoothly on the lips and lasts for a long time. It comes in various colors for racial diversity.

7. Uoma Beauty is founded by Sharon Chuter from Nigeria, and its brand lineup centers around makeup products including foundations that are famous for offering 51 colors for differing skin tones.

The brand is trying to promote diversity in the beauty industry and racial equity, including its “Say What” campaign featuring models representing various races and genders. Uoma Beauty continues to grow with its unique brand concept and high-quality product and is a widely accepted leader in promoting diversity and racial equity in the beauty industry.

©Juvia’s Place

8. Juvia’s Place brings African culture-inspired makeup products to the market. The product packages are adorned with colors and patterns inspired by African culture and arts. Each palette comes with a name that is inspired by African culture. Especially, its eyeshadow palette offers a broad spectrum of colors and is popular for its pigment intensity.

It works with the NAACP to address racial discrimination in America. It will continue to bring more new products, colors, and concepts to the beauty fans.

9. Danessa Myricks is a makeup artist who launched her own line of versatile makeup products. Among the product lineup, Colorfix is a versatile hybrid cream that can be used as a color, tint, glitter, or even eyeshadow and lipstick.

Products come in various textures from solid, liquid, and powder, and are available in various colors. They are versatile and easier to access with products that target a wide range of skin colors.

10. AJ Crimson Beauty is especially known for base makeup products that are based on extensive underlying research on Black women’s skin tone and texture. In addition, it offers foundations, concealers, powders, blushers, and so on for various needs for cover makeup.

The brand’s objective is making everyone using their products to realize their own beauty and highlight their uniqueness.