Hanahana Beauty Is a Skincare Brand With a Mission
This feature is in the March/April Next Wave Issue. Click here to subscribe.
Abena Boamah-Acheampong, founder of Hanahana Beauty, prides herself on creating a consciously clean skincare brand. Sourcing ethically grown products as well as balancing environmental sustainability throughout her business, Boamah launched her company in 2017 with the idea of uplifting women of color and pushing the boundaries of aesthetics within the beauty industry.
Growing up with two Ghanaian immigrant parents in Chicago, the former middle school algebra teacher knew where raw shea came from but did not know exactly how to attain it. After traveling to Tamale, Ghana, she witnessed the process firsthand. The brand is inspired by Black women, her former students and ashy skin that those harsh Midwest winters bring. She continues to source shea butter as the main ingredient for her products, in collaboration with the Katariga Women’s Shea Cooperative in Ghana.
Hanahana Beauty hosted its fifth annual healthcare day in Tamale in February. Outside of monthly health education classes, each year the team focuses on challenges that the women within the cooperatives may be facing. This year, the company will bring awareness to eyewear and eyecare by partnering with vision or nonprofit eye cooperatives to assist the women. They’re also aiming to create a system where the community will have full access to clean drinking water. “There should be just as much access to water as there is healthcare,” Boamah says, “so that will be a big goal in 2022.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF HANAHANA BEAUTY
The company began with all-natural body butters sourced with shea butter and now offers an array of products, including the 2-in-1 Body Bar (which moisturizes and exfoliates), the Black + Brown exfoliating cleanser and the Skin Nutrition detoxifying face mask that dropped last August. Each product centers around minimal and all-organic ingredients. The new face mask is a powder that is typically mixed with water, but can also be mixed with honey, rose water or oil depending on what works best for different skin types. Shea is the main ingredient to all Hanahana Beauty products. Boamah jokes that “anytime I put on shea, I really feel like ‘that bitch.’ I get excited anytime I use any of the products.”
Hanahana Beauty is focused on creating products that will benefit all skin types naturally versus trying to constantly push out a new product. The brand is also gearing up for product production for 2023.
