38 Black-Owned Skincare, Hair, Fragrance and Makeup Brands We Love

Black culture has informed and inspired the beauty space for decades—a fact that we need to celebrate, credit and sustain. Now and forever. That's why supporting the Black community and Black-owned businesses is important, not just right now during Black History Month, but always. There is a need and an opportunity to supply this kind of support, love and commitment every single day, and right now, we'll be doing this by shining a light on some of the brilliant Black-owned skincare, hair and makeup brands that we swear by. 

We acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to be done. As we've communicated before, it's about continuing to rise above (not simply to) the occasion and make actionable steps with deep indentations. One way that we can all make smart, progressive moves is to vote with our wallets by investing in Black-owned business, and the world of beauty is a particularly brilliant category to start with. 

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(Image credit: @AUDE_JULIE)

For Black History Month, we're shining a light on our favourite Black-owned beauty brands. One such way to support and take a stand right now is, if you're able, to put money where your mouth is. Alongside educating ourselves, attending protests, signing petitions, making donations and calling our government officials to demand justice, buying fashion and beauty products from Black-owned brands is extremely helpful, especially considering the financial impact COVID-19 has left on Black-owned brands, which have been hit harder than others. (Please familiarise yourself with this helpful graphic to understand why.)

Below, we're sharing 38 Black-owned beauty brands to support (now and forever). Keep scrolling to start shopping, or screenshot or bookmark for a later shopping date. 

1. Uoma Beauty

2. Beauty Bakerie

3. Briogeo

4. KNC Beauty

5. Pat McGrath Labs

6. Oyin Handmade

7. Soapsmith

8. Kinky-Curly

9. Liha Beauty

10. Charlotte Mensah

11. Coloured Raine Cosmetics

12. Dizziak

13. Iman Cosmetics

14. Shani Darden Skin Care

15. Golde

16. Bouclème

17. The Afro Hair & Skin Co.

18. Flora & Curl

19. Yard + Parish

20. Trepadora

21. Selfmade Candle

22. Freya + Bailey

23. Vernon François

24. DWIRA

25. Juvia's Place

26. Bea Skin Care

27. Okiki

28. Kilali Cosmetics

29. Ruka

30. Bread Beauty Supply

31. Pattern Beauty

32. Fenty Beauty

33. Maya Njie

34. S'able Labs

35. Airfro

36. Aaron Wallace

37. Holy Curls

38. Epara

Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content for Who What Wear for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie and Who What Wear family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.

With contributions from