hanahana beauty: Building a Global Standard for Ethical Black Beauty

In March, hanahana beauty celebrates nine years, a milestone that feels both hard-earned and deeply intentional. What started with $1,000 and a kitchen stovetop has grown into an internationally recognized skincare brand rooted in ethical sourcing, community health, and honoring African beauty traditions.

hanahana beauty is proof that when you walk in your purpose, the road becomes clearer.

Starting Without a Blueprint

Founder Abena Boamah didn’t enter beauty with a chemistry degree or corporate backing. She was a teacher. She didn’t have deep capital reserves or insider access to the wellness industry. What she had was conviction.

“I started in my kitchen,” Boamah shared before. With just $1,000, she began formulating body butters, navigating production challenges, sourcing hurdles, and learning in real time how to manage and eventually expand a team. Access to capital, manufacturing knowledge, and community in the wellness space wasn’t guaranteed.

Like many Black founders, the early stages meant figuring it out without a blueprint.

From Product Line to Movement

It didn’t take long to realize hanahana was more than body butter.

Early on, customers weren’t just interested in the quality, though it spoke for itself. They wanted to understand where the shea butter came from, who produced it, and how the women in Ghana were compensated. Tours of production facilities became educational experiences. Storytelling became central.

“What does it look like when you invest in a community that invests in you?” became the guiding question.

hanahana’s work with women-led shea cooperatives in Ghana goes beyond sourcing. The company pays approximately two times the local asking price for shea butter, working outside of traditional fair-trade minimums to actively close the living wage gap. Pricing fluctuates based on season and sourcing conditions, but the commitment remains: sustainability isn’t just about ingredients. It’s about people.

Ethical sourcing for hanahana is relational: it’s long-term partnership, hiring team members who live in the neighborhoods they serve and founder-led immersion. Abena lived in Ghana early in her career, drawing on the belief from teaching that if you teach in a community, you should live in it too.

It also looks like healthcare access.

The company hosts community-centered health days in Ghana, paying doctors to travel into shea-producing neighborhoods. Young women receive a range of care, including reproductive health education and other resources that are often inaccessible. As the brand grows, so does its capacity to fund these initiatives.

The more they sell, the more they can give.

Centering African Beauty Traditions

hanahana doesn’t “borrow” from African beauty culture — it centers it.

Exfoliation rituals, deep moisture practices, and what social media now calls “slugging” have long existed across the diaspora. The brand simplifies routines rather than complicates them. The goal isn’t a 12-step regimen.

Working with a beauty chemist, hanahana formulates their products with plant-derived ingredients and high-quality shea butter to meet the needs of dry, sensitive, and melanin-rich skin. The philosophy is clear: use what we grew up on, but elevate it with intention and science.

Where Clean Beauty Falls Short

Despite progress, the clean beauty movement still leaves gaps.

Melanin-rich skin often has different needs including differences in how lasers are calibrated for darker skin, how psoriasis presents, or how ingredients interact with deeper complexions. Testing across hues shouldn’t stop at foundation shades; it should extend to body care, ingredient diversification and formulation standards.

“If we can have 1,000 serums, why can’t we have 1,000 body butters?” the question lingers.

Black consumers and founders drive innovation and spend significantly within the beauty industry. Yet since 2024, many Black-owned brands have shuttered due to lack of sustained capital. Retailers have funding, but have reconsidered how they allocate those funds. Post-2020 enthusiasm waned, and many diversity initiatives quietly dissolved.

There are bright spots for hanahana. Partnerships with companies like Glossier demonstrate what genuine, sustained collaboration can look like. But overall, the industry still has room to grow, particularly in education, access points, and long-term investment.

Measuring Success Beyond Sales

Sales matter. They’re a KPI, but they aren’t the only measure.

For hanahana, success includes continued improvement in health outcomes in Ghana. It includes internships and educational experiences, and sustainable wealth for the communities involved.

Rest, Faith, and Boundaries

As a Black entrepreneur navigating a volatile industry, rest looks different.

For Abena, it’s faith-centered. Understanding that she isn’t in control of everything allows her to release pressure. Separating her identity from the brand has also been critical. Titles may change, but purpose doesn’t.

Rest also means saying no. Choosing projects intentionally, finding daily moments of joy, and doing hard things because discipline itself can be grounding.

Launching on the Continent

Though hanahana has been active in Ghana since 2017 through impact work, 2025 marked a new chapter: a Detty December pop-up. It was the brand’s first official retail pop-up on the continent.

The activation wasn’t just transactional. It included collaborations, “Pilates and Chill” wellness sessions, talks and conversations, and community-building moments. The reception was strong. The vision now includes not only producing on the continent, but selling there intentionally and consistently.

Nine Years In and Just Getting Started

As hanahana beauty enters its ninth year this March, the mission remains clear: more partnerships, deeper community investment, and continued purchasing power that fuels impact.

From a $1,000 kitchen experiment to an international ethical sourcing model, the brand proves that beauty can be both luxurious and just.

And in a world where trends shift quickly, hanahana is building something slower and stronger.

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