Can you believe that it took me over 20 years to step foot inside of a BLACK OWNED beauty supply store? I’ll never forget (well I did forget the name of the store, sorry sis) walking into a beauty supply store owned and operated by a black woman and thinking to myself “why isn’t this a thing?”
So for over 20 some years, where have my mama, grandma, aunties, cousins or any black girl for that matter been buying their hair care products and cute bobos and beads? Girl, we’ve been buying from people who don’t know the first thing about our hair, black hair?
Beauty supply stores are part of the multi-billion dollar beauty industry that has historically locked African-Americans completely out for decades. According to a 2018 Nielsen study, African-American women spent more than $54 million on ethnic hair care and beauty products in 2017 alone! https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2018/black-impact-consumer-categories-where-african-americans-move-markets/
Korean-Americans own more than 70 percent of 10,000 beauty supply stores nationwide. Before Korean immigrants mastered the storefront model in the 60s, wigs and other beauty products were sold door to door. (Who remembers the Avon lady?) https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/04/25/black-beauty-shops-korean-suppliers-roots-of-tension-mn
So here we are in 2020, black women still make up close to 99 percent of the revenue made by beauty supply stores, and we only represent 30% of the market? Something isn’t quite adding up.
Madam CJ Walker became the country’s first self-made female millionaire by manufacturing and selling products for black skin and hair in the early 1900s. (Did y’all catch that special about her on Netflix?) Now that natural hair is the move, it has brought on a wave of eager Black entrepreneurs looking to claim their spot in the billion dollar beauty industry. Seriously, African Americans purchase nine times more beauty and grooming products than any other ethnic group and yet only own less than 1% of the market share. It’s been about that time to make a major shift in ownership from not only hair and skin care products but also to the beauty supply stores infamously owned by Koreans. https://officialblackwallstreet.com/black-owned-beauty-supply-stores/
That’s right. And I’m here for my piece of the multi billion dollar pie. Allow me to reintroduce my business, NATIV3 Co., black woman owned and operated hair and beauty supplies, Since 2019. (Operating solely online for now)
List black owned beauty & skin care products and black owned beauty supply stores...
just list anything black owned in the comments below.
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