Black Beauty Execs Explain Need For Black-Owned Beauty Aisle

There has been a major retail push to change how beauty products are organized on shelves. Up until five or so years ago, most stores had the infamous “ethnic aisle” — a dimly lit, bottom shelf (or locked-up section) with products made for and/or marketed to Black consumers. 

[SEE ALSO: JCPenney Partners With Thirteen Lune To Launch In-Store Beauty Shops Featuring Black- And Brown-Owned Brands]

Most of us were all for the change. We damn near wept at SheaMoisture’s 2016 #BreakThe Walls campaign to break the racial divide in haircare. Today, many retailers have open-shelf, concept areas servicing “textured” and diverse beauty needs. Shopping for Black beauty products is now sexy, chic — and visible. 

However, while the number of smaller, independent Black-owned brands getting space on shelves increased, many were often outperformed by the non-Black mainstream brands occupying the same shelf space. 

Mixing these smaller brands with larger brands actually set them up for failure, said industry experts like Tauro Jenkins, who serves as head of business at Ambi Skincare.

Brands like Unilever and Dove “have such a bigger market…so they move many more units per store, per week than the African American brands,” explained Jenkins at a “Black Is Beautiful: Forever” panel discussion presented by Ready to Beauty. 

“If you take some brands that are “Black brands” and put them in that same set, they will now be judged based upon the movements of that set and get discontinued,” said Jenkins.

There are several anecdotes of brands going bankrupt after finally winning that coveted space on top retail shelves. The brands often took the blame for lack of marketing or consumer interest. 

However, the issues are more likely connected to a lack of resources.

“The root of the issue is that we’re not being capitalized, taken care of, nurtured like other brands and portfolios, etc.,” said Nyakio Grieco, creator of Nyakio Beauty and Relevant: Your Skin Seen. “So we have to be in this smaller defined space because we can’t afford to compete with these other brands, so that’s really where the equity happens.” 

Jenkins said the way to open up the market size (and resources) is to change the perception of Black brands working for “all” consumers.  

“We have to find a way to transition to saying, ‘Okay, these products are great products,’ — whether they’re made for people of color or not. It’s not because Black brands don’t work for other markets. The real work is getting non-Black consumers to see themselves in the products.”

That could prove difficult without taking into account the “granular choices” consumers make based on category, said Corey Huggins, Ready To Beauty founder. 

“I specifically need a certain type of product that works on my hair or that covers my hyperpigmentation, but I am suited — based on lifestyle, socioeconomics, all kinds of things, psychographics — to be able to buy vegan,” shared Huggins.  “There is something very specific and […] until we start talking about that and working within categories and showing categories are applicable to everyone or to a multitude of people, I think we are always going to get that question.” 

So, until the perception changes of who can use Black brands changes and the market demographics grow, Black beauty brands will continue to benefit from having their own section.

“We need to keep that space […]and we fight for that,” added Jenkins. “We fight for the right to have a space that’s not judged by [bigger brands] because of their market size is bigger.”

Of course, that space should be top-shelf, well-lit, and well-stocked.

Retailers like JCPenney have joined the conversation to help shine a spotlight on indie beauty brands of color. The retailer’s new beauty concept stores have dedicated approximately 20% of their space to spotlight Black and Brown-owned brands in a groundbreaking partnership with Grieco’s Thirteen Lune. She co-founded the e-commerce platform in 2020 to create space and opportunities for brands of color.

“It’s so important that we all come together, to support one another, to help create generational wealth, to help us all take up space, and to level the playing field,” said Grieco during a North Texas store grand opening. “Black and Brown women, specifically, have long been some of the biggest beauty buyers in this country, the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurship, [and] deserve to have shelf space.”