Hairpolitan Magazine Vol 2 Oct-Nov 2016
African Esteem means that if you decide for yourself that you are beautiful, you must be. If you decide to be yourself, then that is beauty in its quintessential form and no one can take that truth away from you.
African Esteem means that if you decide for yourself that you are beautiful, you must be. If you decide to be yourself, then that is beauty in its quintessential form and no one can take that truth away from you.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
INDUSTRY<br />
AFRICAN PRODUCTS<br />
BY US FOR US<br />
Interview with Mumbi Muturi-Muli<br />
Kenyan consumers spent more than $100 million (KES<br />
10B) on hair care alone, reported CNN earlier this year<br />
(Parke, Phoebe. Heads up! Africa's billion dollar hair<br />
care industry. www.edition.cnn.com, 5th February<br />
<strong>2016</strong>). This is all thanks to the growing middle class,<br />
which has experienced a growth in discretionary<br />
income, especially for women. Evidently Hair in Kenya is<br />
big business and the companies that were leading in<br />
market share in 2015 included HACO Tiger Brands (EA),<br />
L'Oréal (EA), PZ Cussons (EA) and Revlon (SA)<br />
(Euromonitor, June <strong>2016</strong>).<br />
The hair care niche has also experienced tremendous<br />
growth in the last 5 years and especially the cottage<br />
industry that serves up homemade products made for<br />
African natural hair. Mumbi Muturi-Muli is a savvy<br />
entrepreneur who saw an opportunity and took<br />
advantage of it to bring us, Harvest of Sunshine.<br />
The company was launched in 2012 with an aim of<br />
creating high quality natural hair and skin products that<br />
utilize African indigenous ingredients such as Baobab<br />
Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Shea Butter and Ghana’s<br />
African Black Soap.<br />
We sat with Mumbi to understand more about her<br />
company, the ingredients that go into her products and<br />
how she felt it feeds into the growing African<br />
self-esteem.<br />
What do you think the standard of African beauty is<br />
today?<br />
I think beauty for African women has changed<br />
drastically in the last 4 years. We are no longer held<br />
hostage by the western ideals of beauty. This has<br />
happened so quickly that now I get a feeling that there<br />
is really no standard.<br />
“<br />
WE ARE NO<br />
LONGER HELD<br />
HOSTAGE BY THE<br />
WESTERN IDEALS<br />
OF BEAUTY.<br />
Mumbi Muturi-Muli<br />
“<br />
Images Courtesy of Harvest of Sunshine.<br />
The new standard is what we see in the mirror and what<br />
we choose for ourselves. We are more appreciative of<br />
all the forms that the body and face take and no longer<br />
subscribe to any definitive standard. This is a freedom<br />
that we have not enjoyed in the past as African women.<br />
20 21
Change language