The Indie Beauty Brands Transforming Africa’s Hair Care Market

Indie hair care brands have their sights set on Africa’s beauty market.

A wave of brands, including those founded by hair stylists Sam McKnight and Charlotte Mensah, as well as buzzy labels Adwoa Beauty and The Steam Bar are looking to kickstart the premium hair care category by launching their brands across the continent, starting with South Africa.

Historically, expanding into Africa was a move reserved for well-established beauty conglomerates who have the capital to support costly expansion plans. While the continent represents a huge growth market, it can be difficult to penetrate due to high import duties and taxes, varying retail landscapes and foreign firms lacking the relevant cultural knowledge. Heavyweight international players like Unilever, Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal Group, offering mass brands such as Dove, Dark & Lovely and Sunsilk, have long dominated. The premium hair care category, meanwhile, mostly remains untapped.

When considering international expansion, many companies look to other markets, such as the US or Europe, first. But brands like UK-based The Steam Bar are betting there’s more to gain by cracking Africa first. After a successful partnership with London’s luxury department store Selfridges, the one-year-old brand launched in South Africa on Dec. 10, with the help of retail partner Woolworths. Co-founder Judy Koloko described it as an opportunity to bring premium hair care products to an “underserved and unseen market.” Meanwhile, Adwoa Beauty, a US-based hair care brand, is also planning to expand into West Africa’s Liberia and Ghana. Founder Julian Addo said as her brand is founded by an African woman, it “only makes sense that the people of the continent get to enjoy and take pride in its offerings.”

Brands who have eyed the African beauty market have the opportunity to unlock the region’s spending power by tapping into its youthful population and rising middle class. But while the market is showing signs of growth — market research firm Euromonitor said beauty in Africa will grow 10.8 percent to $15.5 billion in 2025 — hopeful founders need to contend with a very different customer and retail landscape.

“I cannot have Adwoa Beauty being sold next to Maggi cubes [a type of food seasoning],” said Addo. “We need more aspirational places for beauty in Africa.”

For brands based thousands of miles away, breaking into a new market like Africa can be challenging. It requires the right retail and distribution partners who can help devise a localised strategy in order to increase a brand’s chance of success in the market.

Power in Numbers

It was always part of The Steam Bar’s strategy to expand the business into Africa — Koloko, a British-born Nigerian, felt it was important that consumers on the continent have access to her products. It was through partnering with Woolworths, linking up with McKnight and Mensah’s brands, and beauty distributor Tudor that she was able to “fast-track the process” she said.

Branching into a new market can be both exciting and unsettling. “In curating a diverse hair care offering for our customers, The Steam Bar stood out with its unique proposition,” said Woolworth’s commercial head of branded beauty, Lerato Kampi-Sesoko, noting that this partnership will help the retailer reach “diverse customers with varying hair care needs.”

These founders are united by their ambition to boost the offering of premium hair care products on the continent, explained McKnight, who has worked with celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Kate Moss, as well as leading fashion brands such as Chanel, Tom Ford and Fendi.

“There is such a power in several brands launching at the same time to revitalise a category and put focus on it,” he said. The trio worked together with Woolworths “to bring a vibrant and exciting new hair range to ignite the category.”

Through this partnership, Mensah, McKnight and Koloko, all of whom hail from the UK are highlighting the diversity of the British hair scene abroad, something that will also appeal to South Africa’s diverse demographic. Products are suitable for various hair types from Afro-textured and curly hair types to straight and wavy.

For Mensah, the decision to launch in South Africa was “rooted in research.” After visiting Johannesburg and spending time in the country, Mensah identified a gap in the market. “It was clear that the market was fertile for something luxury, something well-formulated but most importantly, something expert-led,” she said.

Consumers in South Africa are increasingly spending more on beauty products. However, the market is yet to reach its full potential. “People are willing to spend, but before doing so, they need to buy into the quality aspect,” said Mensah.

A Pan-African Approach

Getting consumers excited about premium hair care will be an important hurdle for brands to overcome. Many across the region have grown accustomed to using raw and natural ingredients such as shea butter or baobab oil to treat their hair concerns.

Premium brands have an opportunity to create a sense of familiarity among consumers on the continent by spotlighting specific ingredients. For example, The Steam Bar’s shampoo includes baobab seed extract, which is also known as the “Tree of Life” in many African countries, and holds significant spiritual meaning.

“In Africa, a lot of people know that ingredient really really well … it’s all about maintaining the scalp’s barrier and providing protection against any heat damage,” she said. Highlighting these familiar ingredients and educating shoppers on its impact can help win over cautious consumers.

However, successful mastery of the African market does not start and end with South Africa. Woolworths, which is a well-known name in South Africa, also operates across 11 sub-Saharan Africa countries including in Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania. The plan is to roll the premium hair care category out into other African countries in the near future.

While others lean on their existing partnership with Woolworths to help expand into new territories, Mensah has already been selling products to consumers in Ghana, where she has three retail partners. One of those partners is Elle Lokko, a high-end multi-brand retailer, that sells exclusively premium African fashion and beauty products. Stefania Manfreda, Elle Lokko’s founder, said that the retailer’s premium positioning attracts a number of high-spending clients in the city.

Success lies in the ability to make consumers feel “seen.” In order to truly win over the market and kickstart the premium hair care category, consumers across the continent need to know that products are made with them in mind, said Mensah.

The ultimate winners will be those who can deftly understand the various national cultural nuances, and create a value proposition around their more premium offering in a way that makes it feel essential to African shoppers.

“The big winner on the continent will be the person — or people — who can educate and [promote] a different, safer beauty standard,” said Mensah.

Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.