The business of hair Shea Moisture
Building on her mother’s legacy, Mary Dennis talks about how a soap product from Sierra Leone became an international demand.
The story begins with Sofie Tucker, a young mother and healer in Sierra Leone who used her shea butter and African black soap to nurture those around her.
Fast forward to 1991, Sofie’s grandchild, Richelieu Dennis, having just graduated from university in the US and unable to return to his home country of Liberia because of a civil war, decides to partner up with his university roommate, Nyema Tubman, and mother, Mary Dennis, to pursue a bold concept: address specific skin and haircare issues that have been ignored by mass market skincare companies
Today, Shea Moisture is an internationally-acclaimed hair and skin business manufactured by Us-based company Sundial Brands, which is run by Richelieu, and is built on his family traditions and four generations of recipes.
Here, Mary Dennis reveals what makes Shea Moisture so unique.
Natural is k ey
When we started this business, we were one of the first companies in the US to use raw natural ingredients to create eective natural products. But our success was also built on the fact that we stay close to our consumers – a community that we refer to as our Shea Fam – listening to their needs, and then catering to that.
We serve all hair types
Even within the same family, there can be many dierent hair and skin needs, and we want to always ensure that we’re able to serve them.
We’ve recognised dierent needs, hair types and textures since the beginning, and that has been at the core of our innovation. For 27 years, we have developed new formulations and introduced more natural and culturally-authentic ingredients to the industry based on listening to what our community told us – and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
Perseverance paid o ff
Our biggest challenge was financial. We didn’t have money and we couldn’t get loans. Nobody believed in us or what we wanted to do. But we remained steadfast in using whatever cash we could make for that day for the next day’s materials and costs. We often remained without salaries and nobody, except our employees, got paid for a very long time.
Stick t o y our heritage
Shea butter was what my mother used. We always give her credit for that in everything we do, as it’s important that you stick together as a family at all times.
Hard work is k ey
Don’t use what you earn today as a profit. Put it right back into the business. Don’t lose interest or give up because someone criticised you. Finally, find something you think you can achieve and concentrate on that.