Hey there! I'm Rachael and I'd like to welcome you to Afrocenchix.

Our small business exists to put your health first in haircare. We have sustainability and ethics at our heart and this means people and the planet come before profit.

At Afrocenchix we believe the little things in life should be simple. We blend safe, effective, vegan ingredients with expertise to make hair care as simple as possible. Our Black-owned hair care business is run by people that understand and care about those with Afro, tightly coiled and curly hair, but the products are created to work on all hair types!

What makes our products so effective? Well, our in house cosmetic chemists work hard to formulate high quality products, and we run dozens of trials and tests before launch. We manufacture in the UK, mostly in house, so we have tight controls over quality.

I'm allergic to everything, so we're careful to make sure our products are free from common allergens including SLS, parfum and other artificial fragrances. We're extra committed to ensuring everything is safe and effective because our families use the products too. You can trust that each bottle is filled with goodness and will do exactly what it says.

We believe businesses can be ethical and sustainable whilst serving community needs with excellence. Our products are certified vegan and never tested on animals. We use environmentally friendly preservatives and our raw materials are ethically sourced including organic, fair trade Shea butter from a cooperative in Ghana. We believe encouraging sustainability means farmers should be paid fairly and ingredients should be sourced ethically.

We believe taking care of the environment is just as important as taking care of your hair, so our packaging is 100% recyclable and we use organic ingredients wherever possible. Our postal boxes and filling nuts are plant based and 100% compostable too! We're working towards Fair Trade certification and aiming to become a B Corp by 2024. When you buy from us, you're supporting this vision.

Running our multi-award winning business in line with our principles helps us to deliver top quality, safe, effective products that work for your hair without harming the planet. 

We believe the little things in life should be simple, because it’s the little things in life that make a big difference.

 

How it all started...

Afrocenchix began in 2008. I had an eczema flare up on my scalp and neck – triggered by relaxer – that led to a discussion on hair loss between a friend and I in university halls. That conversation, and my uni friend’s love of using ancient natural ingredients to solve hair and scalp concerns, developed into the range so many know and love. 

I'd always been obsessed with Chemistry since studying it at A-Level, so though I was studying Law, and my friend was studying Sociology, I quickly ordered glass beakers, pipettes, petri dishes and various raw materials that we'd researched in the university library, and set up a mini lab in my kitchen. (My chemistry student housemate found this hilarious.)

After much trial and error, and with everything documented on a basic blog I'd started, an exhausting quest to find the perfect healthy products finally came to an end... The first version of Soothe was born and my edges rejoiced!

I wanted to make sure that whatever Afrocenchix created was kind to people and the planet. I was especially keen on creating products which were gentle enough for children as my eczema is easily provoked by my numerous allergies.

Through comments on the blog, I soon learnt these frustrations were common. Queue the next experiment... A small test batch of Soothe oil was whipped up and quickly ran out when we took them to a small community fair in Neasden, North West London. From that point the Afrocenchix mission began. 

Afrocenchix was established to make safe, effective, ethical products available to everyone (especially Black women) and to share scientifically sound healthy hair care practices using natural ingredients.

In 2010, Afrocenchix won an award for ‘Ethical and Sustainable Business Innovation’ from the  University of Birmingham. I then studied at the Institute of Trichologists and we continued working on our range to expand to more carefully researched products.

Demand grew and we began to sell in shops, then in 2015, we won the Bright Ideas Award from UCL (where I was doing an MSc) which helped our business expand in new directions.

Afrocenchix is now based in London and we continue to develop expertly researched safe, ethical and effective products. I've handed over the formulations and prototyping to my incredibly talented and caring in-house cosmetic science team, though you'll catch me in the lab any chance that I get!

From our Birmingham beginnings we‘ve  gone worldwide. Afrocenchix products have been loved by customers from as far afield as India, Canada and Ghana and we're proud to have sold into 54 countries so far!

We became the first British brand specifically for afro hair available in a major retailer when we partnered with Whole Foods. We're also available in Superdrug and the best Independent Health Stores.

We're currently growing our team and working hard to solve your afro and curly hair problems and make natural simple. You can keep up to date with us through our business blog.

Thanks for reading our story. When you buy our products, you help us shape the next chapter.