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In this week’s body-care conversation, Glossy sat down with Abena Boamah-Acheampong, founder of 6-year-old Hanahana Beauty, a clean, cruelty-free body- and skin-care brand that celebrates the beauty of all skin. With Hanahana Beauty, Boamah-Acheampong tackles a mission to create accessible and effective body-care products that leave you feeling smooth and confident.
Boamah-Acheampong called launching her brand a full-circle moment. Growing up as an athlete in a Ghanaian household, taking care of your body was of the utmost importance.
“When it comes to body care, I think of my mom,” Boamah-Acheampong told Glossy. “She would make shea [butter] all the time. She would always get a block of shea, and she’d melt it in a pot with cloves.”
Though Boamah-Acheampong credits her mother for introducing her to body care, it was her fear of being ashy that finally drove her to start experimenting with moisturizing products. Her curiosity, which turned into a passion, led her back to her roots: shea butter. With shea butter, Boamah-Acheampong found that she could not only deeply moisturize her skin, but she could also create spa-like moments and even boost her mood by adding scents and essential oils.
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“I was always intentional about knowing exactly what I was using, and I [always] went back to using shea and [other natural products],” Boamah-Acheampong said. “And I’ve always cared about body care more than skin care. I started making my own products when I was in my 20s.”
Shea butter mixed with organic ingredients and scents provided the foundation for the Hanahana Beauty product assortment. In addition to creating shea butter, Boamah-Acheampong’s body-care journey led to her discovering the benefits of a shower routine, as well as morning and nighttime skin-care routines.
As the founder of a now successful body- and skin-care brand, which recently launched on Ulta.com, Boamah-Acheampong reflected on how prioritizing her skin as a child, and later tapping into her inner child as an adult, led her to where she is today.
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“When I moved into my second apartment, I had a bath. That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, you can create the bubble bath you used to have as a child.’ [Reuniting] with the concept of taking care of yourself daily, and equating that to happiness and looking and feeling good, is [why I created Hanahana Beauty],” Boamah-Acheampong said.
Read on for Boamah-Achaempong’s thorough morning and nighttime routines.
Boamah-Acheampong’s morning routine
“One of my favorite things is that my mom sends me these devotionals every night on WhatsApp, and I read them in the morning. I love reading them in bed and feeling together for the morning. If I’m on it, I’m waking up around 5:35. Then I’ll oil pull as I’m prepping for my workout. Then I get my yoga mat together. I do the Nike Training app workout because … I’m a 15-20 minutes workout girl, or [I like to do] yoga for 30-45 minutes. … From there, I’ve been drinking these Athletic Greens, which I love — it actually tastes good. … And then I’ll take my shower. Most of the time, I’m listening to a podcast or to “The Daily” so I know what’s going on in the world. … I love warm showers. [Hanahana Beauty] has been working on our body wash, so I’ve been sampling body washes, which has been really great. I’m not a bar soap person; I’m more of a gel [user]. So I’ll wash and then I’ll use Hyper Skin or Klur. … Right after my shower, I love to just spray rose water all over my body. If I don’t use rose water on my face, I use Tower 28’s SOS spray. On my skin, I do serum — right now, it’s Hyper Skin’s Vitamin C. For moisturizer on my face, I use Dieux Skin’s Instant Angel. Then I will lather with [Hanahana Beauty] body butter and then sunscreen. I’ve been using either Supergoop or this new sunscreen Dune.”
Boamah-Acheampong’s nighttime routine
“For my nightly skin-care routine, I’ll do The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid or Dieux Skin’s Deliverance Serum. The only other thing that changes at night is that I’m gonna probably take a bath. I will sit in a hot bath for a long time. Then during the bath, I’ll do skin nutrition. I’ll mask — I feel like [in a bath] is the perfect way to mask. I’ll watch a TV show. I usually do a bath on Thursdays because I watch “Abbott Elementary” in the bath. … I am one of the people who, 30 minutes before I go to bed, my phone shuts off. … I’ll listen to either the Bible app — they have like those prayers that you listen to — or I’ll listen to a meditation. I like to go to sleep listening to something good. I hate having bad dreams, so I do the same prayers before to make sure I sleep comfortably and well. Lastly, every night I sleep with the humidifier on. It’s a must for my skin, and it’s a must for my allergies and my nose. If I don’t sleep with a humidifier, I wake up feeling clogged up.”
Shop Hanahana Beauty’s Holy Grail products below.
Plus, shop some of Boamah-Acheampong’s favorite skin-care products below.
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