Bridging Continents with Botanicals: Ozohu Adoh on Epara Luxury Skincare
Written by: Precious Umeasalugo
@eparalifestyle
Cocoon yourself.
The Foundery: BIPOC Innovators Shaping our World
The world of beauty is brimming with cultural richness, with ancient wisdom from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean shaping everything from ingredients to rituals. Yet, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) founders often go unseen in the mainstream beauty industry. The Foundery changes that narrative.
Here, we celebrate the visionary entrepreneurs of color transforming beauty, wellness and lifestyle on a global scale. Discover their stories, groundbreaking brands, and the inspiration they bring to the industry. Get ready to be empowered, enlightened, and introduced to the future of beauty – one innovative founder at a time.
Through The Foundery, we've spoken to several BIPOC beauty brand founders. And we've found that truly great and long-lasting beauty brands are born from the need to fill a gap. For some, their brand could be filling an economic gap and creating jobs for the people around them. For others, it could be the need to continue the cultural heritage around beauty in their hometown. For Ozohu Adoh, however, Epara was born out of the need to cater to people with underserved and often misdiagnosed skin conditions and to do so luxuriously.
Ozohu Adoh is the founder of Epara Skincare, a UK-based beauty brand that combines skin-loving botanicals sourced from Africa with scientifically proven ingredients and techniques. For Adoh who grew up in Nigeria and has built a life in London, Epara's rich ethos of mixing ideals and ingredients from both places was not a mere business decision – it was vital to both her intercontinental heritage and her skin.
Before Epara's conception, Adoh had struggled with a frequently misdiagnosed skin condition for several years despite getting examined by a handful of skin experts. Eventually, as Adoh told Vogue in a 2019 interview, she found that she had been dealing with follicular eczema, an inflammation of the hair follicles that may present differently on darker skin. Dealing with those misdiagnoses and the inability to find anything that worked for her skin led to her experimentation with African botanicals, which she found worked extensively for her skin. Harnessing these natural ingredients, she collaborated with a UK-based formulation lab to build Epara, a word which means "to cocoon oneself" in Ebira, one of the many languages spoken in Nigeria.
But it wasn't enough that she had just created a brand that worked, she wanted a brand that would change the way women of colour felt while using it. That was where the luxury came in, with high-quality products made from the finest ingredients from Africa and by a very hands-on formulation lab.
Epara was the perfect creation for this founder and is the perfect brand for any woman of colour looking to care for their skin while immersing themselves in a luxurious, sensorial experience.
In this Foundery interview, we spoke to Ozohu Adoh about her favourite Epara products, the use of glass with her brand, and a few things to look out for when seeking a diagnosis for a skin condition, especially as a woman of colour.
From London Streets to Global Recognition: The Epara Story
@eparalifestyle
I started Epara from a place of personal need. I had been suffering from a skin disorder that was difficult to diagnose and started to experiment until I came across a formulation that worked for me.
Botanicals from Nigeria and formulations in the UK
In a very global world, it is hard to truly localise a particular trend/idea these days. As an African woman living in the United Kingdom, it was only natural that I reach out to what was most natural to me, what was within my scope of experience, to create a brand. And because it is most authentic to me, I am able to represent the brand in a comfortable way.
Unveiling the Power of African Botanicals
African botanicals, in general, have been underexplored, which is rather odd given how efficacious they are and their use in antiquity. Again, one of the benefits of the diaspora experience is that people bring what is good in their experience to share with the world. So having Marula and Moringa, two powerhouse oils from Africa, was truly a no-brainer. These are very light, penetrating oils that enhance most formulations.
Marula oil: found in Epara's Cleansing Lotion, the oil is deeply hydrating and has antioxidant properties that help with hyperpigmentation and lacklustre skin.
Moringa oil: In Epara's Intense Hydrating Mask, moringa oil helps with skin redness and hydration, but does not weigh the skin down.
Adoh's Favourite Epara Products
Asking for my favourite product is like asking for my favourite child! But I dial in and out of products depending on the season and how my skin behaves at certain times of the year. Some that are in constant rotation are the Natural Cleansing Oil, the Comforting Body Cream, and the Dual Fuel Mask.
For a first-time user of Epara, I will certainly recommend the Cleansing Oil due to its gentle yet highly effective skin cleansing. It doesn't dry out your skin yet; it ensures you have very clean skin ready to take on the treatment of your serums and moisturisers. It is also a low-risk entry into the brand.
@eparalifestyle
Epara's Commitment to Sustainability
This is always an ongoing effort. Although we do try to design sustainability into everything we do. Most of our primary packaging is glass that is fully recyclable. We minimise the use of plastic except in the cases where for practical reasons, it is safer to have it as a solution. For example, we want to avoid injury if our 250g [Comforting] Body Cream falls in the bathroom.
We are also looking into moving up the value chain to ensure sustainability in sourcing our ingredients.
Empowering Communities Through Beauty
Epara is still an up and coming brand but in our little way, we support other businesses and also where we can offer internships. We are now looking to do more with the coops and makers of some of our African ingredients.
On Skin Conditions and Proper Diagnosis
I think the first thing is that you don't allow yourself to be dismissed. You have to insist that the practitioner you are speaking with investigates properly what is wrong. Also, asking if the person has experience with darker skin tones might be useful. In the longer term, it might be useful to have more people of colour in the dermatology field.
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Zouboulis, C. C., Hossini, A. M., Hou, X., Wang, C., Weylandt, K. H., & Pietzner, A. (2023). Effects of Moringa oleifera Seed Oil on Cultured Human Sebocytes In Vitro and Comparison with Other Oil Types. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(12), 10332. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241210332
