Beauty, Equality & Empowerment
Alaffia is an award-winning company based in Tumwater, Washington, with deep roots in West Africa. They make skin, hair, and beauty care products using all-natural, handcrafted, traditional West African ingredients. The company was founded by Prairie Rose Hyde and Olowo n’djo Tchala, who first met in Togo, Africa, before moving to Washington state with a shared vision they wanted to bring to life. Alaffia’s mission is to foster beauty, equality, and empowerment, and they walk the walk by using fair trade ingredients, supporting farmer co-operatives in West Africa, taking an eco-conscious approach to product formulation, and re-investing profits back into communities in West Africa through a wide variety of life-affirming initiatives.
Alaffia’s values and ethics shine through in their approach to formulating and choosing ingredients. This starts with the farmers and producers in West Africa. Alaffia is the largest employer in Togo, outside of the government, and this includes a number of farming co-operatives and 10,000+ ingredient collectors. They also work with artisan co-ops—craftswomen who use their traditional knowledge to turn shea nuts into butter and the butter into soap.
Alaffia goes beyond just using fair trade ingredients that provide fair wages; they also invest in their West African farmers, suppliers, and the larger community. You can tell that Alaffia cares deeply about the people and communities that provide their ingredients by the results of the community initiatives they invest in:
- Maternal Care: 6,397 Births Funded
- School Construction: 17 Schools Built
- School Supplies: 37,521 Recipients
- Reforestation: 105,061 Trees Planted
- Eyeglasses: 31,227 Distributed
- Bicycles for Education: 10,817 Distributed
Alaffia products use indigenous, locally sourced, West African ingredients like shea butter, coconut, red palm oil, coffee berry, and neem. All their formulas are vegan, biodegradable, and made without animal testing or the use of parabens, phthalates, or synthetic fragrances. Their products are hard to miss on the shelf, using authentic tribal patterns and vibrant colours in their packaging. You can check out their products in a variety of lines, including EveryDay Coconut and Shea shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and body washes.
Alaffia is a shining example of how love for beauty, community, and the larger ecosystem can coexist with running a successful company. In 2018, the founders were presented with the Award for Corporate Excellence in Women’s Economic Empowerment. They’ve also received numerous awards from magazines and websites for specific products. Their future is bright, and their story is an inspiring one for us all.
About the Author: Alaffia
Founded in 2003, Alaffia is a social enterprise inspired by a shared mission to uplift communities. Driven by values of beauty, equality and empowerment, Alaffia offers fair trade hair, face, and body care products while investing and empowering African communities.