ELÉNGÉ

I was pregnant with my third child when my son was diagnosed with leukaemia. It was a really bad time and we had to live in the hospital. I was so happy when we could take my son home. I was trying to find products that would heal my son’s skin, as it went extremely dry in the hospital. He had eczema and lots of marks on his legs. Nothing worked, I was so frustrated, all the energy it took from me and the money I wasted on so many products.

After researching and talking to my aunt, who advised me to return to the source, in other words, use natural products…''Return to Nature''. That's exactly what I did! I threw out every hair, skin product with chemicals and I started experimenting with different natural ingredients, I also changed our diet at home and started cooking more vegan meals that were healthier.

Eventually, I came up with the recipe for my whipped shea butter and coffee scrub. I started using the products on myself and my son, his dry patches and eczema started to disappear. I had also given birth to my daughter just five months after creating my shea butter recipe. So I started to use my shea butter as a nappy rash on my daughter.

Here I am a few years later with Eléngé: A black-owned, one woman, small business based in London, hand making natural products in small batches, using sustainable methods.