ButterMEssentials was made out of desperation for the people who have traditionally been forgotten.
For years people of color have been told by major retailers that their natural selves are not enough and that they need to conform to accepted beauty standards throughout the industry. From a young age, I refused to believe that as true. Since age 16, I’ve been on a journey of embracing my own beauty by way of how I wore my hair. Although my own confidence internally blossomed, I knew that the work was not done, there were others who needed to feel the same way about themselves.
It wasn’t until I had two daughters of my own that I realized just how powerful the way one wears their hair is to developing how they feel about themselves.
I could not accept my daughters living a world where they didn’t feel comfortable enough to be their natural selves. So in 2009, I set off on a mission to give them the tools that would empower them to find value in their beauty.At that time, the market was filled with products that would damage their hair rather than enrich it. Most brands included ingredients such as mineral oil and petroleum, which made their hair much more difficult to manage, and left them crying instead of confident.
By God’s grace, that’s when I experienced a breakthrough that changed it all for my girls and our family.
At work, a coworker gave me a magazine that included an assortment of “natural products” that were meant to transform children’s natural hair. The raving reviews packed with before and after pictures enticed me to purchase a number of different items for my girls.
As excited as we all were, we were let down very quickly, as all of our trials actually made their hair worse! Turns out, these “natural products”, had the same harmful chemicals that were present in the original products used.
Left frustrated, I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands. That’s when I had the dream…
One night, I dreamt of natural oils and butters that could be combined together to make a truly natural hair butter solution for my girls. When I woke up I frantically wrote down every ingredient I saw, and decided that I needed to turn this message and gift to God into a real product.
With no background in chemistry, this was incredibly challenging, but I knew that this was a message from our father and that I had to bring to fruition.Praise God it worked! The very first attempt, this hair butter went right through my daughters hair without any fuss or crying, signifying their first step on fully embracing their natural beauty.
Since this dream, others too have joined our journey. After giving our first product and signature butter away to friends and family, people came rushing back and asking for more! With increased demand I knew that it was time to turn this into something bigger, and that’s where ButterMEseentials was born. We’ve came a long way since that dream and handing out hair butters. Now as a registered black owned business based in Brooklyn, New York, we’ve built out full product lines with the purpose of empowering people of color to love their natural selves.
Each and every product is made with family and community in mind. We only create and offer products that my girls can use too.
Join us on this mission, as we spread love and empowerment to our communities.
From Our Family to Yours,
Negesti & Vayden Pinnock
