Within the midst of the pandemic, Brenda Roslyng was stranded in her native Kenya without her usual rotation of skincare products. Roslyng had moved to Denmark together with her mother and stepdad as a baby, so was accustomed to using western, chemical-based products to treat her acne-prone skin. When her mum suggested using traditional, plant-based and hand-made African products on her face, it improved her pimples a lot she was inspired to launch her skincare brand AASAI. 

Bridging the gap between Roslyng’s two home continents, AASAI sources traditional ingredients from Kenya and Uganda to create products that supply Scandinavian beauty fans an alternate approach to skincare. 

Having recently landed the chance to scale-up their production because of Ganni, the team are actually set to take their ethos of “from farm to skin, from skin to soul” worldwide. With plans to expand, Brenda and her co-partner Joseph Ekoko decided to make a journey back to Kenya, two years after that first formative stay, to find latest production techniques. Photographer Shitanda was readily available to document their journey.

In our conversation below, the duo discuss travelling back to the source, using traditional African beauty methods and the way connecting together with your roots makes for higher business.

As a brand founded by Black people and existing inside a western context, how do you position yourselves?

Brenda Roslyng: We market to everyone because everyone can use our products. Danish individuals are a bit sceptical since it’s an African brand. If we were two white Danish individuals who had gone off to Kenya and brought something back, I believe the attitude can be different. My chemist here is great but he hasn’t even worked with black soap before. He’s often like, “Is that this protected?”

Joseph Ekoko: I believe the foundations of the brand are very authentic, hinging on Brenda’s family and their farm. Quite a lot of [white-owned] brands are attempting to duplicate this from a Fairtrade angle, by way of trying to point out people [of colour] making the products. But AASAI has been capable of be direct; we’re branded as a family business, which is tough to duplicate.

Nonetheless, we do wish to be more directly inclusive, so people won’t think that AASAI is just for Black people. It’s essential to think about how we position ourselves in-between worlds: remaining unapologetically Black African but knowing our market.

You latterly took a visit to Kenya to determine the following steps for the brand. Why did you select to move back to the source?

Joseph Ekoko: Originally, my family are West African, so it was essential for me to see where AASAI comes from. Brenda said possibly you need to come to Kenya since it’ll provide you with a slight push – so I can find my space higher throughout the company. To mature and confidently wear the title of entrepreneur, I needed to be there. It’s also powerful going back to the centre of the brand. And, it was essential for us to spend time together and get to know one another on a deeper level.

Were there any African beauty secrets to find?

Brenda Roslyng: There have been no ‘African beauty secrets’ as such but fairly a myriad of traditions and ways to make use of common products which were in widespread use across the continent for hundreds of years – like using black soap and shea butter. In Lamu, where religion and tradition are very strong, we were capable of study this minimalist attitude towards skincare. This emphasis on simplicity has so much to do with pre-modern-age knowledge. [There are] customs which were abandoned and/or erased during colonisation but are still getting used in small rural communities.

Joseph Ekoko: Personally, I’ve since drastically reduced my use of soap and creams normally. I shower day-after-day but put soap on my skin only twice every week, use water and baobab oil on my face and shea butter on my body. I’ve realised the more you utilize products in your skin and hair, the more your skin and hair need products to stay healthy. The skincare industry creates numerous unnecessary dependencies.

What traditional techniques do you utilize to make your products?

Brenda Roslyng: Making our Nilotica Shea Butter is normally a two-day process because the nut has to undergo several stages of preparation before we get the ultimate product. After the nuts have been washed, sun-dried and pounded, we barely roast them. The nuts are then placed on a big stone and a smaller stone is used to grind the nuts while a selected hand technique is used to get as much oil out [as possible]. The paste is collected into buckets and has to harden overnight before we start the means of beating the oil out of the paste.

Did you learn any latest techniques when you were there? 

Brenda Roslyng: Certainly one of the important thing reasons for occurring this trip was to fulfill up with this guy in Lamu. He’s a product developer and we wish to introduce latest products this 12 months. The chemist I actually have in Denmark doesn’t understand African products in the identical way.

Joseph Ekoko: We even have this format ‘SKINROADS’ on our website that’s about centring diasporic creatives who encourage us from all around the world. We hoped to feature someone very talented and real who possibly is undervalued inside Nairobi and present their work to our mainly Danish audience. We met a sailor from Lamu who shared his life and vision with us and showed us his father’s land. 

Brenda Roslyng: That’s the goal, to have a farm.

Tell us more about that.

Brenda Roslyng: In Denmark, my stepdad owns a farm and we’ve already began some projects there, like growing lavender. The goal is to own a farm in Kenya where I may be more often than not. We’re planning to start out making more soaps, so it’s like, where can we grow ginger or turmeric?

We would like to own every a part of production – or attempt to, not less than. Being [in Europe], we’re now collectively moving into the mindset of being more sustainable and using natural products, while in Kenya they’re experiencing late westernisation. Now, they’re just having access to ASOS and MAC – and you may’t persuade people to go for one over the opposite.

Speaking of sustainability, did you learn any ways to make your products more environmentally friendly?

Joseph Ekoko: [We’re hoping to] develop a hand soap made out of natural oils and compounds, so we learned so much in regards to the cleansing and antibacterial properties of carrier oils like coconut, jojoba, baobab, etc. Indigenous communities used oils as a option to wash and clean their skin and hair before the arrival of contemporary shampoos. So, we all know that it’s possible to give you a soap that has all of the properties of a contemporary industrial one but with none chemicals or additives in it, but we’re still in a trial-and-error process to give you the right formula. 

What was your biggest takeaway from the trip? 

Joseph Ekoko: We could also be Black and our parents are from Africa but we’re very privileged as compared to numerous individuals who still live in Kenya, so it’s like, what’s our position as diasporic people? Each in Europe and Africa, Blackness is a hot topic that may be very divisive. I believe that going to Kenya has helped us humbly consider our position inside a worldwide system. We were reminded of the nuance you can sometimes forget in Europe, where you almost romanticise where you come from. Travelling home encourages you to have a reality check: each as a brand and from a private perspective.