Huda Organics: First Beauty Brand to Sell Qasil Powder Online

Huda Organics – a beauty brand inspired by Somali beauty rituals, brings the natural awesomeness of the qasil powder, known for its multipurpose abilities that can be used for hair, skin and body, to the UK.

Huda, the founder of Huda Organics, started her company to share Somali best kept beauty secrets, whilst creating social and environmental changes in Somalia, and the brand became the first business to sell qasil online, and make it accessible here in the UK.

The brand sells pouches of 150g and 70g of the natural powder.

Growing up in a Somali household, Huda’s mother would always use qasil powder to prepare natural recipes for hair and skin. The powder is a beauty ingredient very commonly used by Somali women thanks to its cleansing and healing properties.

Qasil powder is made from the leaves of Gob Treet, and is loaded with antioxidants, and essential nutrients to keep the skin clear, radiant, and youthful, and due to its antibacterial properties, it makes a powerful natural remedy to fight acne and breakouts and achieves clear and glowing skin in the process.

When she was working at Holland & Barret, Huda had a coworker talking to her about the benefits of qasil powder. Surprised to hear someone talk about the powder outside of her own community, she did an online search and discovered that qasil wasn’t available anywhere online. 

And so Huda Organics born, whilst Huda was only 18 years old and still at university:

‘I saw this as an opportunity to introduce the world to this beauty ingredient whilst providing economic opportunities for people in Somalia. Because of my age, it took me two years to start,’ said Huda.

Confident about the success of her business, Huda adds: 

“Being a beauty enthusiast and seeing the demand for other African beauty ingredients like Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and Argan Oil, I knew that qasil could turn into something just as big and create incredible opportunities for people in Somalia.

Huda has found creative ways over the years to introduce qasil to the world and how to use it, using mainly the spreading through the use of social media. 

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‘Our TikTok video just went viral on Sunday, with 360k views and thousands of likes and shares,’ says Huda proudly.

‘In the last few days, we have received thousands of orders as people are finally discovering this incredible beauty ingredient. We are stocked up on Amazon UK and Europe and are continuing to grow the company internationally.’

But Huda’s efforts don’t stop there. She launched a crowdfunding campaign to ensure that the demand for qasil doesn’t lead to other people exploiting this natural resource.

‘I’m afraid that with increasing demand, people will find a way to exploit this natural resource and further damage Somalia’s environment and the people who are harvesting this beauty ingredient,’ shares Huda.

Her crowdfunding campaign aims to fight against social and environmental issues in Somalia, as there is one issue that is way often overlooked in the beauty industry, which is the labor involved in the manufacturing. With increasing demand, so does the production and manufacturing of those ingredients. 

‘The work is usually done by black or brown people who are given little to no pay and are forced to work in horrible working conditions. The beauty industry is complex and loosely regulated, this carries a high risk of modern slavery and child labor,’ warns Huda.

That’s why Huda Organics crowdfunds to prevent this from happening in Somalia, because qasil powder is not regulated in Somalia and has the potential for being exploited and the workers being abused.

As qasil is being discovered there is a huge opportunity for women in Somalia to benefit from this economically, by giving them better control of how the qasil powder is manufactured and providing jobs for local communities with fair pay and working conditions.

The funds from the crowdfunding will be used in replanting and harvesting the qasil powder sustainably and ethically. By doing so they will be able to employ women and address social issues to improve the livelihoods of individuals and communities.

Find out more here.