Dudu-Osun is an African black soap made from herbs found in the Savannah and tropical rainforest regions of West Africa. Although the black soap was once only known to people of Yoruba descent, [1] Dudu-Osun, a Nigerian variant of the soap is among the few brands making for wider acceptance and recognition for this beauty product in the mainstream industry. [2] [3]
Dudu-Osun is made from shea butter, honey, aloe vera, Osun (camwood), palm kernel oil, cocoa pod ash, palm bunch ash, lime juice, lemon juice, water and fragrance. [4] [5] [6]
The soap is known to be a gentle cleanser for hair, scalp and skin. [6] [7] [8] Camwood, which is a primary ingredient in this locally made herbal soap has been discovered with exfoliating properties. [4]
For years, beauty experts have claimed traditional black soap is good at alleviating skin ailments and even protecting the skin from premature ageing. [9]
Tropical Naturals Limited, the manufacturer of Dudu-Osun was first founded by Abiola Ogunrinde as Cosmos Chemicals Limited in 1995 and became fully operational with the new name in 2007, [10] when it decided to focus on the production of natural beauty products. Dudu-Osun is the company’s flagship product. [4] [11]
The manufacturers of Dudu-Osun have produced other beauty products under the same name due to the success of their black soap. [4] This includes moisturizing lotions, shea butter, and a variant of the Dudu-Osun soap called 'Spa Vivent' developed for the German and Scandinavian market. [10] [12]
Dudu-Osun is owned by Tropical Naturals Limited, a manufacturing company that started as a small-scale manually-operated plant in 1995, with Dudu-Osun being the flagship product. [4]
Dudu-Osun finds its origin with the Yoruba people in Nigeria, Benin and Togo.
The name Dudu Osun is derived from two Yoruba words “osun” (camwood) and “dudu” (black). This translates as “camwood soap”, although “osun” can also be translated as “ose” which means soap. This translates as “black soap”. [2] [13]
Generally, traditional black soap is made from the ash of locally harvested barks and plants.
Dudu-Osun, however, derives its primary ingredient from Camwood, a tree from West Africa. The tree’s bark is pounded and ground into a smooth powder form, which is then made into a paste. The camwood paste is added to the rest of the mixture that includes aloe vera, lime juice, honey, etc. This mixture is cooked and stirred till it solidifies before the soap is moulded to shape. [4] [8]
Aloe is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering succulent plants. The most widely known species is Aloe vera, or "true aloe". It is called this because it is cultivated as the standard source for assorted pharmaceutical purposes. Other species, such as Aloe ferox, are also cultivated or harvested from the wild for similar applications.
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are used as thickeners, components of some lubricants, and precursors to catalysts.
Oshun is the Yoruba orisha associated with love, sexuality, fertility, femininity, water, destiny, divination, purity, and beauty, and the Osun River, and of wealth and propersity in Voodoo. She is considered the most popular and venerated of the 401 orishas.
Vitellaria paradoxa, commonly known as shea tree, shi tree, or vitellaria, is a tree of the family Sapotaceae. It is the only species in the genus Vitellaria, and is indigenous to Africa.
Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. It is edible and is used in food preparation in some African countries. It is occasionally mixed with other oils as a substitute for cocoa butter, although the taste is noticeably different.
Aloe vera is a succulent plant species of the genus Aloe. It is widely distributed, and is considered an invasive species in many world regions.
Baphia nitida, also known as camwood, barwood, and African sandalwood, is a shrubby, leguminous, hard-wooded tree from central west Africa. It is a small understorey, evergreen tree, often planted in villages, and known as osun in Yoruba.
Osun State, occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the west by Oyo State, mostly across the River Osun. Named for the River Osun—a vital river which flows through the state—the state was formed from the southeast of Oyo State on 27 August 1991 and has its capital as the city of Osogbo.
Natural skin care uses topical creams and lotions made of ingredients available in nature. Much of the recent literature reviews plant-derived ingredients, which may include herbs, roots, flowers and essential oils, but natural substances in skin care products include animal-derived products such as beeswax, and minerals. These substances may be combined with various carrier agents, preservatives, surfactants, humectants and emulsifiers.
The Oṣun River, Yoruba: Odò Ọ̀ṣun, is a river of Yorubaland that rises in Ekiti State and flows westwards into Osun State before turning southwestwards at its confluence with the Erinle River near the town of Ede and then heading south at the Asejire reservoir flowing though the rest of the state and Ogun State in Southwestern Nigeria before eventually discharging into the Lekki Lagoon and the Atlantic at the Gulf of Guinea.
Nigerian cuisine consists of dishes or food items from the hundreds of Native African ethnic groups that comprises Nigeria. Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices and herbs with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply flavored sauces and soups.
Benin is predominantly a rural society, and agriculture in Benin supports more than 70% of the population. Agriculture contributes around 35% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 80% of export income. While the Government of Benin (GOB) aims to diversify its agricultural production, Benin remains underdeveloped, and its economy is underpinned by subsistence agriculture. Approximately 93% of total agricultural production goes into food production. The proportion of the population living in poverty is about 35.2%, with more rural households in poverty (38.4%) than urban households (29.8%). 36% of households depend solely upon agricultural (crop) production for income, and another 30% depend on crop production, livestock, or fishing for income.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated.
Vitellaria paradoxa is extremely important in Burkina Faso. Termed "women's gold" by Burkinabé villagers, the nuts of shea tree can be collected and processed by crushing and grinding to yield shea butter, which is widely used in soap and in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve, or lotion. Shea butter is also edible and may be used in food preparation; it is sometimes used in the manufacture of chocolate. The bark of the tree is also used as an ingredient in traditional medicines and the shell of nut is said to be able to repel mosquitoes and is also said to protect existing trees.
Susanne Wenger MFR, also known as Adunni Olorisha, was an Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess who expatriated to Nigeria. Her main focus was the Yoruba culture and she was successful in building an artist cooperative in Osogbo. She partnered with local artists in Osogbo to redevelop and redecorate the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove with sculptures and carvings depicting the various activities of the Orishas.
Antar Laniyan is a Nigerian veteran actor, film producer, and director.
African black soap, or simply black soap, is a kind of soap originating in West Africa. It is made from the ash of locally harvested African plants and dried peels, which gives the soap its characteristic dark colour as well as oils derived from plant sources. Black soap has become a popular toiletry product in North America. In West Africa, black soap is often made by women using traditional recipes and is often exported through fair trade groups.
Faso soap or Fasoap is the brand of a Burkina Faso-manufactured type of soap, in the development stage, which ostensibly repels mosquitoes and thus protects from mosquito-borne diseases.
Jacquelyn Lonje Olayiwola Oyeshola Bolayemi Aina, better known as Jackie Aina, is an American beauty YouTuber. She was born to an African-American mother and a Nigerian father of Yoruba descent. She is a YouTuber and social influencer known for advocating for the visibility of people of color in the cosmetic industry. She has partnered with Anastasia Beverly Hills, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Too Faced, Sephora and Sigma Beauty.