Karen Young, founder of OUI the People — an inclusive body-care brand designed to make you feel good in your own skin — started off last month by honoring Black women with an intimate self-care experience that Black Love Inc. had the honor of attending. We collectively meditated in the essence of our Blackness and called in abundance of what’s to come. In that moment, one thing was clear: this was not just a skincare brand. This was a Black woman creating space for others to feel seen, heard, and good — mentally and physically.
So what made the difference?
“At this stage of investing, what I found with my investors is that people connected with my passion and what I was going to bring to the world — and the scope of which I was aiming to bring it to the world,” she shared. “So, for example, I had to learn really quickly. We couldn’t just talk about razors.” One of Young’s award-winning sustainable products — her razor — challenges the outdated idea that shaving always leads to ingrown hairs. “I knew in my mind that we were just a business, but I had to tell that story and bring people along for that ride and bring them into the fold for what I wanted to do in the world that I saw. Black founders see the world in a different way. You have to live in the world in a different way. And I think there’s strength in bringing that differentiation to your storytelling, building a company, and raising capital for it.”
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When discussing how OUI the People was born, the Brooklyn-born founder says it’s a mixture of her environment and her love for how rich our skin is. That love became the foundation for what some consider the best skin care for Black women and men alike.
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“I was born in Brooklyn but grew up in Guyana. So I think for me, there’s always a cultural imprint that is literally going to follow me for the rest of my life. It’s seen throughout every single thing that I touch and do — the way that I speak, the way that I think about the world. Just growing up with this perspective of, like, I practiced both Hinduism and Christianity as my family was all sorts of mixtures. The typical thing that we are still used to having in the Caribbean and African American culture to the extent that we don’t even necessarily need to explain it. And so it has impacted everything about how I see the world. And I think that it has also impacted the things that I see that are missing from the world.”
For Young, a Black skin care routine was always a part of life. “My family has always been obsessed with body care and really taking care of our skin, even when it was the simplest thing — like my grandmother slathering me in coconut oil. My hair was always done, my scalp was greased. That attention to the full body was always a thing.”
As Young entered adulthood, she realized that there was a serious void in body-care products — and that most of the beauty world’s focus was strictly on facial skincare. “There’s a focus on hyperpigmentation, dryness, unevenness, rough skin — like beautiful, active ingredients that were present in skincare that allowed me to elevate my routine outside of the absolute basics. And in body care, I really only found the absolute basics.”
That gap in the market — especially when it comes to how to improve skin texture and how to improve skin elasticity — is where OUI the People shines. The brand is showing us that luxury body care is not only attainable but essential. By offering the best skin care products for Black women and men, it’s helping shift the narrative: that our entire bodies deserve that same level of care.
While OUI the People has a line of over 15 products, Young says her number one focus is dry skin and that her favorite product is her best-selling Body Gloss Serum.
“I’m always going to be super focused on dry skin. The first product that we built to address dehydrated and dry skin is the Hydrating Body Gloss. It’s such an incredible product but so beautifully packaged. It’s easy to use. But what I really like about it is it feels absolutely luxurious going on. Everything that kind of went into the crafting of Featherweight was actually to really think about delivering true hydration to the skin. Normally, an oil doesn’t do that. And so what we developed was this kind of oil-serum hybrid that actually gets into that upper layer of the skin and fills in the gap between the dry skin cells.”
Whether you’re just starting your skin care routine or searching for Black owned skincare products that speak to your specific needs, OUI the People is proof that care, culture, and community can — and should — go hand in hand. And yes, while much of the conversation centers Black women, the love doesn’t stop there — OUI the People’s products also offer intentional skin care for Black men who are looking for better, more affirming products.
In a world that’s quick to sell us an aesthetic but slow to nourish the root, Karen Young reminds us that the best skin care routine is the one that makes us feel seen, safe, and well — inside and out.
To learn more about Karen Young and OUI the People, follow them on Instagram and purchase her award-winning products here.
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