There is something I find quietly remarkable about the seeds that arrive at the apothecary from West Africa. Mucuna pruriens — the velvet bean — comes in oblong, slightly compressed forms, speckled or almost entirely black, each one carried inside a pod so bristled with irritant hairs that… Read More »Seeds Men Traditionally Carried On Long Hunts Across West Africa
The first time a batch of akuamma seeds arrived at my door, I held one up to the light and thought: this looks like nothing else I work with. Not a nut, not a bean, not a pit. Something stranger. Akuamma seeds — the seeds of Picralima nitida,… Read More »Akuamma Seeds: What Picralima Nitida Actually Looks Like: From Tree To Powder
I get a version of this question more than almost any other: someone holds up a picture of a large pink flower and asks whether it is the same hibiscus as the deep crimson calyces we stock. The answer is almost certainly no — and the story of… Read More »Which Hibiscus Is Which? A Field Guide To The Species People Confuse
Batana oil on the face: what a heavy hair oil does to acne-prone skin, why comedogenic ratings mislead, and why it will not remove blackheads.
I have been putting both of these oils on my hair for years, and the question I get most often is still the same: batana oil vs castor oil — which one actually does more? I want to give you a proper answer, because the comparison is more… Read More »Batana Oil vs Castor Oil: Which One Actually Grows Hair Faster
There is a small, quietly hairy shrub growing across the West African savanna that I find genuinely fascinating — partly because of how far it has travelled from its origins, and partly because almost nobody writing about it online seems to have looked closely at the plant itself.… Read More »Fadogia Agrestis Stem Powder: Its Fascinating History With the Hausa Wrestling Tradition
Keloid scars on dark skin form more often, and here is why — what a keloid is, how it differs from a raised scar, and what dermatologists actually do.
What causes blackheads and oily skin on deeper complexions, how to remove blackheads without making marks worse, and why the black is not dirt.
I have been using batana oil on my low porosity 4b/4c hair for years now, and the question I get more than any other is this: why does batana oil just sit there? People describe it like laying a blanket on top of their hair and then wondering… Read More »How To Use Batana Oil On Low Porosity Hair Without Buildup
I have been using chebe powder on and off for years and the question I get asked more than almost anything else is whether it actually works for chebe powder hair growth. The honest answer requires separating two things that people routinely blur together: growing hair and keeping… Read More »Chebe Powder For Hair Growth: Does This Chadian Secret Really Work
I came across wonderful kola the way I come across most of the plants we work with — through a name that refused to make sense until I dug into it. What is wonderful kola, exactly? The name sounds almost too cheerful to be botanical, and the more… Read More »Wonderful Kola (Buchholzia Coriacea): What is It & How it’s Traditionally Used
As we mark two years of Jostylin Naturals, we are reflecting on a journey that goes far beyond the products we create. From the beginning, our purpose has been to build a natural beauty business that places Indigenous communities at the heart of the value chain. We believe… Read More »Jostylin Naturals: Two Years of Growth, Purpose and Indigenous-Led Impact
There is a root somewhere between vanilla and ginger that I keep coming back to — not for any single reason, but because almost every detail about it is unexpected. Mondia whitei roots arrive with a scent that stops people mid-sentence. They expect something earthy and vegetal. What… Read More »Mondia Whitei Roots: The Vanilla-Scented Root Men Chew Across Africa
The root arrives looking unremarkable — dried, woody, a dull ochre colour. Then you grind it, and the powder has this deep, warm yellow that almost glows in the bag. I’ve been working with Cryptolepis Sanguinolenta powder for years now, and that colour still gets me every time.… Read More »Cryptolepis Sanguinolenta Root Powder: The Yellow Root Ghana Calls Nibima
The first time I watched a kola nut being presented at a gathering in West Africa, I was struck by how much weight a small, pale seed could carry. Everyone in the room knew exactly what was happening — who could speak, who would hold it, in which… Read More »How Kola Nut Is Shared in West African Ceremonies and Why
