My name is Adelaide, I am 26 years old and a native of Hamburg with Ghanaian roots.

On September 1, 2018, I finally took the plunge into the cosmetics industry as an entrepreneur, and for one decisive reason.

As a child, I suffered from sun allergies, extremely dry skin and an inherited form of hyperpigmentation (melasma). This was compounded by severely blemished skin and even more pigmentation spots as a teenager. My dermatologists were at a loss. After many prescribed ointments and creams, they were of the opinion that with my dark skin type, I would have to get used to my pigmentation spots and melasma. When I tried to conceal my skin problems, the next disillusionment came at the drugstore. Not only were there no skincare products for my skin type, there was also no make-up for my skin tone. My self-confidence level? 0!

Even then, I recognized this huge gap in the cosmetics industry.

After the age of 17, I became intensively involved with skincare cosmetics, effective ingredients and effective routines. After many trials and errors, after four years I suddenly found a routine that seemed to help my skin, which was covered in pigmentation spots and blemishes. This did not go unnoticed by my family, friends and acquaintances and they also began to take an interest in my enriched shea cream.

In short: they tried it, noticed an improvement in their skin after a few weeks and I knew that I had created something from my suffering that could possibly help other people.

I quickly realized that I wanted to start a cosmetics company. Not the easiest task I had chosen, of course. Especially not as the sole boss and employee of my company. I was aware of that. But for me, the only options were to continue complaining about the cosmetics industry or to go out and make a difference.

And of course I could have decided to only make products for dark skin types. However, I knew the feeling of being left out and didn't want to follow in the footsteps of those who had been doing it long enough. I wanted to show that it is possible to cover the needs of all skin types and tones. From the very beginning, my aim was therefore to give women with a wide variety of skin types, tones and textures the opportunity to feel comfortable in their skin and to be able to care for it effectively and without restriction using the right skincare products.

Contrary to the apparent norm in the German cosmetics industry, I therefore consciously include the needs of dark skin types and curly and frizzy hair types in my product development.

Since the launch of the first two products in February 2019, I have received a lot of positive feedback and great before-and-after pictures from customers whose skin type and tone I can't always identify with, but I can certainly identify with their feeling of wanting to feel good in their skin as a woman (or man).

I am now working on new products and am looking forward to seeing what Unrefined Riches has in store for you in the future.