When Ashley Dolson’s son was a baby, he suffered from severe eczema that caused his hair to fall out and his skin to be inflamed and itchy. Ashley Dolson creates products for Melanin Skyn Co. Dolson discovered her son was allergic to shea butter, a common ingredient in store-bought skin care products, so she set out to create a product that would heal his skin.
She came up with what she calls Juju’s Hair Serum, which helped with the eczema and dryness in his scalp. When family and friends saw that her son’s skin was healing, they asked Dolson if she could make products for them, too. From there, Dolson turned her skin care hobby into a business that strives to empower people of all skin colors and types to feel confident in their skin: Melanin Skyn Co.
“I saw the need of other people who either themselves suffer from eczema or had children and they just couldn’t find products in stores,” she said. Born in Niagara Falls and raised in Buffalo, Dolson graduated from McKinley High School and then went to Canisius University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies. She also has a diploma from Continental School of Beauty and is a licensed massage therapist.
As a young girl, she always wanted to open a day spa, which is what led her to pursue beauty school and massage therapy. At the same time, she personally struggled with eczema throughout her life. Dolson said she had a hard time finding products at the store that worked for her skin.
When she did find something that worked, the company would eventually change the formula or stop selling it and she would be back to square one. “I first started making products for myself just because of this reason,” she said. The first product she made for someone else is called Dylan’s Butter, which she still sells.
After Dolson’s best friend had a baby, a little girl named Dylan, she wasn’t sure what to use to take care of her skin and hair. Dolson made a versatile, moisturizing and nourishing product to use on Dylan’s hair and skin. A look at a selection of product from Melanin Skyn Co.
by Ashley Dolson. Dolson uses ingredients like safflower, grapeseed and avocado oils in her products. The base of the majority of her products is kokum butter, a shea butter alternative that is anti-inflammatory, rich in antioxidants and absorbs quickly into the skin, she said.
The name of Dolson’s business, Melanin Skyn Co., comes from the substance in the human body that gives color to skin, hair and eyes. Everyone has melanin, but the more of it a person has, the darker their features are.
Melanin Skyn Co.’s products can be used by people of any skin color, but they do “address the unique needs of melanin-rich skin because there aren’t a lot of products out there that address our needs,” Dolson said. Earlier this year, Dolson hosted her first self-love workshop called “Loving My Melanin” at a Buffalo public school to teach children not just about caring for their skin, but feeling comfortable in their skin.
“Growing up, I struggled with not just my outer skin – with eczema and things that I had with sensitive skin – but also with being a person of color and having melanin-rich skin and being in certain spaces,” Dolson said. “I struggled from a mental aspect and not necessarily being comfortable in my skin or feeling confident all the time in my skin.” Ashley Dolson of Melanin Skyn Co.
hopes to make her business a full-time venture. Workshop participants learn to make their own body butters, scrubs and lip products. While they’re doing that, they learn about positive affirmations and come up with their own to use while they’re practicing their self-care routine with the products they made.
“I’m very passionate about doing what you need to do to feel good about your authentic self,” she said. “And studies show that if you have some form of self-care routine that it contributes to your overall well being and increases the amount of dopamine, which is the happy hormone in your system, and it contributes to good mental health.” Dolson sells around 20 products, all of which she formulates and makes herself.
They are only available online at melaninskynco.com , but Dolson’s goal is to get her products in local and national stores someday. The biggest obstacle Dolson has faced while growing her business has been funding it, she said.
Dolson has won some money through local small business programs, such as IC Success! , but she has primarily funded the business herself. Dolson works full time at General Motors, but she said she hopes that one day, running Melanin Skyn Co. can be her full-time job.
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