Flora & Noor founder and CEO, Jordan Karim.

Flora & Noor

Even though she reportedly enjoyed her work, over time, Karim wrestled with pangs of guilt. “The older I got, the stronger I became in my faith, the more I wondered if this is something I should continue doing,” she recalls.

In 2020, Karim took a leap of faith and launched Flora & Noor with the goal of making halal skincare more accessible in the U.S.

The term ‘halal’ means “lawful” or “permissible” in Arabic. In the context of consumer goods, it refers to a product that is formulated, processed, manufactured and stored in accordance with Islamic law (shariah).

Karim concocted the brand’s debut product Oatmeal and Shea Body Butter in her own kitchen. Today, it’s their bestselling product on Amazon.

The colloidal oatmeal-infused moisturizer was initially developed to address her son’s eczema. “I couldn’t find anything for him. Products were either natural but not effective or they would work but contained ingredients that you wouldn’t want to put on your child,” says Karim, who is a mom of two preschoolers.

“I realized I can just do my job and be the chemist in my own kitchen and create something for him myself,” she says.

What started as a humble kitchen-operated business has scaled to a full-fledged halal skincare line that includes cleansers, toners, masks, moisturizers, serums and other skincare essentials inspired by ingredients and traditions in Africa and the Middle East.

Each product is part of a skincare regimen kit tailored to specific skin goals. You can also subscribe to have these kits delivered to your door every month.

The idea is to spare consumers from having to become chemists in their own bathrooms. “That’s my job,” says Karim.

In addition to Amazon, the brand is available at Thirteen Lune.

Breaking Barriers and Making History

Flora & Noor also launched online at Ulta Beauty earlier this year—making it the first halal-certified brand to be sold at Ulta.

“I would literally see them on the way to my high school, so it’s like a full circle moment,” says Karim, who grew up near Ulta Beauty headquarters in Chicago.

The BIPOC brand secured the spot after winning a live-crowdfunded pitch competition organized by Rare Beauty Brands in partnership with Black Girl Ventures and Ulta Beauty.

It’s also a recipient of Glossier’s 2023 Grant Program for Black-owned Beauty Businesses, an initiative that addresses inequity and fundraising barriers for Black entrepreneurs.

The bootstrapped business has sustained itself through grants, as Karim has refrained from taking out any interest-based loans, which are considered haram (unlawful) in Islam.

The brand is currently seeking to raise $1.1 million in VC funding to support its further expansion.

The global halal cosmetics market was valued at $37.62 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $92.55 billion by 2030.

A White Space of Opportunity

“The biggest challenge for me has been explaining our category to consumers, retailers, investors and everyone else because it virtually doesn’t exist. We are essentially filling a white space,” says Karim.

Also, “being a Black Muslim woman-led company, we are thrice as more underrepresented. It takes jumping over way more hurdles than somebody else might,” she says.

“There have been so many conversations where I find people have already made up their mind about what we’re doing and then later, once we get to talk, they’re pleasantly surprised. They’re like, ‘wow, I didn’t know all these things. I want to be a part of this. How can I support you?’,” she shares.

Decoding Halal-Certified Skincare

“When people hear the word ‘halal,’ they think of food. They think of animals. But the certification is actually so much more,” says Karim.

To be halal-certified, skincare products shouldn’t contain alcohol, haram (forbidden) animal products or by-products such as porcine-derived collagen and stearic acid, blood, ingredients sourced from humans like stem cells and any substances that are harmful to human health like lead, parabens and phthalates.

How the ingredients are sourced is equally important. “The ingredients have to be ethically sourced. And they have to be traceable,” notes Karim.

To be halal-certified, companies must also uphold the highest hygiene standards, keeping the premises and machinery used clean, while avoiding any cross-contamination with anything haram or najis (unclean) during production. Companies must also obtain pre-authorization for any significant changes to their production process.

The strict enforcement of these quality control measures means that literally anyone can benefit from halal beauty products, not just Muslims.

“Just like you don’t have to be a Korean to enjoy the benefits of K-beauty, you don’t have to be a Muslim to experience Halal beauty. Anyone can benefit from it,” says Karim.

“I always use this reference, which makes it easy to explain: when you go into a grocery store and you see a regular hot dog and a Kosher hot dog next to it, whether you’re Jewish or not, you subconsciously believe that Kosher hot dog is a better option. That it went through a more stringent manufacturing process. We know it’s a better quality product. It’s the same with halal products. You know they’re safe, that they are transparent,” she explains.

When using a non-halal certified product, the responsibility rests with the consumers to verify its halal compliance.

Halal Vs. Vegan Beauty

Some Muslims, tells Karim, opt for vegan skincare and makeup products as a substitute for Halal beauty, which remains largely inaccessible, especially outside Europe and the Middle East.

While both halal beauty and vegan beauty prioritize cruelty-free formulations, they aren’t the same.

“Halal doesn’t mean vegan and vice versa. The biggest difference is, in halal-certified skincare, we don’t use any alcohol or other non-halal additives which can be used in vegan products like ethyl alcohol,” Karim explains.

Similarly, halal-certified products can contain animal-based ingredients that are permissible and ethically sourced, like honey or beeswax, making them unsuitable for vegans.

Flora & Noor, however, is both vegan and Leaping Bunny-certified, in addition to being halal-certified, says the beauty entrepreneur.

For Karim, this makes the research, product development and manufacturing process three times as challenging.

“Honestly, that’s probably the most difficult part of my job—the supply chain,” she laughs.

“We’ve switched labs before and we have switched suppliers because we have to be very stringent when it comes to all of these things, ” she says.

Also, “because halal certification is not a big thing in the US, a lot of manufacturers have no idea what it is or how to abide by it. So there’s a lot of education and training that goes into it. Not just on our team, but on our contractors’ teams, on our suppliers’ and manufacturer’s teams as well,” she explains.

“It’s also more expensive as we have to ensure they are not only high-performance ingredients but also halal, ethically sourced and plant-based. For example, one of the active ingredients we use is botanical hyaluronic acid (Cassia Senna) that is indigenous to Sudan,” she shares.

“It’s quite difficult and time-consuming and comes with higher supply chain costs, but it’s worth it,” adds Karim.

Besides halal regulations, the other tricky task for the Flora & Noor founder is educating consumers about the difference between marketing buzzwords and genuinely effective skin care, helping them sift fact from fiction.

“It can be difficult to navigate that. To explain what might be trendy or popping isn’t necessarily scientific. For example, collagen-infused skincare. Collagen, actually, does not absorb well topically, so It’s just a marketing gimmick,” says Karim.

Collagen molecules are too large to be able to penetrate the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin).

While it does hydrate the skin, there have been no epidemiological studies with large sample sizes that prove applying topical collagen promotes collagen synthesis.

“Instead of topical collagen, we use ingredients that actually increase collagen production, for example, Gotu Kola, which is a hundred times more effective,” Karim says.

Going Beyond the Shade Range

“A lot of times when people think inclusivity, they think complexions, they think shade ranges, but there’s so much more to it than that. It should also reflect different cultures, different age groups, different skin concerns,” she says.

“I see many retailers display beautiful Muslim women in hijab on their windows, who cannot actually use any of those products inside. Nobody is actually formulating for us or considering us when making the products that they’re making,” Karim points out.

This needs to change on both ends, says the halal beauty founder. “Brands need to be serious about what they are doing in terms of manufacturing and production if they want to be deemed inclusive by using our faces, our religion,” she says.

And “we [Muslims] as a community need to make our voices louder about what we will and will not accept when it comes to these things,” she adds.

Karim envisions a future where halal beauty is readily available at every drugstore, whether you’re shopping in the U.S., Egypt or Indonesia.

“I would also like to see halal beauty become more inclusive from within. Right now, in the majority of countries that do have halal skincare and cosmetics, the products are not reflective of the overall population. They are not the most effective when it comes to richer skin tones and more melanated skin concerns,” notes Karim.

Flora & Noor is set to expand its body care range with two upcoming products formulated to target skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and keratosis pilaris.

Other new releases in the pipeline include cleansers and oils inspired by ingredients and traditions in Somalia.

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