You’ve probably seen the bright orange labels and the heavy tubs of hibiscus curling smoothie sitting on the shelves of basically every Target, CVS, and local drugstore across the country. Shea Moisture is everywhere. But if you’ve been following the brand for a while, you know its journey from a Harlem street corner to a global powerhouse hasn't exactly been a straight line. People always ask: who owns Shea Moisture now? The answer is a massive multinational corporation, but how it got there—and why that move sparked a massive controversy in the natural hair community—is a story about money, heritage, and the complicated reality of "selling out" versus scaling up.
The Massive Corporation Currently Pulling the Strings
Let's get the big name out of the way first. Unilever owns Shea Moisture.
The consumer goods giant, which manages everything from Ben & Jerry’s to Dove and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, officially acquired Sundial Brands—the parent company of Shea Moisture—back in 2017. It was a landmark deal. While the exact price tag wasn't splashed across every headline like a tech IPO, industry insiders and reports from the time valued the acquisition in the neighborhood of $1.6 billion.
That’s a staggering amount of money for a brand that started with a teenager selling soaps on the sidewalk.
Unilever didn't just buy the recipes for hair butter. They bought a direct line to the "Black tax"—the reality that Black consumers spend significantly more on hair care and beauty than other demographics. By 2017, the "natural hair movement" was no longer a niche subculture; it was a dominant market force, and Unilever wanted in.
From Sierra Leone to Harlem: The Richelieu Dennis Era
Before the Unilever billions, Shea Moisture was a family affair. This is the part of the story that most long-time fans hold onto. The brand's roots actually go back to 1912 in Sierra Leone. Sofi Tucker, a widowed mother of four, sold shea butter, African black soap, and her own homemade hair and skin preparations to villagers.
Decades later, her grandson, Richelieu Dennis, moved to the United States for college.
He couldn't go back home to Sierra Leone because of the civil war. So, he did what his grandmother did. He started making those same products in his apartment and selling them on the streets of New York City. Alongside his mother, Mary Rodriguez, and his best friend, Nyema Tubman, Dennis founded Sundial Brands in 1991.
For over twenty years, they were the gold standard for "Black-owned." They grew the business without traditional venture capital for a long time, relying on word-of-mouth in the Black community. You didn't see Shea Moisture commercials on TV back then. You found out about it from your cousin or a girl on a 2009 YouTube vlog.
🔗 Read more: We Are Legal Revolution: Why the Status Quo is Finally Breaking
The Bain Capital Turning Point
If you want to pinpoint exactly when the "who owns Shea Moisture" conversation started getting heated, you have to look at 2015. Two years before the Unilever exit, Sundial Brands sold a minority stake to Bain Capital.
Yes, that Bain Capital.
This move was the first sign to the "day one" fans that the brand was pivoting. The infusion of cash allowed Shea Moisture to expand its distribution massively. Suddenly, you didn't have to go to a specialty beauty supply store to find it. It was in the "ethnic aisle" of every major grocery chain. But for many, this felt like the beginning of the end of the brand’s soul.
Why the Ownership Change Caused a Total Meltdown
Ownership isn't just about who signs the checks; it’s about who the products are for. Shortly after the Unilever acquisition (and even slightly before it), Shea Moisture released a marketing campaign that nearly tanked their reputation.
It was a video featuring several women talking about their hair struggles. The problem? Most of the women in the ad were white, and they were complaining about things like "frizz" or "not knowing what to do with my hair."
The backlash was instant. Brutal.
Black women, who had supported the brand when it was just a card table on a street corner, felt erased. They felt that as soon as Unilever took ownership of Shea Moisture, the brand decided it didn't need its core audience anymore. There were accusations that the formulas had changed—that the products were being "watered down" to suit Caucasian hair types.
Richelieu Dennis had to go on a massive apology tour. He insisted that the brand wasn't abandoning its base but was instead "expanding the circle." He argued that to survive in a global market, they had to grow. But the scars from that 2017 PR disaster still linger in Reddit threads and comment sections today.
💡 You might also like: Oil Market News Today: Why Prices Are Crashing Despite Middle East Chaos
What Did Unilever Actually Do With the Brand?
Honestly, from a purely business perspective, Unilever has done what it does best: it scaled.
Since the acquisition, Shea Moisture has expanded into men’s grooming, specialized baby lines, and an even wider array of skin care. They've also maintained a level of independence that some other acquired brands lose. Under the terms of the deal, Unilever and Sundial created a $100 million New Voices Fund.
This fund was specifically designed to invest in women of color entrepreneurs. It was a way to say, "We took the big check, but we’re using it to seed the next generation of Black-owned businesses."
Is Richelieu Dennis Still Involved?
Sorta. Dennis stepped down as CEO of Sundial Brands in 2019, about two years after the sale. He was succeeded by Cara Sabin, a powerhouse in the beauty industry with a background at Clinique and NARS. While Dennis moved on to other ventures—including buying Essence magazine to return it to Black ownership—the DNA of his family’s business remains the selling point for Unilever.
The Formula Controversy: Did the Ingredients Change?
This is the "conspiracy theory" that won't die. If you look at the back of a bottle of Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner from 2011 versus 2026, you will see differences.
When a small company gets bought by a giant like Unilever, "supply chain optimization" happens. They find cheaper ways to source ingredients. They find preservatives that allow the product to sit on a shelf for two years instead of six months.
Shea Moisture has consistently denied that they "cheapened" the formula for a wider audience, but many long-term users swear the slip and the thickness aren't what they used to be. Whether that’s a result of ownership change or just the natural evolution of a mass-produced product is up for debate. But the perception of a quality drop is often tied directly to the fact that people know a big conglomerate is now in charge.
How Shea Moisture Compares to the Rest of the Market
The "natural hair" space is crowded now. Back in 2005, Shea Moisture had very little competition in the mainstream. Now, they are fighting for shelf space with brands that have stayed independent and brands that followed their exact blueprint.
📖 Related: Cuanto son 100 dolares en quetzales: Why the Bank Rate Isn't What You Actually Get
- Mielle Organics: Recently acquired by P&G (Procter & Gamble), sparking a similar "who owns it" outcry.
- Carol's Daughter: Bought by L'Oréal way back in 2014.
- Cantu: Owned by PDC Wellness (a private equity-backed firm).
- The Honey Pot Co: Recently took a major investment from Compass Diversified.
It seems to be the lifecycle of a successful Black-founded beauty brand: start small, build a cult following, prove the market exists, and then get bought by a legacy giant like Unilever or L'Oréal. It’s the "exit" that many founders dream of, even if it breaks the hearts of the community that built them.
The Legacy of the Deal
So, who owns Shea Moisture? Unilever. But who is Shea Moisture? That’s more complicated.
The brand still uses the "Sofi Tucker" story in its marketing. It still uses fair-trade shea butter sourced from women’s cooperatives in Northern Ghana. It still pours millions into Black community initiatives.
For some, the ownership doesn't matter as long as the product works and the company gives back. For others, the loss of "Black-owned" status is a dealbreaker. They’ve moved on to smaller, indie brands where they can talk directly to the founder on Instagram.
What to Look for if You Care About Ownership
If the Unilever ownership is a sticking point for you, you have to be a bit of a detective when shopping.
- Check the Parent Company: Look at the fine print on the back of the bottle. It will usually say "Distributed by Sundial Brands" and then, in smaller text, mention Unilever.
- Look for the B-Corp Status: Sundial Brands has historically maintained B-Corp certification, which means they meet certain social and environmental standards, regardless of who owns them.
- Follow the Founder: See where the original founders are putting their money now. Often, the "exit money" from a sale like this ends up funding dozens of smaller, truly independent startups.
The reality of the beauty industry in 2026 is that "independence" is a rare and expensive luxury. Shea Moisture chose the path of global reach. They traded the "Black-owned" label for the ability to put their products in the hands of millions of people across the globe. Whether that was a fair trade depends entirely on your personal values as a consumer.
The next time you’re grabbing that tub of shea butter, you aren't just buying a moisturizer. You’re participating in a multi-billion dollar business ecosystem that started with a woman in Sierra Leone over a century ago. Ownership changed, the labels changed, and the ads changed, but the impact that Shea Moisture had on the beauty industry—forcing giant corporations to finally care about textured hair—is something Unilever can't take credit for. They just bought the results.
Actionable Insights for the Conscious Consumer
If you want to support Black-owned businesses but still love your Shea Moisture products, consider a "hybrid" shopping approach. Use your favorite "holy grail" products from the big brands that have the distribution and price points you need, but intentionally set aside a portion of your monthly beauty budget for true "indie" brands.
Check out the "New Voices" portfolio to see which startups the former Shea Moisture founders are currently backing; it’s a great way to find the "next" Shea Moisture before it eventually ends up in the hands of another global conglomerate. Always read the ingredient labels every six months, as parent companies often tweak formulas quietly during quarterly manufacturing reviews. If a product suddenly stops working for your hair, don't assume your hair changed—it might be the supply chain.