Ghana's story
From lawyer to hairdresser: an awakening
“The story begins one day in 2018, on the metro. The carriage is packed, there are lots of Black women, and I notice that not one of them is wearing her coily hair natural.
I realise there is a problem with how know-how is passed on, so I decide to run workshops to teach women, and a few men, how to care for their natural coily hair.
It's a success: they learn to style their hair naturally. But what they tell me most of all is how hard it is to find a product truly suited to their coily hair.”
A family story
From those moments spent with her grandmother in the Creole garden, Ghana inherited ancestral know-how and priceless knowledge of Creole fruits, flowers and plants.
“When I was little, my grandmother and I would make masks and shampoos with hibiscus, aloe vera and other plants I picked in her garden.”
It is from these memories that the formulas developed by Les Ateliers Crépus were born. A concentrate of powerful natural actives, a true ode to the wonders of the Afro-Caribbean pharmacopoeia.
Grandmother's recipes
“I grew up in Deshaies, a small town between the sea and the mountains in Guadeloupe. Throughout my childhood, my grandmother passed on to me the secrets of the Guadeloupean pharmacopoeia.
When treatment day came, we would set off, basket under our arm, to pick fruit and plants in the garden. When our hair was too dry, she would prepare a magical macerate made from hibiscus flowers and cocoa beans.”
The Creole garden
The Creole garden is a rich, living symbol of Caribbean culture.
It is a space where nature expresses itself fully, mixing medicinal plants, fruit trees, flowers and aromatic herbs.
It embodies a natural, holistic approach that highlights the benefits of local plants while offering a sensory experience inspired by the riches of Caribbean nature.
Les Ateliers Crépus celebrate authentic care rituals inspired by Creole traditions.
From the garden to the Boudoir
The hidden treasure of Guadeloupean women
“You have to know that I was born in Guadeloupe, and when I was younger I made my own products with my grandmother from the fruits, flowers and plants of the Creole garden. I never found anything better, so the habit never left me. And since I had some products with me, I let them try them, almost by chance.
And it was a hit. Orders came flooding in, and that's when I decided to create the cosmetics brand Les Ateliers Crépus. I called an engineer friend who helped me stabilise my formula, I went looking for a laboratory in the Drôme to launch production, and the adventure was under way.”
The story of an encounter
Between hairdressers and women with coily hair
“I'm tired of being turned away by mainstream hairdressers, and I don't want to have my hair done in an informal salon. I want every Black woman to be able to enjoy a moment of wellbeing at the hairdresser's. Like everyone else.
The problem is that in France, the hairdressing diploma (CAP Coiffure) does not prepare hairdressers for this texture. Working in salons, I realised that on the one hand, hairdressers had neither the products nor the training to care for natural coily hair, and on the other, that Black women were desperately looking for qualified hairdressers and products suited to their coily hair.
I train to become a trainer. I go in search of ancestral know-how in Africa and the Caribbean. After specialist training, I decide to create my own academy: Les Ateliers Crépus Pro. I train hairdressers all over France, teaching them to style natural coily hair. Black women finally have great places to go!”
Ghana, founder of Les Ateliers Crépus
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