A bowl of Queen Kisses lip balm is pictured. (Courtesy photo)
Tamiqua Whittaker was inspired to launch her homemade cosmetics business while working full time in the dental field.
Watching her patients struggle with dry lips during and after checkups inspired the Tulsa resident to develop her first homemade cosmetic product, an all-natural lip scrub.
To ensure her products are safe and effective on different ages and skin types, she tests them on herself, her children and her husband. She also researches industry standards, and her background has taught her best practices in sterilization and how to prevent cross-contamination.
Building on the success of her lip balm, Whittaker created the brand Queen Kisses and scaled it up to a three-part lip restoration system that includes lip exfoliators, balms and a nighttime aloe mask consisting of less than five certified organic or locally sourced ingredients from makers or growers in Tulsa or surrounding areas.
“What sets my business apart is that I am a licensed dental professional who started this endeavor, so I have the experience and knowledge necessary for caring for such a sensitive and important part of your face,” Whittaker said.
Whittaker’s lip balms are a part of a quickly growing but largely under regulated sector in Oklahoma and nationally – the handmade cosmetic industry.
Queen Kisses cosmetic product are pictured. (Courtesy photo)
The market for natural cosmetics in the United States is expected to grow by nearly 71% by 2030 and reach almost $1.1 billion, according to a 2024 analysis by the Chemical Abstracts Service. The group, which aims to connect scientific knowledge to accelerate breakthroughs, said more consumers are shunning mainstream products, which contain synthetic chemicals, in favor of natural, sustainable and customized products. The growth of social media has also opened up opportunities for small business owners to showcase and pitch their homemade products to large numbers of people.
But experts, including the Food and Drug Administration, warn that the handmade cosmetic industry is a buyer-beware market for consumers. Because there is little state and federal oversight of the burgeoning industry, they acknowledge that some homemade cosmetics could be misbranded or contaminated because they don’t have to be approved before use.
An FDA spokesperson said the federal agency does not approve cosmetics before they are sold but does regulate them after they become available on the market.
“The FDA does not provide specific resources or educational programs for small or home-based cosmetic producers,” an agency spokesperson said. “As a regulatory agency, our priority with regard to cosmetics is ensuring that products are unadulterated and properly labeled.”
In Oklahoma, the State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering is responsible for the protection and education of consumers who perform cosmetology services. The agency provides proper training for applicants and requires them to pass a written and practical examination.
If a consumer has a complaint about a business or product, they can submit it to the state board. The complaint will then be reviewed and acted upon if necessary.
The agency did not comment about how it regulates handmade cosmetics.
Whittaker, though, said the state board primarily leaves regulation to the FDA, and it’s up to small business owners to stay abreast of the latest compliance regulations and requirements. She supports the current regulatory levels because she might not have been able to grow her home brand from nothing if the state had more stringent regulations.
LaVonda Robinson, owner of Growing Hands LLC, is pictured. (Courtesy photo)
“Too many regulations could make the entrepreneurship dream a bit more of a reach for those aspiring,” Whittaker said. “Too many regulations ensure certain (items and ingredients) are unobtainable by us common folk capable of creating our own success, and even further limit options for those of us brave enough to attempt entrepreneurship.”
But she acknowledged there are bad actors in her industry, which local and state agencies struggle to regulate.
“That’s really a Catch-22 answer,” Whittaker said. “Too many regulations hurt us honest business owners, but not enough creates issues for consumers.”
Ken Marenus, president and CEO of the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors, said the industry is oversaturated with personal care brands, and small businesses often struggle to find ways to stand out.
But the growing competition hasn’t deterred LaVonda Robinson, an entrepreneur and CEO of Growing Hands LLC.
“My passion and happiness in my job is seeing the hair grow back and remain healthy,” she said. Robinson, of Tulsa, creates hair growth oils that are tailored to meet specific needs of each of her clients because there wasn’t one specific product on the market that could accommodate them all.
“I wanted to make a product that was safe and that helped maintain that natural, healthy look and feel,” she said.
Robinson said there are plenty of similar products being “marketed as healthy and effective,” and while she’s sure about the safety of her product, she isn’t as confident about others on the market.
“(My) question is, ‘Are they really safe, and do they really work?” she said.
Editor’s note: This story was produced through a reporting partnership between Oklahoma Voice and the University of Central Oklahoma’s journalism program.
