Sabrina Elba Opens Up About A-Beauty Skin Care Line S’Able Labs: “African Ingredients Are So Powerful”
The founder and UN Goodwill Ambassador discusses her Somali heritage and the importance of incorporating those traditions into beauty.
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Anaja I. Smith
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Sabrina Elba attends the premiere of "Wonka" on Nov. 28, 2023 in London. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures
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Growing up, like many teenagers, UN Goodwill Ambassador and entrepreneur Sabrina Elba suffered from acne and post-inflammatory skin hyperpigmentation. With a condition that causes dark spots where active red acne pimples once were, she tried acids and many products from Sephora to clear her face of breakouts, only for it to do more harm than good.
“I started to really feel the effects of that as I was growing up because the skin barrier damage, it was getting worse,” says Elba, the founder of new skin care brand S’Able Labs. “It wasn’t getting better.”
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Her mother, however, relied on the traditions of their Somali heritage to curate a natural skincare routine that always kept her skin breakout-free.
“I grew up watching [my mom] make [her] own products and face masks and DIY, everything in the kitchen,” she says. “I think that was probably, I mean for sure the influence that led me to adding these African botanicals into the [S’Able Labs] skincare range.”
The potency of those natural ingredients passed down from generation to generation, inspired the model to start her own African skincare line with husband and fellow African, Idris Elba.
“The fact that we come from East Africa and [Idris] is from West Africa and this sort of continental theme, African theme, this Pan-African theme … what I realized, and sort of become addicted to is these stories and heritage pieces around these ingredients and these customs,” says Sabrina Elba.
Their African skincare, or A-Beauty line, is formulated with antioxidants — including turmeric, okra, quasil and black seed — to target skincare concerns on a cellular level like hyperpigmentation, a common condition that people with melanin experience.
S’Able Labs Okra Face Serum
Among S’Able Labs’ newest products is their Okra Face Serum, which is made with a trademarked bio-available retinol called SymRenew; African Resurrection Plant, an antioxidant; the brand’s own Hyperprevent technology to lessen hyperpigmentation; and botanical peptides derived from okra, which the company calls “nature’s Botox.”
“This has integrity behind it and an efficacy there,” Sabrina Elba says. “And I want to show people that African ingredients are so powerful.”
Below, see more from S’Able Labs, and shop the skin care brand online at Sablelabs.co and SpaceNK.com (which is currently offering 20 percent off sitewide).
S’Able Labs Rooibos Micellar Water
Buy at SpaceNK $24
S’Able Labs Black Seed Toner
$29.60 $37 20% off
S’Able Labs Baobab Moisturizer
S’Able Labs Qasil Exfoliating Mask
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