Move Over, Loofah: Luv Scrub’s African-Inspired Body Mesh Exfoliator Enters 820 Ulta Beauty Stores

Luv Scrub, a brand that took the staple African mesh cloth and turned it into a premium product, is heading to Ulta Beauty shelves.

Founder Caroline Owusu-Ansah calls the expansion a “big win for Africa.” “When I think of African products, I think of shea butter, cocoa butter, black soap, and that’s kind of where it stops, but there are so many amazing products in Africa that people don’t really know about,” she says. “When it comes to this product, it’s never been sold at this scale before, and it feels amazing that [Ulta] believes in the product and loves the brand.”

Luv Scrub, which made its debut at Ulta online 2021, is being rolled out to 820 of the chain’s locations. In total, Ulta has about 1,3500 locations nationwide. The retailer is stocking Luv Scrub’s $18 Mesh Body Exfoliator in the brand’s bestselling Naked Sunset color in its wellness shop. Owusu-Ansah thinks the placement makes perfect sense for Luv Scrub’s unique offering.

“It doesn’t always fit in certain areas,” she says. “From a merchandising perspective, if you go into an Ulta store, you’ll notice that everything’s pegged up when it comes to the bath tools, whereas, when it comes to the wellness section, it has more of a boutique-y feel to it.”

Wholesale accounts for 50% of Luv Scrub’s business. Along with Ulta, the brand is carried by boutiques, on Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s’ websites, and in brick-and-mortar at The Container Store. The brand often sells at spas, too. “It’s really great for anybody that does Brazilians or any kind of waxing,” says Owusu-Ansah. “It’s great for ingrown hairs, body acne, hyperpigmentation, the list goes on. It doesn’t stop at being a cleaning tool.”

At a young age, Owusu-Ansah became familiar with using a mesh cloth for cleansing her body. Born in Massachusetts, both of Brooklyn-based Owusu-Ansah’s parents are from Ghana, and her mother passed down the practice to her. Rather than mostly moving around body wash like a loofah or wash cloth does, Luv Scrub stresses the mesh cloth is designed to buff the skin.

When Owusu-Ansah visited her friend’s houses, she realized not everyone’s shower had a mesh cloth handy. During a sleepover in 2001, Owusu-Ansah’s curious best friend used Owusu-Ansah’s mesh cloth and asked if Owusu-Ansah’s parents could bring her one. “I was like, yeah, but don’t do that again,” she laughs. “That was the first time I realized people other than Ghanaian people liked the product.”

A decade later, Owusu-Ansah, who’s worked in retail merchandising and branding at Guess, Express and Destination Maternity, went from realization to action when she noticed stores didn’t carry the mesh cloth that was a constant in her routine. She launched Luv Scrub in 2011 with the mesh cloth in four colors: turquoise, dark blue, purple and yellow. “People would ask, ‘Why don’t you have gray and white?,’ and I’d be like, ‘That’s not the DNA of Ghana,’” says Owusu-Ansah. “Back home we always used color.”

Six months after launching Luv Scrub, Owusu-Ansah was burnt out. “I didn’t have a business plan, I went too fast,” she reflects. “I was like let me take a break, relaunch the product with beautiful packaging and a marketing message.”

Owusu-Ansah did just that in December 2016. With $10,000 of personal savings, Luv Scrub relaunched with the original turquoise and dark blue shades and the tagline, “Scrub yourself sexy.” It eventually expanded to include custom colors. “We always try to focus on how you feel after you use the product,” she says. “Making you feel the best in your skin is the strategy.” Three months after relaunching, Yahoo Beauty wrote about the brand. It went viral in Africa and the United States.

Education is at the core of the brand. “Back home, products are just sold, but nobody goes into what the product is, how to use it, how do you not use it, what are the benefits,” says Owusu-Ansah. “Since my background was in merchandising and branding, we always had to talk about product knowledge. You have to educate and empower the customer so they know exactly what to do with anything.”

Press mentions and social media drive Luv Scrub’s marketing strategy at the moment, although it may dabble in advertising in the future. Once people try the Mesh Body Exfoliator, there’s a good chance they reorder it. Owusu-Ansah mentions 30% to 40% of first-time customers return to the brand within 90 days to purchase the mesh cloth as a present. She says, “It’s the gift that you would never expect, the gift you didn’t know you needed, and it’s under $20.”

Beauty retailers don’t concentrate much on bathing tools, and Owusu-Ansah commends Ulta for giving Luv Scrub an opportunity. “People are literally throwing away their loofahs and their washcloth and replacing it with this African ritual, and I feel really proud of that,” she says. “It makes me really proud to put this product on the map, and let everybody know how amazing it is.”