Indigenous creator Ruth-Ann Thorn ushers ancient wisdom into the modern skincare market with her brand, N8iV Beauty.
Ruth-Ann Thorn didn’t aspire to break into the already oversaturated beauty industry. The Luiseño/Payómkawichum entrepreneur and creative has spent decades developing a thriving art business in Paloma Valley, California, her people’s homelands since time immemorial. But as she points out, necessity is the mother of invention, and her maternal instincts prompted her to launch N8iV Beauty — one of the first luxury skincare brands developed by a Native American woman and the first to be infused with organic acorn oil sourced from tribal lands.
It all began back in 2020, when Thorn took her then 14-year-old daughter to Sephora to do some shopping. While browsing the endless aisles of cosmetics, Isabella asked her mom a simple question: “Where’s the Native American section?” When the duo tapped a sales associate to help, they were directed to a row of wares for South Asian ethnicities. That’s when it dawned on Thorn that Indigenous skin simply didn’t exist in the mainstream market — so she set out to change that.
N8iV Beauty founder Ruth-Ann Thorn (Luiseño/Payómkawichum)
In the few years since then, she’s learned the ins and outs of the industry while also sharpening her skills as a cosmetics formulator. From the very start, she knew she wanted to bring forward the teachings of her ancestors, who relied on potent plant medicines to cure what ailed them.
“Full disclosure: I’m not a scientist, so developing my formulas involved a lot of trial and error,” Thorn says with a laugh. “I really leaned on my relatives, tribal elders, and the medicine people within my community to guide me.”
Growing up on and off the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians’ 5,000-acre reservation in San Diego County, Thorn gathered acorns with her family and learned about the importance of this dietary staple for many Native communities across California. But this fruit (yes, fruit) from oak trees is more than just a superfood; it’s a botanical whose healing oil soothes cuts, burns, and other skin issues. N8iV Beauty’s playful yet poignant name honors the eight-season calendar that Thorn’s ancestors followed, migrating from the mountains to the coast in rhythm with nature’s abundance.
While building her brand, Thorn stayed true to her Indigenous values of prioritizing people over profit. “The reality is that the beauty industry is designed to make money,” she says. “But I came at it from a totally different perspective, with the goal to make space for the next generation of Native women while also honoring our ancestors who have been living with the land for thousands of years.”
Following that ambition hasn’t always been easy. Her startup experience involved spending a solid 18 months figuring out her formulations, securing a rare small-batch manufacturer, and finding a chemist willing to work with living botanicals that are inherently more variable than cheap lab-created synthetics. But it’s been an absolutely worthwhile venture bringing authentic Indigenous representation — and ingredients — to the skincare sphere.
N8iV Beauty products range from the mineral-rich Móomat cleanser to the gentle Móyla exfoliant.
Now, her burgeoning business is blossoming. Conscientious consumers are clamoring for her flagship products, the Daybreak Moisturizing Cream and Starlight Regenerative Cream (both of which feature acorn oil). In August, she added six new products to the N8iV Beauty roster, ranging from the mineral-rich Móomat cleanser (employing algae, seaweed, and kelp) to the gentle Móyla exfoliant (enriched with sweetgrass) to the color-correcting Timét sunscreen (infused with algae and cactus extracts). This fall, her line makes its debut in Nordstrom stores and on the retail behemoth’s website, marking a milestone for a Native-owned beauty brand.
While these accomplishments are certainly exciting, Thorn has even bigger aspirations in mind. “In a society that says some people are intrinsically more valuable than others based on their appearance, I really want to elevate the original idea of beauty,” she says. “Indigenous concepts of beauty are based on nature, and nature never repeats itself. No two leaves on a tree are the same. No two snowflakes are the same. No two animal prints are the same. A tribe’s existence is dependent on people having unique attributes, and I want to get us back to celebrating that uniqueness.”
Even during an era of unprecedented Native representation, many people still have outdated ideas about how Indigenous people look. Thorn’s captivating campaigns with models of all shapes, sizes, and skin tones are upending those assumptions. “I’m using N8iV Beauty to highlight people from all parts of Indian Country, and they all look very different,” Thorn explains. “One model is blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and people often question if she’s Native. I’m trying to fight this stereotype that all Native people look like Pocahontas, because we don’t.”
N8iV Beauty’s campaigns showcase models of all shapes, sizes, and skin tones, “to highlight people from all parts of Indian Country,” says founder Ruth-Ann Thorn.
Similarly, she’s eager to collaborate with thought leaders to showcase the beautiful diversity of Indigenous cultures from across Turtle Island (as many Native communities call North America). Those partnerships will highlight key plant medicines from other regions — think pumpkin, blue corn, and the like — and share stories about those tribal nations in order to educate customers about the ancient rituals and traditions they’re indulging in.
But above all, Thorn’s main objective remains to carve out a space for Indigenous people in the skincare sector, so that Native youth don’t have to ask why their culture isn’t represented in stores. “We’ve never had a space on the shelf, so I feel like it’s time to come off the reservation and step into the mainstream,” she says. “After all, we have so much beauty to bring to the world.”
Indigenous Wisdom
Soothe skin woes with these 5 go-to natural ingredients.
Navigating the skincare world can be challenging, especially in the age of greenwashing. Here, Ruth-Ann Thorn offers insider intel about her favorite beauty botanicals that Native communities have employed for centuries. A word to the wise: Ensure the products you’re using contain the real deal and not synthetic substitutes.
Acorn oil
Great for: quelling inflammation, promoting cell turnover and renewal, healing cuts and rashes
Sweetgrass extract
Great for: rejuvenating skin, reducing oiliness, brightening the complexion
Prickly pear cactus oil
Great for: hydrating dry skin, calming irritation, protecting against free radicals and sun damage
Green tea extract
Great for: soothing redness, decreasing oil production, eliminating dirt, bacteria, and pollutants
Evening primrose oil
Great for: enhancing skin elasticity, improving uneven texture, easing acne and eczema
From our November/December 2024 issue.
Learn more at n8ivbeauty.com.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Laura Bravo Mertz
