📕 THE FULL BUYING GUIDE — 16 pages, $4.99: https://declassifiedhistory.gumroad.com/l/shelf-audit-17-the-makeup-counterAll five brands, who owns each one, and what every product costs.Beauty Bakerie and Mented Cosmetics, two makeup brands most people would swear are unrelated, now answer to the exact same private equity owner, inside the exact same portfolio, plus three brands where the founder never sold at all.This is a buying guide, not a takedown. Every verdict below is ownership and price, checked and re-checked against the companies' own paperwork and live product pages — never a claim about what any product does or whether it's safe on your skin.THE REVEAL:• Mented Cosmetics (the callback) — already named a villain on this channel: acquired by West Lane Capital Partners in 2024, co-founder KJ Miller stayed on as Brand President. Lipsticks have historically run $12–$20, foundation around $30 (verify current pricing before you buy — no new ownership evidence here, same skip as last time).• Beauty Bakerie (the new reveal) — founder Cashmere Nicole built it in 2011, closed it herself in April 2024 by her own stated account, then it was acquired months later in 2024 by the same firm behind Mented, West Lane Capital Partners, joining the same Blooming Brands portfolio Mented already belonged to. Lip Whip: a flat $22.00 a tube, every shade, confirmed live off the brand's own site. Buy direct: https://www.beautybakerie.comTHE THREE THAT NEVER SOLD:• Juvia's Place — founder ChiChi Eburu, since 2014, fully bootstrapped, no funding round or acquisition found on the public record. Nubian, Warrior, and Coffee Shop palettes, $25.00 each. Buy: https://www.juviasplace.com (also at Ulta)• The Crayon Case — founder Raynell "Supa Cent" Steward, since 2017, self-funded off her own audience, no outside investor found. Hall Pass Lip Gloss Collection $12.99; Matte Book Palette $21.98 (currently sold out — check restock before you click). Buy direct: https://www.thecrayoncase.com• LYS Beauty — founder Tisha Thompson, still founder and still CEO, took an eight-figure Series A ($15M) from Encore Consumer Capital in early 2025, its first outside money ever. Founder-led, still CEO, took growth capital — never self-funded, and this isn't a buyout; no equity percentage is publicly disclosed. Chapters0:00 One Wallet, Two "Black-Owned" Labels2:30 The Villain Named: Private Equity3:29 #1 Mented Cosmetics, The Callback4:31 #2 Beauty Bakerie, The Full Reveal8:49 #3 Juvia's Place11:03 #4 The Crayon Case13:06 #5 LYS Beauty, The Asterisk15:59 The Buyer's Tell16:54 Recap: Three That Never Sold▶ Mented's full reveal: 6 Beauty Brands No Longer "Black-Owned" [VIDEO-ID-TBD]▶ Same playbook, different aisle: 5 Black-Owned Beauty Brands You Can Buy Direct (Skip Target): https://youtu.be/wTKJyr2lo-ISome of the links above may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which brands make this list, and it never will.Everything in this video is ownership and price — public records and the companies' own paperwork.Nothing here is a claim about whether any of these products work or are safe on your skin.SOURCES:• PR Newswire, West Lane Capital Partners Acquires Beauty Bakerie, 2024-07-10 (primary): https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/west-lane-capital-partners-acquires-beauty-bakerie-to-add-to-its-beauty-platform-302191993.html• Beauty Independent, West Lane Breathes New Life Into Beauty Bakerie: https://www.beautyindependent.com/west-lane-capital-partners-breathes-new-life-into-beauty-bakerie-with-acquisition/• Fashionista, How One Beauty Investor Acquires and Grows Indie Brands (Blooming Brands roster), 2024-07: https://fashionista.com/2024/07/beauty-acquisition-strategy-blooming-brands-west-lane-capital• Beauty Bakerie, Lip Whips collection (live pricing), checked 2026-07-23: https://www.beautybakerie.com/collections/lip-whips

📕 THE FULL BUYING GUIDE — 15 pages, $4.99: https://declassifiedhistory.gumroad.com/l/shelf-audit-16-founder-ownedAll six priced per ounce, from 38 cents to $68, with the ownership record on each.Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula has never been Black-owned, not once since the Neis family bought the company in 1971. Here are the five Black-owned skincare brands where the founder never sold the pen, checked against the actual ownership record and the real price per ounce.This is a buying guide, not a lecture. Every verdict below is ownership and price only — it is not a claim about whether any product here works, clears anything up, or is safe for your skin.THE ONE NUMBER THAT DECIDES THIS LIST: divide the price by the ounces on the label. Palmer's 33.8 fl oz bottle runs $12.99 at Target — that's $0.38/oz, the cheapest number in the video, from a company that's been white-owned for 55 years. The rest of this list runs $10.50/oz to $68/oz, and every bottle is still signed off by the person who started the company.THE FIVE STILL-OURS PICKS:• Bolden — founders Chinelo Chidozie & Ndidi Obidoa, self-funded per the brand's own record, no acquisition found. Dark Spot Fix serum, 1 fl oz, $19.00 = $19.00/oz. Buy direct: https://www.boldenusa.com• Buttah Skin — founder Dorion Renaud, owned via Buttah Enterprises LLC, no funding round or acquisition found. CocoShea Revitalizing Cream, 2 oz, $21.00 = $10.50/oz, the cheapest crown on the list. Buy direct: https://www.buttahskin.com• Hyper Skin — founder Desiree Verdejo, self-funded per Essence, AfroTech, and Beauty Independent. Hyper Even Brightening Dark Spot Vitamin C Serum, 1 fl oz, $36.00 = $36.00/oz (full size currently on back order). Buy direct: https://hyperskin.com• Eadem — founders Marie Kouadio Amouzame & Alice Lin Glover retain CEO and operating control; founder-led, took outside investment (Fable Investments, backed by Natura & Co, plus Glossier, JLabs, and Sephora Accelerate) — never self-funded. Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum, 1 fl oz, $68.00 = $68.00/oz, the highest per-ounce figure on the list (currently out of stock, waitlist only). Buy direct: https://eadem.co• Topicals — founder/CEO Olamide Olowe and co-founder Claudia Teng; founder-led, took outside investment (a $10M Series A led by CAVU Consumer Partners, investors include Marcy Venture Partners, Kelly Rowland, and Gabrielle Union) — never self-funded; majority-equity retention is not publicly confirmed either way. Faded Brightening & Clearing Serum, Full Size, 30 mL / 1 fl oz, $28.00 = $28.00/oz (currently out of stock). Buy direct: https://mytopicals.comBuy direct where you can — more of your dollar goes to the founder, not a markup.The habit to run yourself before you buy anything in this aisle: divide the price by the ounces printed on the back of the bottle, then search the brand's name plus the word "acquired." Ten seconds, right from your phone, and you know exactly whose company you're paying into.▶ Watch the buy-direct video (Pholk Beauty + Rose Ingleton MD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTKJyr2lo-ISome of the links above are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which five brands make this list, and it never will.Chapters:0:00 The Jar That Was Never Ours0:45 The One Number That Decides This List3:10 Palmer's: The Actual Paperwork 5:10 #1 Bolden6:45 #2 Buttah Skin8:15 #3 Hyper Skin10:00 #4 Eadem 11:55 #5 Topicals13:45 The Buyer's Tell14:45 Recap and the Full ListSOURCES:• Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion, 33.8 fl oz — Target, checked 2026-07-23: https://www.target.com/p/palmers-cocoa-butter-formula-lotion-bottle-33-8-fl-oz/-/A-75665787• "Community connections have led to long-term success for Palmer's" — Drug Store News: https://drugstorenews.com/community-connections-have-led-long-term-success-palmers• Bolden — About (founders, self-funded) — boldenusa.com: https://www.boldenusa.com/pages/about

📕 THE FULL RECEIPTS — 19 pages, $4.99: https://declassifiedhistory.gumroad.com/l/shelf-audit-15-what-the-label-saysEvery finding with the FDA letter, OSHA citation or lab test it came from, named.Five keratin/Brazilian-blowout treatments carry a real FDA letter, OSHA citation, or lab test for formaldehyde behind a "formaldehyde-free" label. Two don't. Here's what the paperwork says.FORMALDEHYDE FOUND (documented by OSHA, the FDA, or an independent lab): • Brazilian Blowout — FDA warning letter, Aug 2011: FDA's own testing found 8.7–10.4% formaldehyde in a bottle printed "No Formaldehyde." Settled a class-action for $4.5M. • GK Hair (formerly Global Keratin) — FDA warning letter; independent testing found 1.4–4.4% formaldehyde; recalled in Canada, France, Ireland. Reformulated since — today's bottle is a separate question. • Marcia Teixeira — distributor fined $12,600 by OSHA; independently tested at 1.2–3.4% depending on the lab and batch. • Keratin Complex Smoothing Therapy (original line) — distributor fined $12,600 by OSHA; formaldehyde confirmed independently. NOT Peter Coppola's later, separately-branded line — different bottle, era. • Cadiveu / Brasil Cacau — named in the same 2011 OSHA salon air testing as Brazilian Blowout; no separate FDA letter of its own, the thinnest receipt.WORTH A SECOND LOOK (no FDA letter or OSHA citation by name): • Kerasilk (Goldwell) and Cezanne run on glyoxylic acid, not methylene glycol — a real, different chemistry, no federal citation by name. The honest rest: peer-reviewed research shows glyoxylic acid can itself release formaldehyde gas under the same heat these treatments use, and case reports (incl. one in the NEJM) link it to kidney injury in a cluster of patients. Still-developing research, not a proven-clean bill of health.WHERE TO FIND THEM (salon-professional listings we found, not a brand checkout page): Kerasilk: https://www.imagebeauty.com/products/goldwell-kerasilk-keratin-treatment-smoothing-lotion Cezanne: https://www.amazon.com/Cezanne-Formaldehyde-Keratin-Smoothing-Treatment/dp/B00X6AIOB8A National Institutes of Health study (JNCI, Oct 2022, ~33,000 women) found women using straighteners 4x+/year had more than double the uterine cancer risk by 70 — 60% of the users studied were Black women. Category-level context, not a per-brand finding.One question that matters before you book: ask your stylist what chemical system is in the bottle. Methylene glycol is the tell the FDA and OSHA were reading in 2011. Glyoxylic acid isn't an automatic pass either — just a different question worth asking.Every claim here is a documented finding — an FDA letter, OSHA citation, lab test, or peer-reviewed study — reported as that source's finding, both sides shown where a brand disputes or has reformulated. Not medical advice.Some links below may be affiliate links; I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which brands make this list or where they land. (FTC 16 CFR 255.)CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Formaldehyde-Free Promise 0:46 The Loophole: Methylene Glycol vs. Formaldehyde 3:07 #5 Cadiveu / Brasil Cacau 5:03 #4 Keratin Complex Smoothing Therapy 6:49 #3 Marcia Teixeira 8:08 #2 GK Hair 9:50 #1 Brazilian Blowout, And The Stalled FDA Ban 12:04 The NIH Study, In Context 13:34 Worth A Second Look: Kerasilk & Cezanne 15:55 What To Ask Your Stylist Before You Book