I came here to buy Shea butter. It's difficult to find RAW Shea butter. But this place has it. Shea butter is one of the best thing you can put on your skin. Natural product always beats synthetic ones. Don't be stupid and get cheap shampoos or lotions which says Shea butter. Chances you get 100% Shea butter in those = zero. I think everyone should take care of their skin once in a while. Besides this place has a lot of oil and a lot natural products for your skin. You can even mix your own oil. And then again they sell sunglasses. The entire wall was full of sunglasses. That's so weird and random. And I was totally confused asians were working here. I expected something else since the products are from Ghana? But the one guy was very helpful so I'll definitely come back. read more

Karlen's - Cosmetics & Beauty Supply Near Me - Los Angeles, California

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Very nice place! They have African Black soap! All over L.A. I have been looking for a store that carries it, and they are the cheapest. For a block of soap the size of 12x4x2, it was only $20! They had it all cut and you just choose which one you wanted. I naturally chose the biggest brick. Also bought some raw Shea Butter and sage as well. Parking is a little tight because I went on a Saturday, but they had so much stuff I will definitely be going back again to find some pure avocado and aloe vera oils as well. read more

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ATTENTION: Granola/patchouli/natural product-heads living Downtown, (you know who you are). It is hard to find natural products around here! Woori market has a good selection of beauty products as does the stand towards the back @ Grand Central Market...but I have found a secret treasure....and I'm going to share it with you..... Karlen's has real African Black Soap and raw shea butter from Ghana. They carry the brands Dudu-Osun and Nubian Heritage. They also carry generous containers of all natural shea butter for only a few dollars!!!! If you haven't tried this type of soap or shea butter, I highly recommend looking into it especially if you have dry, cracked, sunburned or problem skin. For your natural incense needs....they carry frankincense and myrrh in its natural state and also have sage bundles and the charcoal brickets you might need to get your magical incense plumes swirling. This is a wholesale place but selling individual soaps and things didn't seem to be a problem. I wish they would bring in more Nubian Heritage products...this is my only complaint. The low price on the shea butter sort of neutralizes my annoyance at this though. read more

In Los Angeles, this is as good as it gets! I'm a native New Yorker. If you're familiar with NY, you know there is no shortage of oils, etc. However, in LA, it's a rarity. I'm glad I found the place. It's small.. but reasonably priced. Hours: Monday - Saturday 9-5:30pm read more

Cool spot!! I went to Karlen's because I use Dudu Osun Black African Soap. It's pretty pricey, it usually goes for about $3.99 a bar. Luckily, I found Karlen's and was able to get that wholesale price of 6 bars for $12. I also copped some Nam Champa incense, some burning oils, natural Shea Butter for the skin (all reasonably priced). Next time, I'll hit them up for body oils...I don't got time for $65 bottles of cologne!! Getting back to the subject at hand, the lady that works there is extremely nice and helpful. You won't be disappointed. read more

Everything I wanted and more. Yes I only came here for the raw Shea butter, but to see all the oils and incense was jaw dropping. $7lb for Shea butter and large incense bottles for $7. Got to get my butt naked which is normally sold out. Watch out for parking. Only have 1 paid hour after that you will get a ticket. Nice hair accessory shop near by for the little princess in your life;) read more

Karlen's - Real raw Shea butter... There is a God - Cosmetics & Beauty Supply Near Me - Los Angeles, California

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I went here because I was looking for frankincense and myrrh resin for cleansing. I yelped it and found this little gem of a store in the smack middle of downtown. I called ahead of time to see if they had what I needed and the owner lady was so sweet and nice I decided to take a road trip. Once we got there (my husband, my two kids and myself) we found a parking meter right up front. This was a small store but it had very affordable items. I found a one pound bag of myrrh for $7 and a pound bag of frankincense for $6. A huge wand of white sage for $6. I also bought an oil burner for less than $5. I also decided to buy a big tub of their 100% natural African Shea Butter for $10. On the right of the store they have a huge variety of kid and adult sunglasses so my kids went crazy. I bought both a pair for $3 each. The only not-so-negative thing is all their oils are just fragrance oils and have no essential quality. I wish they were essential oils but that's ok because I scored on everything else. Go to this place if you are in the area! read more

Karlen's is the the bomb. Natural, unrefined shea butter for $6 lb. You can't beat that. They also sell aftrican black soap; I hear it's great but haven't tried yet. They sell fragrance oils to but most seem pretty cheesy with really lame artificial flavors, but it's worth a trip just to get the shea butter just be careful of the skid row crowd as the store is in a bad area of downtown. read more

I drive from San Diego just to buy oils! I love this place!! The service is great and there is always a new fragrance I want to try.

Loved the selection of raw African Shea Butter for $9 for a 8oz tub!!!! Plus they have 100 incense sticks for $3! Can't beat that with a stick ;) read more

The product is excellent quality. They have the best price there is. Very friendly staff. You will find here the scent you cannot find anywhere else. They have the common to the extra ordinary products. They have great variety of oils. I always order to give the oil burners and scented oils to my most critic clients and they all love it. I strongly recommend this place. read more

Great workers here. They are just so nice. Fragrance and sunglasses store. Wholesale and retail. They are patient and not pushy. So so so nice! read more

Are they open on Sundays or what? Sort out the opening hours. Such a sloppy yelp page.

It's kind of hard to rank a shop that's one of a kind. How does it rank among the other African soap and Shea butter with scented oils and incense and sunglasses shop? Well it's tops. They have massive chunks of real raw African black soap, as well as scented versions and tubs of real shea butter. My only slight beef is I'm not too interested in their scented oils as they are all or mostly artificial oils. read more

I found this place on Yelp while I was searching for raw Shea butter in Los Angeles.This place was amazing! 8oz for $7 bucks a pound for $10 bucks. I would for sure go back to this place for that product again. The lady who assisted me was very polite and helpful. I also picked up 15 incense for $1 and some super cute oversized Lennon styled glasses on the way out that made my day. Check this place out! read more

I've been shopping here s while now. The owners are truly wonderful people. They are kind and well stocked always having what I need. I buy incense here Nag Champa by the big boxes. Incense oils and burners. Beautiful empty glass perfume bottles. I also buy soap and body wash here. Prices are reasonable and easy to get in and out. read more

Amazing selection & great prices! Definitely looking forward to coming back again for more stuff!

This store is awesome. I came here for oils or incenses to brighten up my apt. This place had multiple lovely scents to a point where I had a hard time choosing. The pricing was very VERY reasonable. Len was very professional and respectful with answering all questions. She really added to the experience. I came out of the store with a bag full of heaven. Lol. I even got me some 100% shea butter. Cant wait to get rid of them unwanted impurities. I definitely will be coming back and highly recommend this store to everyone. read more

Great place, helpful people, they carry many choices of Incense, burning oils, body oils, oil burners and they even carry sun glasses in the other half of the store, it's one of those places you go and take a while to come out because of so many nice things that they have. Always good service Extremely recommended ! read more

KarLen's, I LOVE YOU! I was so glad to have stumbled upon this gem right smack in the heart of DTLA. I'm a Sopier (soap maker) and I love the selection of oils they have for me to choose from to scent my Lard soap, Honey~Sugar facial scrubs and Bath Salts.. They are the commonly asked for fragrances and at a very good price, about $1 per ounce. I know they are fragrance oil, I don't mind. It would be awesome if they did start carrying Essential oils though. It is quite the treat for the nose and eyes. read more

I would always buy my liquid fragrances here. They have the best scents that no other fragrance stores have. The Products are also very affordable. The ingredients of this one-of-a-kind and are very gentle to smell and also to the skin. I also buy their incense from time to time. I always come back in the store and they have a lot of variety of things to buy. read more

This is an interesting hodge podge shop, on one half it's a sunglass shop with a great selection of cheap sunglasses, and on the other, an even better selection of natural health and beauty products. They sell several varieties of Nubian Heritage soap, and black soap for as little as $3. If you buy three or more soaps you get a nice discount. They also sell large chunks of black soap by weight, I believe, and lots of shea butter products, including pure shea butter. Nice place to go to for natural skin products. read more