Research & Formulation Scientist at Natural Girl Wigs

What You Will Do

• Own the formulation of TSL's styling and treatment products—the finishing treatments and performance formulations built on top of our proprietary ReXI™ fibre.
• This is real material science applied to a category that has never had it in Africa, and your formulations are what turn that technology into a product people actually use.

Who We Are Looking For

• A senior formulator (skin, hair, or personal care) who has owned real product development from concept to market, not someone who has contributed to formulations someone else already designed.
• You know why a formulation works, not just that it does, and you can defend a formulation choice with mechanism, not just result. Polymer or materials chemistry isn't a requirement here, but you're a fast, curious learner who can build real fluency in that side of the science.

Who This Role Is For:

• You'll work directly with our partners and testing facilities to move a formulation from concept to something that performs consistently at production scale. You take a vague brief, e.g., "this doesn't hold in humidity," and turn it into a specific formulation change, test it properly, and explain exactly why it worked.
• This is a high-trust, high-leverage individual contributor role, not a junior lab seat and not a role you grow into. You own it from day one. You'll be the technical authority people turn to when the question is: What should this product actually contain, why, and can we prove it?
• This role is not for you if you're looking for a corporate lab job where you execute formulations someone else already designed. It is for you if you want to build something new, you've been personally accountable for a formulation working or failing, and you want your work to matter beyond the lab.
• Our environment is structured and performance-driven. We value Speed in execution, Teamwork in how we operate, Respect in how we communicate, Initiative in how we solve problems, Visibility in how work is tracked and communicated, and Excellence in the standard of output.

What You Will Own:

• Formulate and improve the styling and treatment products applied to our proprietary ReXI™ fibre, owning the full cycle from ingredient selection through bench testing to a production-ready formula.
• Work with our partners and testing facilities, local and international, to move formulations from concept to consistent, market-ready production.
• Support performance benchmarking against industry standards and reference products.
• Own claims substantiation for our formulations through rigorous testing and documentation.
• Maintain working knowledge of cosmetic and personal care regulatory frameworks (SON, NAFDAC, and relevant international equivalents) and ensure our formulations meet them.
• Ensure the products you formulate meet our safety, quality, and performance standards before they reach production.
• Build and maintain formulation and testing documentation that supports day-to-day quality control and stands up to technical due diligence.
• Stay current on industry innovation, regulatory developments, and consumer insights in the hair and beauty space, and translate them into practical formulation decisions.
• Extend our existing bench and laboratory capability as our formulation needs grow.

What You Need to Have
Non-negotiable:

• 3–5 years of hands-on cosmetic or personal care formulation experience in haircare or skincare, with demonstrated ownership of real product development, not just contribution to formulations someone else designed.
• A Degree in Chemistry, Cosmetic Science, Industrial Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Solid understanding of formulation chemistry, ingredient interactions, and product stability testing.
• Working knowledge of cosmetic and personal care regulatory frameworks (SON, NAFDAC, or international equivalents).

Strong Advantages:

• Background in polymer science, fibre technology, or textile chemistry.
• Experience with claims substantiation testing (efficacy, safety, and performance).
• Experience building or professionalizing documentation, testing, or quality assurance (QA) systems from scratch.