About

About Red Butterfly Sanctuary

Red Butterfly Sanctuary is a space for femininity. sensuality, beauty, and personal expression. 

What began as beaded bookmarks has always been more than just the beads themselves and has grown into something so much more. As Red Butterly Sanctuary evolved, waistbeads became a signature part of the brand and a special way to explore, beauty, sensuality, and self-expression. There is something intimate about choose you to wear on your body. Choosing something meaningful, or simply choosing it because you love how it looks and you feel amazing in it. 

Our waistbeads honor the African cultures and traditions where they originated, while leaving room for you to make them your own. A strand may mark and moment in time, began a journey, hold an intention, become all day lingerie, or make you smile as you catch a glimpse of it on your body in the mirror. The reason you decide to adorn yourself is completely up to you.

As Red Butterly Sanctuary grows. so does the way we explore adornment. From waistbeads to jewelry and beyond, we create and curate pieces that invite you to enjoy beauty, pleasure, sensuality, and the experience of choosing a little something just for you.

Reclaiming love, healing, and sensuality.

Founder and Creator

I am Lou Hargrove, the founder and creator of Red Butterfly Sanctuary. In 2015, I began my personal love journey, which, lead to exploring waistbeads about a year later. Initially, I made my first strand of waistbeads to track changes in my weight. Surprisingly that first strand of waistbeads forced me to look in the mirror and i felt as though I was truly seeing myself for the first time in years. The excitement I felt at that moment was indescribable. Over time, they became something more. I began to see them as beautiful, sensual, and deeply intimate.

That experience eventually led me to begin creating waistbeads for other women and became driving force of what Red Butterfly Sanctuary is today.

My work has expanded over the years, but the thread running through it remains the same: creating space for women to reconnect with themselves, express themselves freely, and make room for more beauty, pleasure, and sensuality in their lives.