Real Talk: How Sustainable Are We?

What makes a cosmetic product truly sustainable?
1) biodegradable and/or recycled packaging
2) biodegradable, locally and sustainably grown/produced and fairly traded ingredients

We live in a global world. Typically a cosmetic product ingredient list would look like the United Colours of Benetton: capuacu butter from Brazil, jojoba oil from Mexico, shea butter from Ghana, extracts from India, surfactants from China or France or any other country wherever the ingredients are produced.

A product that is truly kind to the planet is not only biodegradable - it is also kind to the farmer and involves minimum logistics and repacking of ingredients.

We are already biodegradable (number 1 - check!) and here are our plans for the future:

1 - Direct buying relationships with ingredient producers - this way the farmer and the producer keeps more of the profits, instead of a Chinese trading company buying in bulk and reselling, sometimes putting communities and whole countries on draconian terms and into modern-day slavery. Also the reselling creates extra packaging and repackaging as well as complex logistics.

2 - Buying ingredients produced in the nearby region = less logistics (like when we chose to use Kokum butter form India instead of Capuacu butter from Brazil - more to come).

3 - Supplier education.
Constantly requesting less or no plastic deliveries, we are able to avoid some or sometimes all of the plastic from suppliers and hopefully show them that their processes can be greener too.

Here is our philosophy: you do not need to be perfect (yes we use Argan Oil that is only produced in Morocco and many other “transported” ingredients, yes we do not have some of the aspects mentioned above figured out), but we will continue to improve and to try striking the balance between “enjoying and embracing all the wonderful cosmetic ingredients the world has to offer” and “doing it in the sustainable way”.