Natural CurlMart Products
April is Earth Month, a time to be inspired to take steps to reduce our carbon footprint. In our fast-paced lives, the first step to this is usually changing our day-to-day habits. Trying to recycle, compost, drive less, carpool, not buy bottled water and shop at farmer’s markets are all important changes that we can all try to achieve. Reducing our daily personal carbon footprint is important, and I am thankful to Earth Month for reminding us how valuable this can be to our world.
Earth Month is also taken very seriously by these three well-established hair care companies. Every month is Earth Month for them. They are large companies that have chosen to make very inspirational environmental choices.
Aveda
Aveda has been mindful of their environmental footprint since 2000. Aveda has been minimizing packaging, maximizing the use of post-consumer recycled materials, using materials that can be and are recyclable, and designing packaging so that the individual parts can be separated for recycling. Their Caps Recycling Program, which started in 2007, has collected more than 100,000 pounds of product caps.
Aveda also has been phasing out parabens from existing product formulas; as well as, developing new formulas without parabens, and now has more than 480 products formulated without parabens on the market. Aveda tries to ensure that their products will not only benefit customers through exceptional performance, but will positively impact the people and economies from which the products’ ingredients are sourced. Aveda firmly believes that they will succeed in this effort by striving to use what they call Green Ingredients in their products whenever possible. The company is sourcing ingredients from organic, sustainable or renewable plant-based origins.
In addition to this Aveda is using environmentally responsible processing. For example, using steam distillation rather than chemical extraction of essential oils.
Aveda is also the first beauty company manufacturing with 100% certified wind power at their primary facility in Blaine, MN.
The facility is on 58 acres of certified wildlife habitat and has a restaurant open to the public that serves lunches made from seasonal produce grown on local farms.
“Aveda believes in conducting business in a manner that protects the Earth, conserves resources and does not compromise the ability of future generations to sustain themselves,” says Aveda president Dominique Conseil.
Aubrey Organics
Aubrey Organics is another company that has had a purpose to leave the Earth in better shape than it is today. All the Aubrey Organics packaging is recyclable and Aubrey Organics uses only the finest herbal, plant extracts and natural vitamins in all of their products. There are no paraben preservatives, no petrochemicals, no artificial colors or fragrances of any kind. At Aubrey Organics they believe great ingredients make great products. This is the simple philosophy at the heart of the pioneering personal care company Aubrey Hampton founded over 40 years ago.
Aubrey Hampton was born on an organic farm in rural Indiana and was educated in New York City. He learned, from the age of nine, how to make herbal cosmetics from his mother. A phytochemist and herbalist, he founded Aubrey Organics in 1967 with two natural products he formulated in his own kitchen—Relax-R-Bath and GPB Hair Conditioner. Since then he has created over 200 hair, skin and body care products, which are internationally recognized as the most natural herbal products available. Nearly every health food store in the United States and Canada carries his products, which are also sold throughout Europe, Asia and South America.
Aubrey’s list of “firsts” in the industry is impressive. He was first to use coconut fatty acids in hair and skin care; first to formulate cosmetic products with jojoba oil, evening primrose, blue camomile, Rosa Mosqueta and Matcha green tea; first to develop a natural preservative with citrus seed extract and vitamins A, C and E; and the first cosmetic manufacturer to be certified as an organic processor (in 1994″>.
Here at NaturallyCurly, we are proud to be selling this product line in CurlMart.
John Paul Mitchell Systems
The third inspirational company is John Paul Mitchell Systems. This company is completely devoted to making the world a better place. CEO John Paul DeJoria works to ensure the company follows earth-friendly policies and strategies. DeJoria’s commitment to the environment starts at the Beverly Hills corporate headquarters, where everybody gets a free lunch if they bring their own utensils, and they get free gas if they carpool. Recycled plastic, unbleached recycled paper and soy-based ink are used in product packaging whenever possible. The company harvests the organic awapuhi (a kind of ginger that helps soften and add shine to hair”>, used in Paul Mitchell products, without depleting natural resources. They also use giant solar panels to generate electricity for the company’s Hawaiian awapuhi farm.
DeJoria estimates the pollution caused by every step of the production process of his company’s 16-product Tea Tree line — “from the picking of the leaves to the boiling, bottling and transportation,” and then he offsets its climate-changing carbon-dioxide output by paying for trees to be planted where they’re needed through the organization American Forests. American Forests is an international non-profit that preserves and grows a healthier environment with trees. Their Tea Tree products will also fund American Forests Global ReLeaf and Wildfire ReLeaf programs to further preserve our natural resources at home and abroad.
John Paul Mitchell Systems was the first company to publicly oppose animal testing. They also created aerosol products that meet stringent Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC”> standards in California. John Paul DeJoria strives to make John Paul Mitchell Systems an example for other companies to follow. “Corporations can and should change the world for the better. We have the perspective needed to leave the world a better place for our having been here.” John Paul DeJoria.
