Many of us are more conscious than ever before about the products we use and how they affect our skin, hair and the planet. Browse the aisles of just about any store and you’ll likely find the word ‘organic’ emblazoned on many hair care products.
The organic industry is growing at around 20 percent annually, exceeding $40 billion. An estimated $4 billion each year is spent on personal-care products.
However, sorting through the plethora of expertly marketed potions can be overwhelming, even to the most educated curly girl. And the term “organic” doesn’t mean the same thing to every company.
Here, a cross-section of beauty companies leading the organic movement share insights on what it means to be organic, and offer advice on how to make better decisions on the curly hair care products you buy.
The Company: Terressentials
What’s Organic? All products contain 100 percent USDA-certified organic ingredients.
Diana Kaye, and her husband James Hahn, founded Middletown, Maryland, based Terressentials seventeen years ago when they were in the midst of the biggest challenge of their lives. Kaye was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The chemotherapy attacked the cancer, but also made her extremely sensitive to the many beauty and household products she used every day.
“My husband and I started scrutinizing the labels to find information about these ingredients that we couldn’t pronounce,” Kaye says.
Surprised by the harsh chemicals she discovered, Kaye and her husband bought an organic farm in a small Maryland town and began producing their own line of organic products. Kaye’s health steadily improved. Today, she remains cancer-free.
Terressentials bears the USDA-certified organic seal, which requires companies to follow the stringent regulations of organic food products and guarantees products are minimally processed as well as contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients.
“The process was extremely challenging, and that can be synonymous with costly,” Kaye says. “We pay more for our ingredients, and sometimes it’s really hard to find the them because there are still limited supplies. So, is it challenging to follow the regulations? Yeah, you bet it is. But is it worth it? Yes, we believe it is.”
Despite the prestigious seal, Kaye says she still finds it difficult to compete in a retail marketplace flooded with so-called “organic” products that make it onto store shelves, whether or not they contain real organic ingredients.
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