Beauty and the Bees
Beauty and the Bees is an international zero-waste[1][2] hair and skincare brand founded by owner Jill Saunders in 1993. The company operates out of headquarters in Hobart, Tasmania (Australia).
Development
Shortly after immigrating from England in 1992, Saunders began developing skin-care products in her kitchen and selling them in Hobart’s outdoor Salamanca Market. In 1995, the business moved into its first commercial premises in an empty Chinese restaurant in Hobart’s Bellerive quay area, using the front of the former restaurant as a shop and the former kitchen space as a small factory. In 2010, Saunders moved her shop and factory into a larger, 10,000 sq. ft. Bellerive (Glenorchy) space, where it is located today.[citation needed]
In 1993, Beauty and the Bees began selling its products through direct mail, and, in 1999, online. In 2015, the brand began focusing on sales of its well-reviewed Professor Fuzzworthy beard and skincare line on the Amazon platform in the U.S.[3][4]
Products
The company makes and sells more than 30 synthetic-free hair, beard, and skincare products, many of which are in concentrated, solid bar[5] form; most ingredients and packaging are biodegradable.
Products are handmade in small batches from natural, edible ingredients predominantly sourced in Tasmania, including Leatherwood honey and beeswax, goat’s milk, beer, seaweed, apple cider vinegar, salt, hops, olive squalane oil, lavender, and other essential oils, using ingredients from local businesses, including Marleen Herbs, a Barrington-based organic farm and laboratory that raises and then distills herbal plant extracts, including calendula flowers, chamomile, comfrey root, nettle, and Tasmanian blackcurrant gemmo,[6] all of which Beauty and the Bees uses in its products.
Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey and Beeswax are the basis for almost all Beauty and the Bees products and scientific studies have documented the healing properties of these products, which indigenous people have used as natural remedies for centuries. A report published by the Australian Government’s Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation titled Antioxidants in Australian Floral Honeys[7] explains how honey aids in the healing of burns, cataracts, ulcers, and wounds.
Over the past few decades, the lumber industry and deforestation have decreased the Leatherwood tree (Eucryphia lucida) population, making Leatherwood honey increasingly scarce. Trees take about 75 years to reach maturity and begin to produce the flowers that provide nectar for the bees. "There won't be enough leatherwood left," beekeeper John Duncombe told the Wall Street Journal.[8] As the WSJ noted, after decades of lumbering, the accessible forests have retreated, and so have the hives. Leatherwood trees are relatively plentiful in the protected mountains and valleys of Tasmania’s World Heritage area, but are difficult for beekeepers to access.
Recognition
Beauty and the Bees was a finalist for 2019’s 57th Annual Australian Export Awards, sponsored by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission.[9]
“A zero-waste pioneer, the company has followed environmentally friendly manufacturing processes and used recyclable glass, tin, and paper packaging since its inception in 1993. It has been recognised as one of the top 10 zero-waste cosmetics companies by Warren Buffet’s media company Business Wire.[2] Establishing a presence in the US has seen rapid growth in the market: Beauty and the Bees’ products are among the top 5 percent of sellers on Amazon US,” reads content on the Awards’ website.[citation needed]
Leadership
Beauty and the Bees now has more than 15 full and part-time employees.[10] Employing a diverse, largely older female staff, Saunders has spoken out about her experiences as both a Tasmanian female entrepreneur and as a business owner living with Asperger’s Syndrome, a diagnosis she received at age 61.[citation needed]
“The visibility of women on the autism spectrum is limited because dropping the mask and coming out as autistic is almost impossible when the common public perception of Asperger's is someone who can't speak and maybe exhibits repetitive behaviour making them in some way unemployable. I've noticed that women with Asperger's learn to mask their struggles in order to live their life successfully, and just like depression they prefer not to discuss that because they fear being judged,” Saunders told the website Female.com.au[10] in 2019.
In a 2019 Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) radio interview, Saunders addressed the positive aspects of entrepreneurs living with autism. “In business, through the years, I was told I had to adhere to all their rigid rules, but I just plunged right in and did it anyway. People with Asperger’s are oblivious to the risk, really,” she said.[11]
References
- ↑ Baker-Dowdell, Johanna, “Beauty and the Bees leads the way in zero-waste cosmetics.” The Examiner 27 March 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 “Global $150 Mn Zero Waste Shampoo Market, Competition, Forecast and Opportunities, 2023 - ResearchAndMarkets.com,” Business Wire, February 19, 2019.
- ↑ Laird, Grady, “Beauty Tested, Beast Approved.” Gentleman’s Quarterly Dec. 7, 2010
- ↑ Notis, David “Everything I Use to Keep My Beard Perfectly Groomed,” New York Magazine May 24, 2019[not in citation given]
- ↑ Ogle, Amanda “Planet or Plastic: 4 Reasons to Ditch Your Shampoo Bottle for a Bar” National Geographic August 14, 2018
- ↑ Jarvis, Caitlin. “Tasmanian gemmotherapy producer uses the secret power of plants for medicinal tinctures” The Examiner September 22, 2016
- ↑ D’Arcy, Bruce “Antioxidants in Australian Floral Honeys: Identification of Health-enhancing Nutrient Components: a Report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation” 2005
- ↑ Schultz, Ellen “In Tasmanian Forests, A Battle Breaks Out Over Bees and Trees: Loggers Take Leatherwood That Apiarists Depend On For Unique Local Honey” The Wall Street Journal June 22, 2005
- ↑ Birmingham, Simon “Finalists of the 57th Australian Export Awards revealed” Export Council of Australia, November 1, 2019
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Hunter, Brooke, “Jill Saunders Beauty and the Bees Interview,” 2019, Female.com.au
- ↑ Rheinberger, Joel “Finding your place on the Spectrum” ABC Radio. June 30, 2019
External links
submitting article on Beauty and the Bees skincare
This article "Beauty and the Bees" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Beauty and the Bees. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
