Last May I was invited to join the board of the local Women’s Business Association. A role I gladly accepted. 

One of the tasks of a board member is to come up with an interesting line of speakers or activity for our members. The first thing I did after accepting this role was reaching out to Angela and Cathy to ask them if they would be willing to hold a presentation during one of our monthly meeting’s. 

FOOD FOR SKIN

Angela and Cathy (two Dutch sisters, one a beautician, the other a marketeer) are the inspiring women behind Food for Skin*. After a failed quest for a no-nonsense honest skincare product, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Together with a formulator they developed 100% natural skincare products made from upcycled natural ingredients (vegetables and plants). A process that started in 2018 and was ready to be launched in November 2020!

I was introduced to their products by my own beautician. She thought that a vegan advocate like me probably would be interested in a skincare product made from vegetables and plants.  Indeed I was!
First I ordered a trial-set and then started following them on all the socials. This way I witnessed their start-up winning two Beauty-Awards and getting nominated for a bunch of others. I noticed they got featured in all kinds of magazines and leading newspapers.
In the meantime, obviously I had started to use their products and was experiencing great results with my normally very sensitive skin. 

I was so happy that the sisters accepted my invitation! We set a date and finally, after a few months of anticipation on my part, last Wednesday I got to shake hands with Angela and Cathy.

MICROPLASTICS

During their presentation they taught us many things. One of the most important things being that our conventional skincare products contain a shocking amount of micro-plastics. Each lick of cream contains 90.000 units of microplastics. Microplastics that in turn get washed off and end up in our oceans and drinking water. Microplastics that we rub on the largest organ we have, our skin. Microplastics that are unnecessary and devastating for us and our environment.

Food for Skin products prove that skincare can be produced in an honest, clean way. By upcycling vegetables and plants (for instance avocado pits, tomato seeds etcetera) they have created a lovely soft but rich tomato cream, a cucumber serum, an avocado serum, and a pumpkin serum as well as a carrot cleanser. 

Their mission is an ambitious one! To make the beauty industry a clean industry, free of junk. Not just their products but all skincare products, the entire industry. In order to do that they have partnered up with the Plastic Soup Foundation**, they support the Beat the Microbead*** campaign and they try to put pressure on politics to ban microplastics entirely. 

Besides that Angela and Cathy are also trying to improve their own business. They work hard to create an even smaller carbon footprint by trying to produce their products closer to home. To source locally as much as possible and to replace the current plastic cap by a more sustainable one. All of course within the strict regulations that come with producing a skincare product.

JOIN IN!

Overall, it was an impressive and very instructive evening for us. An evening which made clear that we can do more to contribute to a microplastic free environment. Simply by replacing our conventional skincare by a 100% clean product. Small ripples that will eventually create a big wave. 

I am on board already! I invite you to join me.

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* clickable link to www.foodforskin.care 🇳🇱 and 🇬🇧
** clickable link to https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/
*** clickable link to https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/