This post is written in partnership with Seed Phytonutrients. We’re honored to work with them—they are obsessed with seeds, integrity, sustainability, and supporting organic farming. We may or may not be thinking about asking them to marry us. ~ ed.
Most self-care products are packaged in plastic.
Plastic that doesn’t break down, just breaks up, and mostly ends up in toxic landfill sites or our oceans. And the portion that gets recycled doesn’t go away either. It too, eventually, lands up as waste.
One natural beauty and earth obsessed startup is making it their mission to make self-care a little more revolutionary.
Seed Phytonutrients (known as Seed to their friends) is an “insanely natural,” trailblazing brand doing five huge things differently than the rest of the beauty world:
1. Whereas most beauty formulators buy raw ingredients on the open market, Seed commissions small, American family farms to plant and harvest key ingredients used in their formulas.
2. Seed aggressively pushes the boundaries of what natural and clean formulas can do whilst retaining their natural integrity. Their formulas are all 93-100 percent natural origin.
3. Their packaging is the most eco-friendly you can have in the beauty industry, with 60 percent less plastic than traditional bottles—and they are actively seeking ways to reduce even further. Not only this, but it’s genuinely gorgeous on the outside too, proving that sustainability truly is chic.
4. They’re about as clean as clean beauty can get: their sulfate free, paraben free, vegan, plant-based, cruelty free formulas set them apart when it comes to “inner” beauty too.
5. And, crucially, Seed’s business practices put farmers first by paying for harvests ahead of time, whether a crop succeeds or fails, and supports the preservation of seed diversity by hiding a little surprise for you inside their compostable, yet shower-friendly (yes!) bottles.
>> Discover Seed Phytonutrients’ revolutionary hair, skin & body products <<
Get to know them a little better:
Beauty Can and Should Be Sustainable
Seed Phytonutrients is a young company with old-school values. Based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Seed was established in 2017, and their very first season of products launched on Earth Day this year. The folks behind Seed have an interesting and powerful mix of big-time beauty credentials and truly earthy roots.
Their leading founder, Shane Wolf, grew up on a farm in Kansas, Wolf and now owns his own plot in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he and his husband take in rescue animals and grow organic flowers. “Farming makes me feel connected to the natural world,” he says. “And I think that’s where my passion for the environment comes from.”
In launching Seed, Wolf seeks to answer a daring question: can a non-synthetic, sustainable, and effective brand improve not only a company’s bottom line (in their case, L’Oréal, who they operate independently from but are funded by) but also the health of small-scale, organic farming?
And they’re answering it in all of the four ways mentioned above that are the foundation of what they call their “brand obsessions.”
>> Learn more about the Seed Phytonutrients story <<
The most visible way they are delivering on their mission is their beautiful, totally unique, and downright revolutionary packaging.
Seed has teamed up with another small startup company with big eco dreams to created a 100 percent compostable bottle that’s actually shower-friendly. Yes, it actually withstands water and soap suds without disintegrating.
The whole story behind the development of their one-of-a-kind bottle is pretty fascinating. Basically instead of glue, the bottle uses a clever interlocking design that’s just as sturdy. The interior liner (made with PCR) is 60 percent thinner than typical plastic bottles. The containers can also be shipped nested, making them far more efficient to transport than traditional packaging.
And while the earthy paper bottle totally breaks the mold when it comes to the look we might expect from top beauty brands, it’s grounded, textural wholesomeness is definitely part of its appeal, and much more than just for show. Its eco credentials are as solid as it is, even when it comes down to the inner plastic liner, which is so thin—60 percent thinner than conventional bottles—that it collapses as it’s used. Its unique design uses fewer resources and allows consumers to use almost every drop of product. “This is truthfully one of the biggest innovations in terms of lightening the carbon footprint,” says Julie Corbett, founder of Ecologic, their packaging partner.
>> Learn more about Seed’s unique packaging <<
And they’re just as conscientious when it comes to their shipping packaging:
The Importance of Seeds
Seeds are in their name and they’re a vital part of their mission, too. Not only does seed power factor in their products’ beauty credentials, but also in their long-term sustainability model. It’s quite a visionary ecosystem they’re working toward, one that marries beauty, agriculture, and sustainable business in harmony with one another.
Seeds make sense as a natural beauty product because the seed is the most concentrated part of the plant, and an ideal choice for top quality, natural ingredients. It’s where a plant’s nutrients are encased and protected from environmental elements so they remain in their purest form. Seeds contain high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, phytosterols, carotene, and vitamins A, C, D and E.
>> Make beauty sustainable: try Seed today <<
But no matter how wholesome the ingredients are, beauty ingredient sourcing and production methods can be problematic. We already know why Seed buys directly from organic farmers rather than the open market, but they go even further than this. They actually return what’s left of the seeds they use to create their products back to our farmers to provide nutritious, organic feed for their animals.
Their extraction methods are just as carefully thought-out and executed. They use the cold press and expeller methods to extract oil from their seeds (as opposed to using chemical solvents). These methods use mechanical pressure to release the oil. This takes more time and extracts less oil, but the obsessively caring folks at Seed feel it’s worth it to maintain the integrity of oils and to ensure the highest level of purity.
Organic Farming & Seed Diversity
We all love the idea of organic (even though a lot of us still complain about the price) but did you know just how tough organic farming is, as a business? Did you know it takes three years to have an organic farm certified? During that period, farmers can’t market their products as certified organic. Startup costs are ridiculously high and, as a result, many farmers are forced to sell or transition back to conventional farming.
Not only does Seed support our organic farmers by paying for 100 percent of their crop upfront, regardless of yield—which allows farmers to reinvest in their farms and plan for their future harvests—but they also support the future of organic farming by doing their bit to protect seed diversity.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
~ Chinese Proverb
For thousands of years, seeds have been cultivated, but over the past century, 94 percent of seed varieties have been lost due to many factors, including over-commercialization. Seed saving is extremely important because it creates diversity in plant species that helps protect them from pests, diseases, and changes in climate. Seed have vowed to do their part to save the seed varieties that we have left.
Which is the reason behind the little surprise that waits for you inside all of their paper bottles. After you’ve used up all of the product in your bottle, crack it open to discover a beautifully-designed packet of a range of heirloom herb seeds. Grow these in your garden or keep them inside on your windowsill to help support the growth of organic, heirloom, and open-pollinated seeds, creating more resilient plants across our planet.
Using Seed products supports your body’s natural health and beauty, supports cleaner, more ethical beauty practices, provides hope for a thriving future of organic farming, and protects this beautiful and fragile earth of ours.
Do you even need more convincing to switch beauty brands? I know I don’t.
>> Get your paws on Seed Phytonutrients (free shipping for orders over $45) <<
Read 23 Comments and Reply
Read 23 comments and reply