EP108. Let's celebrate and conserve botanicals

I've just finished recording an episode with Stella Nisreen Kannan, the founder of Naughty Alchemist in Copenhagen, in which we discussed the way that she studied with Formula Botanica and turned her fantastic botanical formulations into a business. And by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to our discussion in your favorite podcast app because it was released last week. I loved talking to Stella because she is one of the most inspiring entrepreneurs I've ever met. We've known each other for years and we've met in person so many times, and I think it's worth highlighting that she started her business to help people connect more to nature through the precious botanicals she includes in her skincare formulations. I'm sure if you're in the wider Formula Botanica community and you're listening to this, then you might feel exactly the same way. The plants are our inspiration, our reason for becoming botanical formulators. So for that reason, I wanted to jump on quickly record this super short opinion piece and and invite you to join me in celebrating the plants that have done so much to change the beauty industry. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I share my takeaways from the podcast interview we released last week and set you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. I can't think of a single formulator in our huge global community who isn't deeply in love with their botanical ingredients. The idea of being surrounded by herbs, flowers, roots, spices, leaves, petals, buds, barks and seeds makes them so happy. You heard Stella say it in my interview with her last week. The creativity that comes from working with these precious botanicals brings her joy. In fact, this is why most people come to Formula Botanica. Yes, we have trained over 15,000 students, but did you know that we've had over 300,000 people go through our free training courses alone Now? Stella told us about the herb farm she's working with to harvest organic calendula and Chamomile and St. John's Wort and thistle. And I'm sure that even listening to her story made you feel excited. I'm the same. I imagine beautiful fields of colourful, fragrant flowers with insects buzzing all around them. And I'm often asked about my favourite botanical ingredients too. I tend to choose similar plants. Calendula, borage, chamomile, rosehip. And the reason for that is the fact that these plants form part of our natural heritage. They're the plants that we have formulated with for millennia. They're part of our history and our culture. And wherever it is that you're tuning in from this week, you will have similar plants that mean something to you and your heritage. But what is it about these plants that connects us and grounds us so much? Well, I started researching this topic recently, and I discovered that there's a word for it, earthing, which is a way of deeply connecting with nature by coming into contact with the ground or with plants. And I honestly feel that the formulators in our community feel exactly that way when they're surrounding themselves with botanicals in their home lab. I'm pretty sure that a lot of beauty shoppers feel that way, too, when they know that they're buying botanical formulations. Plants represent a stillness that we so desperately crave in our busy lives, where we're all going 100 miles an hour. A 2016 study even found that living in or near green areas was linked with longer life expectancy and improved mental health in female participants. So formulating with plants is quite literally helping us go back to our roots. Since the birth of civilization, we've used plants as tokens of birth, death, celebrations, harvests, place, identity, luck, seasonality, games, even peace. We cling to plant rituals in our daily lives. And I think this is part of the reason that so many formulators want to go natural. They want to go botanical. This is an unstoppable movement, and it's even forced the mainstream beauty industry to change the way that it formulates and change the ingredients that it uses. Our big challenge now will be to make sure that the plants we formulate with are harvested and used sustainably. We need to use the beauty industry as a force for good, to protect the botanical species in our formulations and ensure their population's continued health and survival. So that's my challenge to you for this week. If you're a formulator, firstly come and tell me on the Formula Botanica channels which plants belong to your culture and heritage. This is hugely exciting for me and for our listeners because, let's face it, so many of us are botanical geeks. But I also want you to start thinking about the way that we can use the beauty industry to protect the plants we use. If you have a beauty brand, think about how you can build conservation into your ingredient sourcing strategy. If you're a beauty shopper. Go and ask your favourite brands what they're doing about biodiversity conservation. Plants are part of our past, our heritage, and they will very much continue to be part of our future. So let's make sure that the beauty industry does all it can to celebrate and protect our botanicals. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so now in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode.