A single-host Green Beauty Conversations episode (host Lorraine Dallmeyer, CEO of Formula Botanica) that surveys traditional beauty rituals—shea butter (West Africa), Japanese onsen bathing, Irish seaweed baths, plus camu camu, olive oil, argan oil, and rose water—and argues these practices should be honored rather than appropriated. The episode highlights brands like Kanda Naturals and urges formulators and consumers to learn ingredient origins, practice cultural sensitivity, and support ethical, locally-sourced producers; it ends with calls to subscribe and try Formula Botanica resources.
Chapters
Have you ever wondered about the stories behind the ingredients in your skincare? So think beyond the glossy packaging, think beyond the marketing, and you'll find that many beauty rituals have roots in centuries old traditions. So, from shea butter used in West Africa to the Japanese onsen baths, to seaweed skincare in Ireland, these cultural practices are more than just inspiration. In fact, they're a reminder of the wisdom that comes with deep, sustainable connections to nature. But while these rituals bring fantastic opportunities to the beauty industry, we also need to approach them with genuine respect and a commitment to cultural sensitivity. So, as we're going to discuss in this episode, celebrating these traditions isn't just about borrowing effective ingredients or techniques. Instead, it's about honoring their origins and the communities who bring them to us. So today, let's dive into the wonderful world of cultural beauty rituals and explore how to celebrate them with integrity. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist, and the 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 challenge the beauty industry's terrible track record on sustainability and share my thoughts on how we make beauty better. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. So let's get inspired by looking at some amazing beauty rituals. Because beauty has always been part of human culture, and around the world we find time tested rituals that have supported skin health and beauty for centuries, if not millennia. So here are just a few that showcase the richness of these traditional practices. So let's start with shea butter in West Africa, which we talked about last week. And it's been used for generations for its skin protective and nourishing qual. It's derived from the nuts of the shea tree. And this rich, creamy butter is celebrated for its emollient properties and its mild natural fragrance. Quite frankly, it's gorgeous. And if you haven't tried any yet, you are missing out. So shea butter is used in skincare, it's used in hair care, it's even used in cooking. And it's an incredibly versatile ingredient that highlights the holistic nature of many of our traditional beauty practices. So brands like Kanda Naturals in Nigeria are showing us how to honor this tradition by sourcing locally, by keeping production in house, and by sharing this ingredient's cultural importance with the brand's consumers, with their shoppers. And of course, I interviewed our graduate Evelyn from Kanda on the podcast last week. So if you haven't listened to that episode yet make sure you cue it up now in your favorite podcast player or Another great example is the Japanese onsen bathing ritual. So in Japan, the onsen, or the hot spring, is a ritual that has both a physical and I guess, a spiritual experience, blending natural mineral benefits with mindfulness. So onsens are rich in minerals like sulfur, magnesium, calcium, and they're believed to have healing properties that can help rejuvenate and soothe the skin. So Japanese skincare often draws inspiration from this ritual. Honestly, onsens are amazing, and when I got to travel around Japan many, many years ago, I got to experience some of them as well. So I can understand why this whole culture is infused into Japanese skincare. Or let's take the Irish seaweed bathing ritual as well. So, along Ireland's coastlines, seaweed baths are celebrated as a time honored tradition for both skin health and relaxation. The seaweed is rich in minerals like iodine, calcium, potassium, and it's believed to deeply hydrate, detoxify and rejuvenate the skin. So Irish skincare can often draw on this ritual incorporating seaweed extracts to nourish, to revitalize, and ultimately, it's inspired by the healing properties of these mineral rich ocean plants. Absolutely beautiful. I've never tried a seaweed bath and now I've been telling you all about it. I really want to try one. So these are just three examples, and we could mention so many more in this episode, like camu camu in areas of South America, or olive oil in the Mediterranean, or argan oil in Morocco, or rose water in the Middle East. You'll have heard of all of these. And what all of these practices have in common is the way that they celebrate natural ingredients within their cultural contexts. So these rituals remind us that beauty is about more than outwards appearance. It's about connection, it's about care. It's about respect for the world around us. However, I do want to put forward one word of warning, because with global inspiration comes a responsibility to avoid what is known as cultural appropriation. And I think we need to talk about this, because cultural appropriation is a term that refers to the adoption of elements of one culture by another, especially when it's done in a way that disrespects the originating culture or commodifies it without benefit to the people who created it. So cultural appropriation in beauty, let's face it, it does happen a lot and it can be harmful when it removes cultural practices from their context or it ignores the communities that made them. So in 2025, I think the beauty industry has a chance to champion diversity by celebrating and honoring these cultural traditions in a thoughtful way. So brands like Kanda Naturals, whose founder Evelyn was on the podcast last week, they're leading the way, showing us that we can celebrate ingredients with local meaning in ways that enrich our formulations and they enrich our communities. So this year, I want us all to make a commitment to be intentional and respectful in how we approach cultural rituals in beauty. And on that note, my challenge to you for this week is to consider the story behind the formulations you make or use and the origins of the ingredients that they contain, to take the time to learn about the cultural heritage of these ingredients and support brands that acknowledge and respect those roots. And if you're a formulator or a beauty entrepreneur, ask yourself, how can you celebrate cultural beauty traditions with integrity? Which cultural beauty traditions mean something to you? And how can you build a brand that honors the communities, the wisdom, and the traditions from which your ingredients come? I honestly think that's a really exciting opportunity for every single formulator or beauty entrepreneur, particularly in an industry that could often benefit from a bit more integrity and authenticity. 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.
