Sustainability

• Sustainably sourced
• Wild-harvested (Organic) 
• Cruelty-free 
• Vegan friendly
• Natural
• PET (recyclable) Plastic

Natural hair and skincare can do wonders for your body – but it should never be at an expense of the environment. We have put a lot of thought into how we can make our products sustainably sourced, cruelty-free and sustainably packaged, alongside ensuring our formulas are completely non-toxic and planting a tree in the Amazon Rainforest for every product sold on our website.

Here are some of the steps we are taking towards a more sustainable and ethical world. Some of those, such as being cruelty-free, are no-brainers and something that we believe every brand should be doing by now. However, we are also doing our best to venture out with new sustainable practices and take steps most other beauty brands are not yet doing.

Sustainably sourced ingredients from the Amazon

The Amazon Rainforest is home to a wide array of nutrient-rich plant species which can have wonderful beauty benefits, but their use in cosmetics to date has been limited. Through our products, we hope to show more people what these potent ingredients can do for their hair and skin. However, as with sourcing anything from the Amazon, sustainability needs to be of utmost concern, so that the area does not get exploited and stripped of its natural riches.

Logging, clearing of space for agriculture and sourcing of other ingredients have been severely endangering the area, along with the wide array of animal species that call it home. Over 20% of the Amazon has already been deforested and we are losing more and more every day. Besides that, most logging and deforestation in the area is only for short-term profit and does a lot of damage to local communities and economies. Companies, especially large corporations often exploit the workers in the rainforest, underpaying them to drive higher profits.

Because of that, making sure we use exclusively sustainably sourced ingredients was a crucial part of creating our products. We have turned to a system that allows us to source the wonderful ingredients the Amazon rainforest has to offer in a way that’s sustainable, beneficial to the local area and gives nature plenty of time to renew whatever we take from it. We work only with a carefully chosen local supplier who provides fair wages and safe working conditions. Supporting such businesses helps to create more jobs and boosts the local economy.

Harvesting of seeds, resins and herbs provides a more sustainable livelihood for people in local communities, who harvest these ingredients from the wild using eco-friendly practices. Wild harvesting also means that the plants are not treated with any chemical pesticides or herbicides, which would hinder their properties. We work directly with a local factory in Brazil, to enable us to monitor our supply chain from the beginning and ensure all our ethical values are being adhered to and the ingredients truly are sustainably sourced.

Wild-harvested beyond organic

While organic products are often a very good option, wild harvesting allows us to go beyond what organic has to offer. While both grow without use of harsh pesticides or herbicides, organic plants are farmed in a controlled environment rather than the natural surroundings of an entire rainforest. Because of that, organic plants might not fully develop all of their nutrients and phytonutrients. To be clear, organic still is an excellent option, but fortunately for us, we are able to source wild-harvested

Non-toxic formulas

All of Amazônia Essential's products are plant-based using oils, butters and herbal extracts from the Amazon rainforest, which are harvested in the wild and cold-pressed – we have absolutely no toxic chemicals in our products. Parabens, phthalates, SLS, and many other toxic ingredients often found in conventional cosmetics are not only a danger to our health but also pollute the environment. From our bathrooms, they find a way into the water cycle, polluting our sources of freshwater. This deprives even more people in the world of access to safe drinking water and endangers water life.

If we hope to do good for the planet and other beings living on it, we need to say goodbye to these harmful toxins for good, and opt for natural ingredients instead – which is exactly what we are doing with our brand.

Recyclable, reduced packaging

In the 21^st century, landfills are overflowing with waste and much of our refuse is finding a way into the ocean, where it endangers marine life. Plastic might be the largest environmental threat out of common packaging materials, but it is far from being the only one – what we need is an overall reduction in all of the waste. We did not want to be another contribution to the waste crisis, which is why we took two crucial steps towards making sure our products’ packaging does not end up polluting the earth.

Firstly, we have made all our packaging recyclable, so that you can dispose of it safely and responsibly in an easy way. Once you do that, the packaging can be given a second life and transformed into a new product with a much lower impact on the environment. Secondly, our potent, plant-derived & concentrated formulas require less usage than synthetic, bulked out products. Less consumption reduces packaging use drastically. Thanks to those two steps, we use less material, all of which can easily be recycled, reducing our business and consumer’s impact on the environment.

Cruelty-free products

While more and more brands are opposing animal testing every day, the world is still far from completely rejecting this unethical practice. We use natural, plant-based ingredients free of harmful toxins which don’t need to and aren’t tested on animals – we only ever test on ourselves. Animal testing is archaic and not needed in the cosmetics industry: there are far better ways to ensure ingredients in products are safe to use, starting with making use of the thousands of ingredients we already know to be safe.

Cruelty-free is a no-brainer for us. Why would we test our natural products on animals, if we are confident that they are safe and only use certified ingredients?

Planting trees in the Amazon

The Amazon Rainforest provides us with many useful resources, so it's only right that we do something to give back. For every order on our website that uses a resource from the Amazon, we promise to plant a tree in the rainforest! This tackles the issue of deforestation which has been happening at an alarming rate, helps conserve habitat for its iconic wildlife species, provide sustainable livelihoods to local people, and stabilise the climate.