Holistic living is synonymous with Northern California. We grow our own food, shop at farmers markets and do yoga in parks. And at a time when many of us are seeking paths to wellness within the walls of our own homes, it makes sense to consider what we put on our skin.
In the past decade, a new crop of women-led Northern California indie beauty brands has blazed a trail in natural skincare, harnessing the power of local and organic plants to make earth-friendly serums, balms, mists and more that deliver effective skincare while carving space for #MeTime.
It’s part of the Bay Area lifestyle: clean eating, clean living, clean beauty,” says Jeannie Jarnot, founder of Beauty Heroes, the Novato-based clean beauty website that carries more than 100 healthy skin, hair and makeup lines, including nine made here in Northern California.
Couple that with Bay Area innovation and you have a breeding ground for beauty industry game changers, like Petaluma-based Laurel, a pioneer in the “slow beauty” movement, and Honua, a Santa Rosa company that uses indigenous Hawaiian botanicals in its products.
It started in the late 1980s, with Benedetta in Petaluma, followed by Berkeley-based Marie Veronique in 2002 and San Rafael’s Juice Beauty, which launched in 2005. Today, some 15-plus clean beauty brands call Northern California home, from Napa Valley’s Vintner’s Daughter and Concord’s Innersense to San Francisco’s Bathing Culture.
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