Head back to nature

Head back to nature

Founder of new-to-market chemical-free brand, O&M, wants people to treat their scalp like their face.

The founder of Australian haircare and styling label Original & Mineral (O&M), Ms Jose Bryce Smith, wants people to rethink their haircare routine.

Treat your hair and scalp like the skin on your face, she says.

"There are three steps. First, remove the pollution and product build-up with a detoxifying shampoo like how you would use a make-up cleanser.

"Then use a shampoo and conditioner for your hair type," says the 39-year-old who was born in Britain and is based in Sydney.

The mother-of-two was in town last month to launch the brand in retail stores here for the first time.

O&M will debut in Sephora stores from March 19. Previously, a limited range of the products was available at a handful of salons such as Passion Hair Salon and Focus Hairdressing.

The unconventional look at haircare-as-skincare approach is an extension of the brand's alternative ethos.

Launched a decade ago, O&M is known for its products that are formulated without the harsh chemicals common in hair-care and hairstyling products, such as ammonia, sulfates and parabens.

A favourite of beauty insiders, the formulas are also scented with essential oils and made with ingredients derived from native Australian plants, such as the lilly pilly tree, quandong shrub, Tasmanian kelp, banksia flower and kakadu plum.

"I wanted to create a line that would bridge the gap between natural products and luxury products, and that do not look like they belong in a pharmacy," says the entrepreneur who wears her platinum-blonde hair fashioned to look like a wig.

The line includes the Atonic Thickening Spritz ($38) that promises to add bounce and volume to the hair without a sticky after-feel, which uses wheat proteins and lilly pilly.

It also moisturises and strengthens hair with aloe vera, evening primrose oil, green tea and olive leaf extract.

The Original Detox Shampoo ($45) and Conditioner ($46) are meant to be used once a week to reboot the hair texture by getting rid of product build-up, or chlorine after a swim in the pool.

They contain Australian river mint, peppermint oil, sweet almond oil, cucumber extract and macadamia seed oil; as well as cocamidopropyl betaine, a natural foaming agent derived from coconut that will not strip hair of natural oils.

Then there is the Know Knott Conditioning Detangler spray ($38).

"We live on Bondi Beach and my eight-year-old daughter will not brush her beach hair. So I use it on her when she is watching television," shares Ms Smith.

Made with macadamia seed oil, argan oil and provitamin B5, the spray is also suitable for damaged hair.

It all started with the hair dye.

Always taught to take chemical-free lifestyle options by her mother, Ms Smith found a salon in Soho, London, that offered ammonia-free hair dye when she wanted to turn her hair blonde in 1999.

Ammonia is an unpleasant-smelling chemical that causes the hair cuticle to swell so colour can be absorbed.

At the salon, she met Mr Alan Buki, her hairstylist who later became her husband and co-founder of O&M.

Mr Buki, now 40, had switched to using ammonia-free hair dye after years of working with ammonia-filled hair colour that left him with contact dermatitis.

The condition caused his hands to crack and bleed (it did not help that he was also allergic to latex gloves that could have protected his hands).

When the couple returned to Mr Buki's home country Australia in 2000, they decided to create a line of effective, ammonia-free hair dye for use in their own salon.

They started to sell the special dye to other salons in 2007. When they made A$25,000 in sales in the first month, they realised that producing chemical-free haircare and styling products was a lucrative business.

The line was soon expanded to include haircare products as Mr Buki's hands also turned raw when he touched shampoo made with plenty of chemicals.

Today, O&M hair dye is available in more than 100 shades. It is still made without ammonia, as well as paraphenylenediamine (which can apparently cause allergies) and resorcinol (suspected to be toxic to the human body and the environment when disposed).

The business has grown by 30 per cent in the last year.

O&M is now available in more than 10 markets, and Ms Smith still personally road tests every product that hits the shelves.

"I have a mini one-chair salon in my house. And a hairdresser comes to the house twice a week to do product testing on me. We don't test on animals, but humans," she quips.

As for Mr Buki, he rubs the lab samples, especially hair dye, all over his bare hands to see what happens.

gladysc@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Feb 13, 2015.
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