The organic cosmetic movement is gaining momentum in the US, but it is hardly a new concept for Horst Rechelbacher. The Austrian born entrepreneur started out in the 60’s with a string of salons in Minneapolis and moved on to start the world renowned cosmetic and salon product company, Aveda, in 1978. Aveda is known for having a social and environmental conscience in all its processes and products, a standard set in the industry by Horst himself. His new USDA certified organic line of cosmetics, called Intelligent Nutrients (or IN), may be his best work yet.
After selling Aveda to Estee Lauder in 1997, Rechelbacher has been busy; he became an activist and an organic farmer. Horst speaks out about the toxins in the cosmetic industry and how the truth has been hidden for decades. He also grows some of the ingredients for his Intelligent Nutrients products on his own 600 acre organic farm in Osceola Wisconsin, which operates entirely on wind, solar and geothermal energy.
Rechelbacher has won numerous awards for his ethics and integrity as a business man and environmentalist. A recent recipient of a doctorate in Ayurveda from Haridwar University, in India. And Executive Producer on Hidden Medicine played at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Author of three books: Rejuvenation, Aveda Rituals and Alivelihood. He is one of the founding members of the Organic Center for Education, Research and Promotion, and also one of the three original founders of Business for Social Responsibility.
He has achieved all these things while perfecting his vision to make beauty healthy. Horst Rechelbacher is evolving an industry that he loves, for the people and the planet that he loves, thanks to his innovation and dedication to one principle: health is beautiful.
Sources: intelligentnutrients.net, vanityfair.com; aveda.com
Contributor Profile: Justine
Justine is passionate about curing social injustice and global environmental issues. She has traveled extensively in Central America and the Caribbean, and is especially interested in the emergence of the Ecotourism industry.
Twitter: @justine72
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I would like to welcome Justine, our newest writer to SocialEarth! She will be covering stories in Green, Health, and Sustainability.
Great inaugural post Justine!
Thanks Erik!
And hello to all the awesome SocialEarth readers, I am thrilled to be here!
I hope to hear your comments, ideas and thoughts on my stories.
Ciao,
Justine
the utube link talking about 33% of personal care products containing at least one ingrediant linked to cancer sounds very scary! is that pretty accurate?
Hi Shelly!
Yes it is scary, some ingredient labels are hard to understand. I am sure that Intelligent Nutrients have done their research, but if you would like to do your own here are some sights to check out…
http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org
http://www.naturalnews.com
Thanks for your question.
[...] George Clooney, the founders of Google – Sergey Brin and Larry Page and my hometown favorite Horst Rechelbacher, (I took the picture below of his Roadster at the St Paul Green Expo this April – I heard [...]
Shelly,
Another great resource is Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database (http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/). We wrote about it and related topics on Blue Planet Green Living (http://www.organicgreenandnatural.com/2009/04/14/are-those-personal-care-products-safe-to-use/). Checking your purchases against the Skin Deep database before you buy is an important step in protecting yourself and your family, not only from cancer but also from developmental problems in children.
Another great site for parents is Healthy Child Healthy World (healthychild.org). You can also find interviews with the founder and the CEO on our site.
Justine, congratulations on your first post! Well done.
I have discovered some products contain collagen created from cowhide which has a molecular structure which can be far as well large for our epidermis. That’s not compatible with our epidermis whatsoever and will remain on the epidermis. That is really a waste of cash.
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