The bootleggers be gone.
A New Jersey-based cosmetologist is promoting healthy living with her skincare awareness. NBI All Natural is a one-stop shop for all skin and hair needs, created by Susan Strachan. The Jamaican-born natural lifestyle enthusiast started her company in 2013 seeking an alternative solution to the oversaturation of topical remedies with unnatural ingredients, she said.
“One thing I notice is a lot of hair or skin products are promising to deliver on all these great things, but I notice that all of them have ingredients in them that most people can’t pronounce,” said Strachan.
So in search of a more mindful approach to what she puts on her body, she researched how she could incorporate less chemically-laden products into her daily use because these bigger brands are not considering this, added Strachan.
“We don’t get the best quality of choosing what we want, but even though we don’t have that luxury, we can give ourselves the quality of life we want by getting the best,” she said.
Hence the creation of NBI, a humorous acronym for No Bootleg Ingredients, which Strachan credits her husband for.
“We are health conscious, and what we don’t realize is that toxins enter our bloodstream and whatever we eat, ingest, and put on our skin is going into our bodies.”
All of NBI’s products are non-sulfate and cruelty-free. And they share one unique ingredient — Jamaican black castor oil, a multi-use oil for hair and skin. Since childhood, Strachan always used the popular oil to enhance her beauty routines, and felt it was only appropriate to incorporate that into her items.
She said castor oil has been the solution to many of her past skin and hair woes and she continued to use it in her personal regimen making it a staple product in her family.
“It has a lot of vitamins that helps restore and rejuvenate your skin,” she said. “Castor is thick, creates a moisture barrier for skin so what we did was formulate it using natural oils, but still having its effect, and all these products fight against dryness.”
The line features 22 unisex products, from body scrubs, to lotions, balms, lip care, to hair oils and other products, according to Strachan. With castor oil being a very strong-scented oil, she adds that all of lines have unscented and fragrance free versions, as well as those with essential oils including lavender and eucalyptus oil, which mask the smell.
Strachan said creating an organic line of body products help people enter a more healthy conscious lifestyle.
And it is not just a gender exclusive product. People with severe skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis and dandruff can get some relief from using these products because of NBI’s use of non-synthetics and sulfates. But she insists while it will improve skin overall, it is not a cure but can be used to ease the problem.
