Karethic, or when cosmetics engages in the environment and women producing

(Etx Daily Up) - Carole and Gwladys Tawema, two sisters from Benin, founded the Karethic cosmetics brand to offer products with raw shea, unrefined, in order to benefit its repairing properties to the greatest number, but also- and above all - to enhance the work of women who produce it in Africa.Carole Tawema returns to the history of what was originally an associative project, as well as on her many commitments in terms of quality, social justice, and fair trade.

How was the Karethic brand born? Karethic was born in 2005 as part of my late studies on the development strategies of international trade in Africa for Africa.I had identified the fact that shea butter was similar to olive oil but it had not been valued in the same way.At the time we only talked about shea in the form of an effective fat for hair.No one was really interested in the origins of this ingredient, in the fact that it came from a sacred tree, carbon signs, source of food for newborns during rainy periods, precious for women in rural areas of rural areasseventeen African countries, as for biodiversity and the fight against the effects of climate change.It is by approaching shea from the angle of the positive ecological and social impact that we understood, my sister and I, that everything was to do.And the priority action was to make known the real shea butter from Africa to the general public: raw shea, which we baptized shea.It is the most rich vegetable oil in repairer active ingredients as soon as it is not refined industrially.

How is your brand distinguished? Karethic is a pioneering brand in terms of supply of beauty products based on raw shea butter.What was an originally an associative project has become a brand because, in 2005, no brand of beauty in France wanted to offer cosmetics with this raw shea.Laboratories explained to beauty brands that shea produced by African women was of poor quality and had to be refined.The precious vitamins of shea that brands put forward with the consumer were therefore in reality destroyed by refining.It was therefore first necessary to prove that shea produced by African women could be of superior quality provided that the income of these women is superior and that they work in dignified and healthy conditions.This quality which makes it possible to avoid the polluting refining step offers the possibility of formulating cosmetics of higher efficiency with few additional ingredients and often no preservatives because most of the repairers and natural conservatives are in the hea.Our goal is to bring all the beauty brands to do exactly like us by systematically guaranteeing a higher price and just for shea producers and not by contenting herself up selling raw shea.

With the pandemic, the public has regained the taste of natural products in cosmetics, and shea is one of the most coveted products.In view of the diversity of the offer, how to know if it is a qualitative, responsible, and ethical product? Signs of quality and guarantee are organic and fair labels.Some brands explain that they do not have one because it has a cost but it is false, they prefer to favor their own interests before that of shea producers.In 2022, guaranteeing the intrinsic ecological and social quality of a product should no longer be a choice based on private interest.Guaranteeing quality is compulsory from a regulatory point of view, bringing proof of its allegations is also if you are really a responsible brand.Getting refined shea for the authentic shea in Africa is purely and simply a consumer deception.The color of shea is also a clue.A natural, raw, good quality shea is never white.It has a cream to straw yellow cream and an aroma of cocoa, vanilla, caramel or anise depending on the country of origin, rainfall, and the nature of the soil.There are many prejudices surrounding shea, such as the fact that it is exclusively reserved for black skin.What is wrong.When I am asked if our products are only for black skin, I answer that shea is for everyone who has skin and hair to save.So humanity.It makes my interlocutor smile and think.

How is the manufacture of shea butter?.This shell contains an almond full of oil.The producers collect the fruit from June, select the best almonds, press them at the mill, and obtain a chocolate paste which will be manually barattated to let the fat which will be washed, filtered, melted and settling up the fatty and settling.By cooling, the oil solidifies and becomes shea butter.All these steps must be carried out at low temperature and with stainless steel utensils to preserve vitamins of shea as much as possible and avoid all traces of heavy metals in butter.If these criteria are not met, shea butter will be of poor quality, and will have to be refined and bleached.Good quality shea butter does not require polluting refining.

What are the commitments of your brand on this point? We are a pioneer on this raw organic and fair raw shea offer, and we bring the most guarantees to the consumer with labels and certification by an independent organization for more than 10 years.But it is quite logical and consistent because we started with the shea production stage in the north of Benin with 700 women in a recognized area 'Biosphere reserve' by UNESCO.It is to improve the living and working conditions of women that Karethic was created.If we just wanted to create a brand of cosmetics, we would have content to buy and sell shea by marketing it as a natural ingredient sold at a price twice lower without any guarantee on the remuneration of the producer, nor on the factthat this shea does not come from areas contaminated by pesticides.Karethic is often perceived as a brand 'too committed' by other beauty brands.I think that we are never too committed when the climate is disrupting due to overexploitation, overproduction, overconsumption and that it impacts above all the poorest populations on the planet.We do our part, and if we can do it for over 10 years, the brands that make our turnover ten times have no excuse.

You communicate on the very low salary of women producing shea in Africa.How to change the game on a larger scale, and in the long term? There is no mystery, you have to make known the problem and talk about it as much as possible to the general public.Everyone can understand that 62 euros per year are not enough to live with dignity, even in Africa where life costs much less.However, it is the annual average salary of a woman who lives shea.As a consumer, we can change things.Whenever possible, favor of fair and organic certified products.Not only to better remunerate producers, but also to choose better quality products.This is valid for any ingredient, and even more for shea butter.Until the media are talking about it, we launched a new product around the shea tree in 2018, shea flower honey.The purpose of this honey is to provide additional income to the producers while motivating men to preserve shea trees whose flowers are bounded by bees, and to give up the use of synthetic pesticides.

What types of products do we find at Karethic? We started with dermo-cosmetics with formulas rich in raw shea, Grand Cru, to save affected skins which did not support the creams offered in pharmacies and textures that goO The ointment containing 70% raw shea in serum with shea flower honey whose properties have been objectified by the Study Center of Natural Substances in Greater Lyon, passing through Shea Cream or Bilk Oil enriched oilin raw shea.We put raw shea in all our products since we produce and aim to work with ever more producers to improve their income.There are 700 women who can today educate their daughters and feed their families during the rainy season thanks to the price we guarantee them, but in Benin they are 39.000 to wait to live better thanks to shea.At the end of 2021, we launched the dermo-capillary responsible offer with the first care and conditioner shampoos without rinsing with raw organic shea and equitable always in a zero waste approach, zero waste, zero plastic.If we want to have a wide impact, it is urgent to limit the amount of plastic packaging but also ingredients of petrochemical origin which irritate the scalp, pollute the air and spill into the waters.

What are the main benefits of shea? Provided so that it is raw, so unrefined, shea is the most rich vegetable oil in repairer active ingredients.It interests all industries, cosmetics and agrifoods, for its vitamins but also because it resists heat, and has a balanced fatty acid profile.We have started to study the aromas of raw shea for cosmetics and fine gastronomy with the help of an expert in sensory analysis and master sommelier.It is a long -term work that will only bear fruit that the quality standards linked to a geographic indication for shea are established and recognized by the European Union.For the skin, you should know that shea has the same molecular structure as sebum in the same way as macadamia or jojoba oil.He is of course nourishing, but also healing, disinfectant, anti-inflammatory.It must be melted in the hands before applying it by massaging;which activates micro blood circulation.It is not comedogen with a raw state, but leaves a slight film on the skin which prevents the evaporation of water and therefore maintains hydration.

You have recently put online a petition entitled "Social and climatic justice for women in shea".Can you tell us about it? This petition aims to inform and mobilize the general public and the media on a subject of social and climate justice for women who have contributed to the success of many French beauty brands.It was launched following a study of the FAO which demonstrated that the shea tree had a negative carbon footprint, that is to say that it captures more CO2 than it rejects despite the fact than'He comes from the African continent.The study also specified the average annual income of a shea producer: 62 euros per year.This should not leave anyone indifferent because shea is present in many cosmetic products and is rarely guaranteed fair.Everything happens as if this poverty was acceptable while adjusting the income of these women so that they can live with dignity would have only very low impact on the final sale price of the products, would value the tree ofshea and would prevent them from being cut.Karethic remains a grain of sand in the beauty industry.Hurry up.It is necessary that a maximum of people must quickly realize that it is high time to change our lifestyles and to choose the fair, social and environmental justice whenever possible.