BC Business
Get those luscious locks under control and forget bad hair days.
Bruce Mullen started Jusu Wellness as a cold-pressed juice bar in 2014, and in 2016 launched body care products made from pulp left over from the juice production. Now, the Victoria- based lifestyle brand is owned by Sonya Laurenssen, and in addition to selling individual products, Jusu sells in bulk to zero-waste refilleries across the country. Hair-focused highlights include shampoo, conditioner, hair treatment and hair putty (think hair gel, but made from shea butter).
Plant-based hair care company Wythyn Beauty uses ingredients like mango butter, sea buckthorn, rosemary and lavender to create a three-step hair care system (shampoo, conditioner and oil). Founder Zahoor Hassan launched the biz in Vancouver in 2020 after finding that other products were damaging her hair: if you want something done right, formulate it yourself.
Former esthetician Kari Asselin founded Om Organics in 2016 with a goal of making all-natural skincare at an accessible price point— and today, the Invermere company’s products are still all under $50. When it comes to hair, there’s a deep conditioning mask made with coconut and pracaxi (and launching in April is a 4-in-1 lather bar that does the work of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and shaving cream).
Dry shampoo is a lifesaver, but aerosols do more harm than good. That’s why sisters Madeleine Tan and Rebecca Tan of The Rose Company created a custom, compostable paper tube for their dry shampoo: it’s made from FSC-certified paper and printed with biodegradable soy inks. Since 2020, they’ve been hand-pouring and hand-packaging scents like rosemary bergamot and vanilla cocoa in Vancouver.
This one’s for dogs, not people, but that sort of mix-up is exactly what inspired Candice Zerb and Sloan Lauinger to start Groomer and George in 2018. Zerb got a bad reaction after accidentally washing herself with dog shampoo (we’ve all been there) and the pair—Zerb in Victoria, Lauinger in Vancouver—set out to a create gentle but powerful canine luxury apothecary line.
Nancy and Anthony Wingham founded Nuez Acres in part to support Nancy’s father’s pecan farm in Parral, Mexico, and to ensure that he and his employees received fair compensation for their work. Since 2019, the Langley-based, Indigenous-owned company has been turning fresh pecans into pecan oil products, including serums for hair, eyelashes and eyebrows.