It is well known that France is the historic world leader in cosmetics, thanks to impressive know-how, constant innovation and an established reputation. The sector generates nearly 24 billion euros in revenue every year.

But beyond research and manufacturing, France is not known for a highly developed chemical industry. While it is easy to have your cosmetics made in France, it is not easy to find ingredients that are themselves made here.

On the other hand, sourcing ingredients in France inevitably costs more, partly because of regulated working conditions and social benefits that others envy us for.

A quick awakening

When I started getting interested in cosmetics, I looked into the impact of manufacturing, from end to end. In concrete terms, that means from growing the raw materials all the way to your shower, and even to the sea, where part of our wastewater ends up.

While cosmetics were very largely made in France, most of the ingredients and components were not only synthetic, but also made on the other side of the world, mainly in Asia.

When I created LAO, I wanted to formulate products with Common Sense. It was therefore unthinkable for me to follow the usual model, even though it would have reduced costs, because in my view it could not guarantee real traceability of the ingredients, nor ensure optimal quality, let alone promote good working conditions for the workers along the value chain.

Acting with Common Sense

So I set out to source as many ingredients as possible close to home, with as few intermediaries as possible. For some types of ingredients, like the actives, it was a given because I knew it was possible. France has never stopped growing wonderful plants, such as lavender, lemon, thyme, lemon balm, apple, sunflower... and, more recently, hemp. The list would be too long to spell out, but there is no shortage of possibilities!

Herbalists and other local producers are joining forces and gaining strength around ethical, modern and traceable production methods, so we might as well take advantage of it and support them!

Also, from the very beginning, going natural was the obvious choice, but not without ecology. We had to think about the impact of producing each type of plant. That is how hemp became a natural choice, for its ability to grow without irrigation or pesticides, and even to capture CO2!

Total transparency, a way to raise awareness

Baring it all means revealing everything, agreeing to show our strengths as well as our areas for improvement, and acting in good faith to earn your trust. It also means putting in your hands all the information you need to consume better, and with full awareness.

It means letting you see all the work behind a cosmetic: the months of formulation, the hours spent selecting the best partners, the comparisons of the most distant partners to reduce its impact, the impact of growing the raw materials involved, and the outlook!

Modern technology, to look to the future

Still with the aim of earning your trust, I looked for a way to make the information we share traceable. Very quickly, blockchain technology, which makes it possible to anchor data on your natural shampoos and make it tamper-proof, became the obvious choice, and SORGA is the company I chose to support me.

SORGA gives access, via a QR code on every shampoo bottle and on our product pages, to a complete, certified interface with instant access to all the information on your LAO cleansing products, from seed to bottle.

In the different tabs, you can explore the information related to our shampoos, and also see a map showing the location of each of our partners, for total transparency.

While often only the actives are mentioned, LAO dares to go further and look at each of its ingredients, explaining its role on the hair and in the shampoo, how it is made and where it comes from.

In my view, the future of cosmetics rests on a real need to innovate, but also to explain, raise awareness and empower everyone. Access to certified information will let you keep your trust in us, and also make your choices in a more informed way! That is also what Transparency by LAO is about.

Lisa, founder of LAO

Sources

FEBEA. The cosmetics sector, figures. 2019. Available online: https://www.febea.fr/fr/le-secteur-cosmetique/le-secteur-chiffres