After the birth of my first nephew this past year, I struggled to find natural baby products for the newest addition to our family, of course, is way too precious to have harmful chemicals touch his skin and hair care. Fortunately, my sister and I weren’t the only ones that noticed that lack of natural, holistic products for babies out there. The Brown Crayon Project has launched a kickstarter to raise $25k to open the doors for adorable babies everywhere to bask in the demand for natural skin and haircare.
According to PR Newswire, the kickstarter, launched Feb. 29th, allows backers to pre-order certified, organic skincare products for babies. TBH, I found it surprising that there weren’t more certified, organic skincare lines geared specifically towards babies, considering that I’ve been the odd-woman-out on baby fever for quite some time now. Babies should absolutely not be left out of the natural skin and hair care equation. According to the Huffington Post, a large percentage of what we put on our bodies can be absorbed through our bloodstream. I mean, if I, a grown woman that has literally never turned down a bag of Andy’s Hot Fries, have deemed myself too precious to use chemicals or artificial ingredients on my bod, then I think baby beauty products are long overdue.
While I’ve been unsuccessfully whipping up diaper rash concoctions and baby-safe lotions in my kitchen, the Brown Crayon Project has a team of chemists that has worked diligently to bring babies and toddlers some seriously healthy beauty products — they're all vegan, cruelty-free, GMO-free, USDA certified, and you certainly won’t be finding any sulfates, parabens, phthalates, paraffin, or any artificial ingredients inside.
Even more groundbreaking is that this new line of products is specifically made for BOCs (that’s babies of color, natch). The Brown Crayon Project uses science and holistic approaches to bring all-natural products to babies and open a very important discussion on the holistic health of babies of color. According to the Brown Crayon Project’s kickstarter page, there is not a single brand of certified, organic products specifically made for babies of color.
Selma Idris, founder of the Brown Crayon Project, tells me in a phone interview that she started making products at home with her mother after she had her first son. Obviously, we know that natural ingredients and the education around them are hard to find; Idris was looking to recreate products on the shelves that would promote the healthiest skin for her children. Her background in Pharma gave her a leg up on production. So, after a couple of years of her at-home lab, her quest for natural, organic ingredients brought her to building a brand so parents could focus on being parents, not scientists. According to Selma, while her products may work for many children, they are specifically tested on the Black American community and made with the hair and skin needs of children of color in mind.
Healthy hair and skin starts at birth. The Brown Crayon Project knows there is a difference between good hair and skin and healthy hair and skin. And if you're itching to get your hands on the products before the pre-order date of late summer 2016, don't worry: Backers who donate $25 or more will be mailed sample sizes of each product. For me, the Brown Crayon Project has already afforded me the luxury to get back to mixing up beauty concoctions for me and silenced the persistent texts from my sister on the status of her newborn’s leave-in conditioner.
Images: Courtesy The Brown Crayon Project; Tracey Jackson
