{"id":12234,"date":"2015-12-07T15:25:09","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T14:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/?p=12234"},"modified":"2016-04-01T13:14:03","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T12:14:03","slug":"behind-the-brand-unique-sustainable-luxury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/behind-the-brand-unique-sustainable-luxury\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Brand: Unique Sustainable Luxury"},"content":{"rendered":"

When J\u00f8rgen and Hanne Rasmussen realized their jobs were taking time away from their burgeoning relationship, the decision was clear: quit the jobs and become self-employed. They founded their company, Unique Sustainable Luxury<\/a>, to uncompromisingly adhere to the principles of ecology, sustainability, and fair trade.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Now, the Rasmussen couple spends a lot of time in development, testing shampoo and conditioner recipes, rejecting some things, adding others, until they\u2019re left with a new product that satisfies their high standards. Slowly, they built up their new family business in the Danish town of Fredericia, now producing 18 different Unique Sustainable Luxury products for hair and skin care.<\/p>\n

\"rsz_4600ml_group\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Unique products, it\u2019s what they don\u2019t put in that matters<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe do entirely without parabens, propylene glycol, synthetic colors or fragrances, nano-ingredients, genetically modified ingredients, formaldehyde and its derivatives, toxic chemicals, lanolin, sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium lauryl ether sulfates (SLS \/ SLES), Triethanolamine (TEA), EDTA or Urea,” founder J\u00f8rgen explains.
\nThe Danes go even further with their chemical-free approach, only using \u2018green\u2019 surfactants based on renewable resources such as corn, potatoes, wheat, coconuts, and palm kernels. What you get from this is ECOCERT-certified products that are not only ideally suited to the skin \u2014 but also to the environment, damaging it as little as possible.
\nThese compromises extend to the production process. \u201cWe do not process our plant ingredients excessively, which means, we don\u2019t alter them by bleaching, deodorizing, refining, or zapping them with gamma radiation. It\u2019s important to us that the plant retains its original properties,\u201d J\u00f8rgen adds.<\/p>\n

Vikings and whey for healthier hair and skin<\/h2>\n

Some of the inspiration for their products comes from a place close by: the ancient Vikings. The couple extensively researched the beautification rituals of Viking women, who used specific plants for their healing and invigorating properties. In the land of the Vikings, these products are local, which enhances their freshness and their effect.<\/p>\n

Other companies might be satisfied by all of this, but not this enterprising couple. Because of their love for regionally produced products, they were thrilled to discover the amazing properties of organic whey, which is a major component of many of their products.
\n\u201cOrganic whey is rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals, and lipids, which all have a fantastic effect on skin and hair,\u201d says Hanne. It\u2019s important to note that Denmark is a very large producer of organic cheese \u2014 and for every kilo of organic cheese, there are 9 kilos of whey as a byproduct.
\nJ\u00f8rgen and Hanne developed a method to substitute organic whey for water, which made their products more effective and milder on the skin. But that wasn\u2019t the only convincing aspect. \u201cFrom a sustainability perspective, whey is fantastic, because it is readily available in Denmark, so we don\u2019t have to produce CO2 by transporting it,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Sustainable products, all the way<\/h2>\n

To make the switch from commercial cosmetics to natural products, Hanne recommends ECOCERT products above all others.
\n\u201cECOCERT products are important because they guarantee the organic origins of a product. The eco-cosmetics sector is a jungle, and it\u2019s very hard to find out what is truly ecologically responsible and what is \u2018fake organic,\u2019\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Though eco-cosmetics are now widespread, if you ask J\u00f8rgen and Hanne, their work is hardly done. \u201cIt\u2019s important for us to think like a cosmetics company instead of focusing too much on the our ecological philosophy, which is kind of a trend in the industry now,\u201d J\u00f8rgen explains. \u201cTalking about it is not enough. We have to do more, and look at it from a holistic perspective, including the transportation of ingredients, the production process, packaging, and so on.\u201d
\nFor this reason, Unique\u2019s products ship in reusable packaging, packaging that won the company the \u2018Best of Cosmoprof Green Prize\u2019 award. Aside from that, the company gets all of its energy from windmills, and in addition produce their own ECOCERT-certified cleaning products.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people like the idea that it\u2019s still possible to find old-fashioned, high quality, locally produced products,\u201d Hanne says of her success. Sure, Unique\u2019s products are not the cheapest on the market, but nevertheless the quality is very high. \u201cWe could produce cheaper products, but we remain true to our beliefs, and we won\u2019t compromise on our truly unique, high-quality product lines,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n

From their own product line, Hanne recommends the following: \u201cI love our new Organic Hair Foam. Since I\u2019ve got a lot of curls, the foam works particularly well with my hair. Another favorite of mine is our new hair oil, that makes my hair beautifully soft and shiny, without being too oily.\u201d she adds. Both products are new and make their debut in fall 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When J\u00f8rgen and Hanne Rasmussen realized their jobs were taking time away from their burgeoning relationship, the decision was clear:<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":12235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1587],"tags":[2039],"brand":[],"problems-concerns":[],"class_list":["post-12234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behind-the-brand","category-interview","tag-behind-the-brand"],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Brand: Unique Sustainable Luxury - Amazingy Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/behind-the-brand-unique-sustainable-luxury\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/amazingy.com\\\/magazine\\\/behind-the-brand-unique-sustainable-luxury\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/amazingy.com\\\/magazine\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Behind the Brand: Unique Sustainable Luxury\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Behind the Brand: Unique Sustainable Luxury - Amazingy Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/behind-the-brand-unique-sustainable-luxury\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/behind-the-brand-unique-sustainable-luxury\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Behind the Brand: Unique Sustainable Luxury"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"problems-concerns","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/problems-concerns?post=12234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}