The Lovely Lady Behind LOLI Beauty: Meet Tina Hedges
LOLI Beauty is back and better than ever with a revamped line of organic, zero-waste products.
LOLI Beauty is back and better than ever with a revamped line of organic, zero-waste products that are stirring up the beauty industry as we know it. From Plum Elixir to Matcha Coconut Paste, LOLI Beauty 2.0 offers the highest quality, food-grade products with pure, superfood ingredients that bring beauty back to its pre-synthetic roots. At its core, LOLI stands for a raw and personalized approach to beauty blending so that you know exactly what you are putting into your bathroom cabinet and onto your body.
Founder and CEO, Tina Hedges, designed LOLI with the world and its population in mind at each level of production. Through her advocacy against human trafficking and her insistence on compostable packaging, Hedges truly embodies sustainability and clean beauty. We had the chance to sit down with Tina to explore what is fresh about LOLI’s relaunch and also get some of her expert detox advice.
Can you tell us about the relaunch of LOLI Beauty? (LOLI Beauty 2.0)
A few years ago, I had the idea to deconstruct beauty into “living organic loving ingredients” that could be combined to make multiple products. I launched a test and a 3-month surprise subscription box, where women could get BIY (Blend It Yourself) wellness products. This first version of LOLI Beauty allowed us to assess whether customers had a greater preference for personalizing their products at home or having a fully customized product sent to them.
We gained a lot of traction, including a wonderful article on your magazine, but also learned a lot about our customers. While women wanted the purest, most potent and sustainable options, they didn’t necessarily have time to whip up products from scratch. So we took these observations and launched version 2.0 of LOLI Beauty in March of this year.
LOLI is the world’s first zero-waste, organic, food-grade approach to beauty. As a B-Corp, our mission is to stir up beauty. With circular commerce and a sustainable approach, we formulate MADE SAFE-certified, 100% waterless products which are sold in reusable, food-grade, and certified bio-compostable packaging.
This month, BWB is implementing a detox theme and your brand is the perfect example on how we can start to detox our lives from nefarious ingredients in skincare, but also detoxing the planet by creating less waste. How did you manage to achieve such a clean skincare line?
I love that you frame beauty sustainability through the lens of “detoxing.” The beauty of this modern mindset is that you don’t have to do everything all at once. Start with small steps, as each incremental decision to make smarter choices will make an impact. For example, start with choosing waterless skin, hair and body products. Given the scarcity of water in our world, it doesn’t make sense to purchase personal care products made with 80-95% water. Another smart choice is to avoid products packaged in plastic. Even if the bottle claims it is “recyclable,” it will most likely end up alongside the other 192 billion beauty packages a year that are dumped in landfills.
LOLI Beauty doesn’t just eliminate the 1500+ nasty chemicals and toxins found in most skincare products; we also simplify how many products you need in your beauty cabinet. Our food-grade, waterless and organic skin, hair and body products are multitaskers. A single product like our rejuvenating Plum Elixir beauty oil can moisturize skin, smooth frizzy hair, treat chapped lips and heal brittle nails all in one! You don’t need 15 products made of water and chemicals to have beautiful skin and hair.
It’s also important to consider how your products are packaged. By 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Instead of reinforced plastic containers, our packaging is bio-compostable or made of food-grade glass that can be reused for food storage (like your cute yogurt jars).
What is your daily detox routine?
I love taking a detox bath a few times per week. First, I scrub my body in the shower with a recipe of Himalayan Pink Salt, Hemp Seed Oil, and Turmeric Essential Oil; then, I rinse off and draw a bath of Pure Magnesium Salt Flakes, Coconut Vinegar, Mustard Seed Powder, Eucalyptus, and Clove Essential Oil. This resets my body, mind, and soul. It’s also great to balance your skin’s pH, help fight off infections, and even remineralize your body.
What are your favorite places in New York to detox?
I grew up on an island and love the water. When I need a spiritual or mental detox, I like to go for a trip downtown to Aire Ancient Baths. It’s an amazing staycation that allows your mind and soul to float, especially since there is actually a saltwater floating pool that simulates being in the womb. You can also plunge into cold pools to stimulate your metabolism and circulation.
I also love going to K-town for a full body scrub. The grime that comes off is crazy, and afterwards your skin feels raw, but newborn baby-smooth.
There’s a new place that I’m dying to check out called the Clean Market in Midtown East. They have infrared saunas and cryotherapy. We’re hoping to do a collaboration with them sometime as it would be a wonderful location for our blending bar.
What are 5 easy steps to detox our routines?
- UN-BOTTLE YOUR WATER
This is such an easy step. Stop purchasing bottled water. Carry a thermos and refill your water from a cooler. Want infused water? Buy a crystal infused decanter like VitaJewel and charge your water before filling up your thermos for the day.
- MEDITATE AT MIDNIGHT
When you wake up in the middle of the night tossing and turning, stop. Get out of bed, find a calm place to sit, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and meditate. While it does take willpower to leave the warm coverlet of your bed, your mind is highly receptive to a meditative state and you may be surprised to see how easy it is. I promise it’s worthwhile.
- DON’T BREAK A SWEAT
I love the quick effects of an infrared sauna. You don’t need to remove your clothes and you often don’t break a heavy sweat, so you can do one at lunchtime in between errands or appointments. It’s terrific for the immune, nervous, and skeletal systems and has even been found to be effective in the treatment of everything from high blood pressure and congestive heart failure to dementia, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
- LOSE THE LEAD
Heavy, toxic leads can be hidden in a lot of color cosmetics. The FDA has recently found that “over 99% of the cosmetic lip products and externally applied cosmetics on the U.S. market contain lead at levels below 10 ppm.” The FDA recommends a maximum level of 10 ppm for lead in lip products (such as lipsticks, lip glosses, and lip liners) and externally applied cosmetics (such as eye shadows, blushes, shampoos, and body lotions). But is even 10ppm or below a safe level? Look for lead-free, organic color cosmetics.
- SIP STRAWLESS
In the U.S. alone, 500 million straws are used annually by consumers which equates to 1.6 straws per person per day. Is this necessary? By choosing to sip your smoothie strawless, you can be drastically impacting the lifespan of marine life and the water quality of our oceans.
- FORGET THE FLEECE
Patagonia, a supervisory sustainable brand, recently named fleece jackets “a serious pollutant.” The micro-fibers of a single fleece, when washed, sheds up to 250,000 synthetic fibers. Based on an estimate of washing 100,000 jackets a year, Patagonia concluded that the amount of plastic that would end up in our oceans would equate to 11,900 plastic grocery bags. Try to layer up the old-fashioned way with cottons, silks, or non-synthetic fleece fiber materials instead.
Teresa Deely is a graduate from Columbia University with majors in English and Creative Writing. She is a freelance writer and marketing assistant working for clients in the wellness, jewelry, creative, and sports industries. She believes that one’s skin is yet another canvas and vehicle for art, and has loved styling her hair and applying makeup from a young age. Spending much of her time in educating youth and leading enrichment programs for children, she is highly motivated in discovering new ways to care for herself and sharing them with others.
