Green Bar makes local, natural beauty products in an industry pumped with chemicals and toxic preservatives.
It’s tough enough being a woman without having to worry about nasty preservatives in cosmetics, or the loads of other bad things pumped into beauty products. The natural world is filled with plants and flowers that have been used for centuries as beauty elixirs, and it is only a matter of reviving these methods and bringing them back to popularity. One of these revivalists is the young Bahraini entrepreneur Reem Al-Khalifa, who founded Green Bar – an online shop for beauty products based on local floral oils and other natural ingredients.
“Time tested in different cultures, precious oils have been around before Queen Cleopatra,” Green Bar claims, “they only needed to be rebottled with some creativity, keeping all their simplicity. It’s a primitive, effective, and naturally extravagant beauty ritual.”
When asked why she decided to focus on regional ingredients when there are so many other natural essences that could be used from other parts of the world, Al-Khalifa answered that “we have very beautiful exotic ingredients that no one is celebrating. Just a little creativity and improvisation can go a long way. They are a form of my expression to celebrate the island.”
Green Bar’s “100% super natural” ingredients all come from fruit flowers, herbs, and natural resins and include rosewater, rice bran, henna leaves, lavender, and Christ’s thorn leaves. The oils extracted from these sources are cold pressed instead of through heat, since heat can damage some of the more subtle ingredients.
Instead of using chemical preservatives the products are naturally preserved in UV protected bottles, and water and oil are not mixed because that combination generally causes preservation issues. “Natural perfume is natural protection,” Green Bar says. “Plants are generous.”
Green Bar’s products are currently sold through retail outlets throughout Bahrain, but can also be purchased online and shipped worldwide.
: Green Bar via Mideast Youth
Read more about other natural beauty products::
Citramed Preserves Our Cosmetics the Natural Way
Eco-Conscious Cosmetics: Looking Good Never So Beautiful for the Planet
Dead Sea Herbs Offers Organic and Biblically Inspired Cosmetics
OnePure, a First in “Halal” Eco Skincare Products
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Did you catch the article a few months back about the Israeli born canadian making eco-friendly and luscious fragrances? I’m glad this is starting to catch on in the region. I really missed natural alternatives when we were living there.
She sent me some fragrances in the mail and I hope to review them soon.
This is a really interesting article on natural cosmetics. I was really interested in the ideas of Green Bar cosmetics. Seem that they have got some really great products. I’ll definitely have to try some of them out. Thanks again,