Learn About Clean Beauty with Expert Kathryn Dickinson

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EPISODE SUMMARY:

Despite the beauty industry’s continuous and rapid growth, many products are still made with harmful, toxic chemicals. Striving to create a safer, cleaner space for beauty, Kathryn Dickinson founded AILLEA, one of the U.S.’s most successful clean beauty curators. In today’s episode, we sat down with Kathryn to discuss the inspiration behind AILLEA, the concept of green washing, vetting standards for clean beauty products, and the harmful side effects of toxic chemicals.

First, we asked Kathryn what initially inspired her to want to create AILLEA. She explained that thirteen years ago, after struggling with food allergies, she began reading the labels on food products to help make her diet cleaner. This inspired her to begin reading labels on all of her products, and after reading her beauty products, she was horrified to find the amount of toxic chemicals in each bottle. When looking for cleaner replacements for her beauty products proved to be difficult and expensive, Kathryn sought to create a place where people could shop with the guarantee that every product they looked at was clean. In December of 2014, AILLEA officially launched online. AILLEA’s first in-person store opened in May of 2015, and ever since, Kathryn has been working hard to continue to grow and expand her company.

When asked to explain the concept of green washing, Kathryn told us that companies use green washing as a way to inaccurately promote their products. Advertising companies will use certain fonts, symbols, and words on labels to make products appear “natural” to consumers. However, the ingredient list on the product will still contain toxic ingredients. Customers also can be confused by a product that is advertised as “vegan”. Vegan does not mean clean; vegan products are not made with animal byproduct but can still contain harmful ingredients. Kathryn also shared that when fragrances are listed as an ingredient, companies do not have to disclose what chemicals go into making the fragrance. Since fragrances are considered a trade secret, they do not have to be specified on labels. Unfortunately, the beauty industry lacks green washing regulations, so many companies can get away with it.

We also discussed AILLEA’s vetting process for ensuring every product sold is a clean beauty product. Kathryn explained that AILLEA has a long list of toxic ingredients banned from their stores, and they refuse to advertise and sell any products with those ingredients. All of the brands AILLEA works with have the same passion for making clean, environmentally friendly products. AILLEA also performs quality checks on their products to make sure that they are not only clean but work well. As for their products, AILLEA currently carries anywhere from 1300 to 1400 products from about 50 brands, with more to be launching soon. AILLEA carries skincare, haircare, makeup, nail care, fragrances, bath and body, candles, oral care, and deodorants. When asked about brand recommendations for women in midlife, Kathryn had an abundance of great options to share. For skincare, she recommended Indie Lee, Vintner’s Daughter, Alpyn and Josh Rosebrook. For haircare, she suggested Rahua and Innersense. Makeup can also be a large of a midlife beauty routine, so for makeup that sits well on skin and lasts, Kathryn suggested AILLEA, Kosas, and Vapour. AILLEA also carries sunscreens, which is an important step in any skincare routine. For how to find the product best suited for you online, AILLEA’s website has a chat icon that lets customers interact directly with AILLEA employees. Employees can help guide you towards the best products and can even shade match you through the screen. Customers can also sample any AILLEA product either in stores or pay for shipping to have samples sent to their homes. Kathryn told us that as for customers, she has noticed an increase in midlife women. The average age of customers is between 25-45, and she hopes that eventually, people of all ages will use AILLEA to find the best clean beauty products.

Finally, we asked Kathryn about the side effects of using products with toxic chemicals. She told us that overtime, toxic chemicals can affect the endocrine system, which can lead to issues such as infertility in women. Toxic chemicals can also be linked to weight gain, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases.

Kathryn Dickinson

Beauty industry expert Kathryn Dickinson is the founder of AILLEA, one of the country’s most prominent and successful clean beauty curators. With multiple retail locations and a robust online presence, Kathryn and her stores have become the go-to location all things beauty.

A long-time executive in the beauty industry, Dickinson has worked with some of the most successful beauty and fashion brands in the world. Driven to conscious beauty out of necessity when she developed severe allergies herself later in life, she was shocked to find the amount of green washing and poor performing products in the beauty industry. Realizing she needed to become the industry expert in safe ingredients with effective and high performing products, Dickinson has now spent years doing extensive research on ingredients, regulations, and brands. After thorough vetting, Dickinson finally found products that met her lofty standards on all fronts and started AILLEA, now considered the gold standard of curated clean, conscious beauty.

Kathryn and AILLEA hold the highest standards when it comes to selecting product and brands.

AILLEA brands include RMS Beauty, Tata Harper, ILIA, Kypris, Indie Lee, Free + True, Kosas, Alpyn Beauty, Clove + Hallow, Josh Rosebrook, Rahua, Aila, OSEA Malibu, CV Skinlabs, Orgaid, Vintner’s Daughter, Innersense, Olio e Osso, Vapour Beauty, Caire Beauty, Organic Bath Co., Jenny Patinkin, One Love Organics, Osmia Organics, Maya Chia, and many more.