As cliched as it is to say, hemp is a miracle of nature.
Not only is it a hardy, fast-growing plant, but hemp has a veritable kaleidoscope of uses: food, fuel, rope, insulation, bioplastics... Last year we explored how hemp is also a spectacular textile, and how Australian clothing brands are increasingly using hemp fabrics in their product lines.
Turns out hemp is also great for our skin. Skincare products using hemp seed oil have been common in countries like the United States for many years, and now the trend has hit Australian shores – with one innovative small business leading the way thanks to their unique business model.
Melbourne-based high school friends turned business partners Alex Roslaniec, Fedele D'Amico and Ollie Watts founded hemp-based skincare brand Hey Bud back in 2018 with an initial investment of only $30,000, after noticing that there were almost no hemp-based skincare products on the Australian market. The brand quickly became popular on Instagram, making over $1 million in sales in its first year, and has since become a runaway Australian small business success story.
Indeed, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has been deadly to many small businesses, Hey Bud has thrived – recording a whopping 1160% lift in sales from March 2020 to August 2020. So how did hemp skincare go from zero to hero in such a dramatic way? DMARGE had the chance to chat with the trio, who explain that Australian customers are quickly cottoning on to the wide range of skincare benefits hemp seed oil has, making their product a no-brainer.
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"Hemp seed oil has four broad benefits," D'Amico explains. (It was D'Amico's mother – a trained beauty therapist – who first alerted the boys to the benefits of hemp seed oil).
"It's suitable for all skin types – it's not prone to blocking pores; it helps moderate oil production whilst moisturising; it has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect; and it has anti-aging properties: it can reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and prevent signs of aging."
Hey Bud first launched with a cannabis-infused hemp face mask, and has since gone on to offer a hemp moisturiser and face oil, all of which are unisex. Launching with a face mask was a savvy move: fans of the brand started posting photos of themselves with the mask on to Instagram, helping build the brand's profile and creating a participatory culture around the product.
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The trio credit being actively engaged with their customers on social media as instrumental to their success – and it's something they recommend other Australian small businesses do, too.
"Build a tribe around your brand," Watts recommends, "that'll be buying from you over and over again."
"It's really beneficial having all of your customers in one space where you can ask questions... what products they want next, what feedback they have for us. It's started to get a mind of its own: customers interacting with each other, asking each other questions."
Watts shares that it's hugely beneficial to have such a community around your brand when it comes to launching new products – "we just ask our customers what they want" – explaining that if you can build such a dedicated community, "you've hit the jackpot."
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L to R: Alex Roslaniec, Fedele D’Amico and Ollie Watts. Image: Hey Bud[/caption]
Why aren't there more hemp-based skincare products on the Australian market? Simply put, it's because of weed.
Hemp and marijuana both come from the same plant: Cannabis sativa. Hemp simply describes varieties of Cannabis that contain 0.3% or less THC content by dry weight, whereas marijuana describes products with more than 0.3% – that is, the stuff that’ll get you high. It's because of this that the cultivation of hemp is strictly regulated, and the plant carries a negative reputation by association.
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Since the 1990s, Australian states and territories have slowly been permitting the cultivation of hemp – under strict licenses. Australia has the perfect climate to cultivate the plant, but it remains a niche and tightly controlled industry. However, things are changing, Roslaniec relates.
"Hemp was legalised [as an] ingestible at the end of 2017. And then just recently in February, we're now allowed low dose CBD oil from over the counter at pharmacies. So you can start to see a trend that Australia's becoming much more kind of open to the idea of hemp and even cannabis in itself."
"Medical cannabis has been becoming more allowed and legalised throughout all the United States, and now it's allowed to be grown recreationally in Canada as well. That's another really good experiment to see, because there's a lot of similarities between Canada and Australia."
"Canada legalising recreational cannabis nationally is a huge step globally, and I think Australia will be closely following the results of that. I believe that within three to five years, we'll probably be in a very similar spot to them."
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Farmer survey a healthy hemp crop near Griffith, New South Wales. Image: Farm Weekly[/caption]
As of last year, the Australian Capital Territory now allows for the possession and growth of small amounts of cannabis for personal use, evidence that Australians are becoming more and more tolerant of the plant. Tolerance for weed also paves the way for the broader cultivation of hemp, which could see even more hemp-based skincare products hit the market.
The irony is that Australia has the perfect climate to cultivate the plant – if legislators made it easier to grow hemp here, Australia could actually be poised to take hemp skincare products globally – among other hemp-based products.
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Unsurprisingly, the Hey Bud boys are naturally paying close attention to developments in Australia: while legalisation could see competition dramatically open up, they're not fazed by the possibility.
"Naturally, legalisation [would bring] a lot more competition, but with competition comes a lot of education, which I think will benefit us as a brand," D'Amico concludes.
Time will tell if more Australians cotton on to the benefits of hemp... Until then, we're going to go have a comfy night in, slap on some face masks, pour ourselves a glass of wine and listen to some Bob Marley.
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The post Australian Skincare Trend Set To Go ’Sky High’ appeared first on DMARGE.
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