Yolanda Owens stirs a stockpot of a thickening creamy concoction, bubbling over an open flame. She adds freshly squeezed, organic carrot juice. Owens has several recipes in motion: Silver bowls swish with lime juice or churn with oatmeal and brown sugar.
But while her southwest Atlanta kitchen begins to smell like a bakery, her customers don't bite into these desserts. These sweet mixtures are meant to glide on top of the body. Customers exfoliate with grits, scrub their feet with coffee beans and splash their face with "It's Like a Salad" face toner.
Owens, a self-proclaimed "skin chef," joins an emerging group of businesses making fresh and even perishable skin care products. She even sells mini-refrigerators for proper storage of her line of preservative-free skin care made with fruits, vegetables and grains purchased in bulk from the DeKalb Farmer's Market. Her Iwi Fresh (stands for "it is what it is") products are sold online and at six metro Atlanta day spas.
The 2-year-old company dips into a $60 billion-per-year cosmetics and skin care industry as it's undergoing an Earth-friendly makeover.
Last year, Spa Sydell introduced fruit masks that change with the season --- crushed cranberry pomegranate masks in winter, blueberry toppings in springtime and a grapefruit cleanser during the hottest months.
From Body Shop's seaweed exfoliater to Bath & Body Works' organic honey and pear body scrub (which has a shelf life of only six to eight months), the skin care industry is increasingly turning to Mother Nature.
The green shift in skin care products is being fueled by growing consumer concerns about chemicals in everything from water bottles to children's plastic toys to what's inside that night cream (it's common for face products to include paraben preservatives and petroleum-based ingredients).
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