For five and a half years, Jessica Iklisoy and scientists at the California Baby startup have been testing various herbal ingredients. As a result, they managed to create the first 100% herbal preservative that can be used in cosmetic skin care products. “When I started California Baby, I wanted to replace all the unnatural ingredients used in cosmetics. I could not do it alone, because it was about complex chemicals. A herbal preservative cannot be obtained at home, for example, in your kitchen,”says Jessica Iklisoy. In September, her company will begin a massive relaunch of its line of organic beauty products for children. The 90 products in the California Baby line will be made using a new formula using only natural ingredients. Thus, California Baby will become the first cosmetics and perfumery manufacturer to completely eliminate unnatural preservatives.
According to Jessica Iklisoy, for more than twenty years, everyone tried to convince her that it is impossible to create a 100% vegetable and at the same time effective preservative. No major cosmetic conglomerate wanted to spend time or money on its invention. The entrepreneur spent about $ 10 million to finance the development of a new preservative. The preservative was tested at an industrial plant with an area of 1400 sq. M. m, it was acquired by Jessica Iklisoy in 2001, having become disillusioned with other factories with which she had worked before. Buying your own factory is a rare occurrence in the cosmetics industry, as most brands usually enter into contracts with independent manufacturers. California Baby's natural preservative is based on ingredients derived from a new variety of basil and anise. Jessica Iklisa's invention will soon replace sodium benzoate, a synthetic preservative previously used in California Baby cosmetics.
The California Baby cosmetics brand is wholly owned by Jessica Iklisa. In 2017, the company's sales amounted to $ 96 million. According to Forbes, Iklisa's fortune currently exceeds $ 330 million. Thus, she managed to take the 58th place in the ranking of the most successful American entrepreneurs in 2018 according to Forbes. Jessica Iklisoy started the business in 1990. During her pregnancy, she was concerned about the presence of chemical preservatives in baby cosmetics. Therefore, the entrepreneur began to independently work on the creation of a natural baby shampoo in the kitchen of her apartment in Los Angeles. This happened long before organic cosmetics became fashionable. In 1995, Iklisoy borrowed $ 2,000 from her mother to launch a California Baby startup. At the time, the company only made one cosmetic product: an organic baby shampoo.
For several years in a row, the entrepreneur constantly faced problems when choosing suppliers of certain organic ingredients. Therefore, in 2011, Jessica Iklisoy acquired the Flower and Vine farm with an area of 404,000 square meters. m, located in Santa Barbara, California. Most of the farm grows calendula flowers, which are then used to produce oil. Calendula oil is a key ingredient in many California Baby beauty products, including baby rash cream and sunscreen. According to the entrepreneur, the farm will now grow a new variety of basil, bred by scientists from California Baby, and anise, which is also necessary for the production of a new natural preservative. “Both plants contain a combination of various active ingredients. We isolate the most active compounds that these plants are rich in and use them to produce our organic preservative,”said Jessica Iklisoy. The entrepreneur carefully controls the supply of the new preservative. There is a chance that other cosmetics companies may want to acquire a patent for its use. Jessica doesn't mind.
“All this time, I have pursued the following goals: to change the cosmetics industry or to help the entire industry change. Once we understood what our goals were, we were able to create a product that no other company can boast,”said Jessica Iklisoy.
It is worth noting that she is trying to change the cosmetics industry in another way. Since 2016, Jessica Iklisoy and her lobbying organization Natural Advisory Council have called on the US Congress and the FDA to improve labeling standards and change regulations governing the use of various ingredients in organic cosmetics. The entrepreneur hopes that the planned relaunch of the California Baby line of children's cosmetics, scheduled for September, will prove to officials from the FDA that industrial production of skin care products based on a 100% vegetable preservative is still possible. In addition, she believes that California Baby products will serve as an example for creating a single standard that will sooner or later form the basis of a new certification system. Jessica Iklisoy plans to work with representatives of the Food and Drug Administration. She is going to prove to them that there are no synthetic ingredients in California Baby cosmetics. Iklisoy hopes that this work will create a legal definition of organic cosmetics.
“Many big companies still use toxic ingredients and make excuses that“you can't make cosmetics differently.” I want to prove to them that it is possible to produce organic, yet effective, beautiful and in-demand cosmetics. This is my goal,”Jessica Iklisoy emphasized.
Translation by Polina Shenoeva
