Mindset, Shampoo Bars And Saving Ourselves (Not Just The Planet)
Dip's founder Kate Assaraf's appearance on the “Mindset Mastery Moments” podcast
When Dr. Alisa Whyte opened her show with the words:
“This is not cute sustainability. This is strategic sustainability.”
Dip knew this conversation was going to hit different.
On Mindset Mastery Moments, Dr. Alisa and Dip founder Kate Assaraf went deep into the psychology behind sustainable beauty, plastic free hair care, refill stores, influencer fatigue, AI fakery and what it really means to build a seven figure brand around empathy instead of algorithms.
This recap is Dip’s own take on the episode and the key moments that matter for anyone searching for:
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Plastic free haircare that actually works
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Shampoo bars and conditioner bars that last
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Conscious consumerism and refill culture
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Beauty brands built on values, not just vibes
"Plastic free haircare for people who would never touch plastic free haircare"
Dip was never designed for people who already have a perfectly curated low waste life.
It was built for the shampoo bottle loyalists. The salon addicts. The “I tried a bar once and it wrecked my hair” crowd.
On the show, Kate summed it up in one line that has become a core brand anchor:
“Dip is plastic free haircare for people that would never touch plastic free haircare.”
For more than a decade, Kate tried to cut plastic wherever she could. Kitchen, cleaning, pantry refills all made sense. The shower did not. Every plastic free shampoo bar she tried ended up as a sad, chalky relic in the corner.
Dip exists to solve that exact problem:
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Salon quality shampoo bars that are gentle enough for daily washing
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A conditioner bar that can last one to one and a half years in real bathrooms
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Formulas that work on real hair, across textures, in real life, not just on set
This is why Dip can honestly say it makes plastic free haircare for skeptics.
The sustainability disappointment problem
If you have ever bought a deodorant that did nothing, a bamboo toothbrush you hated, or a “clean” conditioner that left your hair crunchy, you already understand what Dip calls sustainability disappointment.
On the podcast, Kate put it plainly:
“There is no better way to close the door on sustainability than to have someone buy crappy sustainable products.”
Dip was built to be the opposite of that:
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The dip shampoo bar is noticeably gentle, so people who shower daily can wash their hair without fear
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The dip conditioner bar is strong on slip and moisture, not just marketing copy
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Families can share one set across hair types, instead of filling the shower with twelve half used bottles
The goal is simple: when someone switches to a Dip shampoo bar or Dip conditioner bar, they feel relief, not regret.
That is what keeps people coming back and telling friends long after the purchase.
One conditioner bar that can last a year
One of the episode’s biggest “wait, what?” moments was about the lifespan of Dip’s conditioner bar.
“For me, the Dip conditioner bar, if it was just me using it, can last one to one and a half years.”
For consumers trained to buy a new conditioner every month or every quarter, that is a radical shift. Dip intentionally chose a different business logic:
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The big conditioner bar is priced at 32 dollars
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It is formulated to be extremely concentrated and long lasting
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It works brilliantly for curly hair, including type 4 curls, without being wasteful
Many brands quietly design products that run out fast so consumers need constant refills. Dip does the opposite. It leans into buy less, buy better and trusts that people will remember the relief of not having to rebuy every few weeks.
When a conditioner bar quietly sits in a shower for nine, twelve, even eighteen months and still works, it becomes a story people want to tell. That story is better than any ad.
The Dip refill philosophy: one family, one set, less plastic
Another key insight from the episode is how Dip thinks about household plastic usage.
“If you have a type one and a type four hair person and four kids then you need what, six different shampoos and conditioners. That is 12 bottles. That is so much stuff.”
Dip formulates for shared use, so one bar set can serve an entire family.
The aim is not minimalist aesthetics. It is practical sustainability:
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Less plastic in the shower
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Less clutter and decision fatigue
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Less risk of half used bottles being tossed out
Dip’s plastic free shampoo bar and conditioner bar are created to work across hair textures so people can stop dividing the shower into categories and start focusing on quality.
Refill stores as an antidote to fake hype
Some of the most important words in Dip’s world are also the ones that matter most offline:
The episode framed refill stores as the quiet heroes in the fight against greenwashing.
“These refilleries are the antidote to fake hype.”
Here is how Dip sees it:
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Refill and zero waste store owners test every version of shampoo bar, laundry strip and dish block before choosing one
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They curate a vetted selection of sustainable products, not an endless scroll of paid listings
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When they put Dip shampoo bars and conditioner bars on the shelf, it is because Dip passed their standards, not because of a sponsored post
Dip’s bigger mission is to drive traffic into those local stores. The website and socials are not the final destination. They are the on ramp to real life conversations with retailers who know their communities.
This is why Dip refuses to list on Amazon or chase big box validation. The brand would rather send a customer to a refill shop down the street than to a faceless warehouse.
Calling out influencers and AI beauty fakes
One of the most shareable parts of the podcast was the candid talk about influencer fatigue and AI generated “people”.
Kate pulled back the curtain:
“I get pitched companies that can create hundreds of fake AI creators that say whatever I want them to say and put them on burner TikTok accounts with no accountability.”
At the same time, traditional influencer marketing has trained people to watch glowing reviews from people who never had to make the actual purchase.
Dip’s stance is simple:
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No AI actors pretending to be real customers
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No script farms pretending to be spontaneous UGC
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No constant churn of “this is my new favorite” from anonymous faces
“Anything you hear about Dip, good or bad so far, has been real.”
For people searching for trustworthy sustainable haircare brands and authentic shampoo bar reviews, this difference matters.
Commerce without empathy is breaking both sides
The episode also stepped back to look at consumer psychology.
Fast shipping, no contact customer service and transactional everything feel convenient in the moment, but they are quietly rewiring behavior.
“We are making a big distance between the buyer and the seller. It erodes empathy on both sides.”
Dip watches this play out from two angles:
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When companies scale with no human contact, customers feel ignored and escalate to level 10 complaints
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In response, companies automate even more and hide behind AI chatbots and maze like policies
Nobody feels heard. Everyone feels scammed.
Dip’s answer is to stay stubbornly human:
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A real customer service person responds within 24 hours
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Questions are answered by actual humans who know the products
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The company treats customers and retailers as long term relationships, not line items
In a retail world drifting toward AI walls and no reply inboxes, that choice is both strategic and emotional.
Irrational generosity for real people, not influencers
The way Dip spends its marketing dollars is one of the clearest examples of the brand’s values.
“I treated my small store owners around the country like the influencers.”
Instead of pouring money into paid ads and influencer seeding, Dip has chosen to:
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Host Dip Trips for refill store owners and top partners to places like Morocco, the Dominican Republic, the Catskills and Sri Lanka
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Design experiences that are not blasted all over social, but remembered by the people who were there
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Invest deeply in the human beings who hand sell Dip bars every day in their communities
From a spreadsheet perspective, this looks wild. From Dip’s point of view, it is the most logical use of resources.
Those store owners come home with stories that go far beyond “this is a nice shampoo bar.” They talk about learning, connection, sustainability in practice and the reality of plastic and resource use in different cultures.
You cannot fake that with a hashtag.
Saying no to Amazon and the growth-at-all-costs mindset
There is a reason Dip comes up in searches around:
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beauty brand staying off Amazon
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sustainable brands not selling on big box platforms
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indie haircare brand supporting refill stores
Dip hears the pitch constantly: list on Amazon and 10x your revenue.
The brand’s answer is consistent:
If growth undermines the refill shops and zero waste stores that built this brand, it is not growth Dip wants.
Dip measures success differently:
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Being a seven figure haircare brand that supports independent retailers
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Employing people in its own North Carolina factory
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Letting the founder and team wake up excited to talk to stores and customers
It is a slower curve than hyper optimized ad funnels, but it is built on solid ground.
Conscious consumerism: we are not just saving the planet
Throughout the episode, the conversation kept returning to a bigger truth about sustainability and conscious shopping.
We often talk about “saving the planet” as if the earth is the fragile one. As Dr. Alisa pointed out, the planet will spit out what it cannot digest. The plastics and toxins come back to us in our air, water and bodies.
Dip aligns with that reframing. Plastic free haircare and refills at a zero waste shop are not just symbolic gestures. They are pragmatic steps toward:
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Less plastic in bloodstreams and organs
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Less plastic dust in homes and bathrooms
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Less dependency on single use systems
Small switches like a shampoo bar that replaces three plastic bottles or a reusable bag that replaces boxes of zipper bags are not about being perfect. They are about being awake.
One belief to release if you want to buy or build more consciously
For founders, leaders and everyday customers, the most practical mic drop of the episode came at the end.
Kate’s message was simple:
“Let go of the idea that you have to be perfectly sustainable.”
Perfection freezes people. Conscious consumerism and sustainable beauty are not all or nothing.
From Dip’s POV, a realistic path looks like this:
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Start with one swap, not your entire life
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Find one local refill store and talk to the owner
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Replace one product category with something better
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Forgive yourself for the plastic you cannot avoid yet
If all someone ever does is switch from single use bags to a reusable option, or from bottled conditioner to one long lasting conditioner bar, and millions of people do something similar, it changes real numbers.
How to explore Dip and refill culture for yourself
If the Mindset Mastery Moments conversation sparked something, here are the easiest next steps:
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Listen to the episode with Dr. Alisa Whyte and Kate Assaraf to hear the full conversation in context.
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Visit dipalready.com and:
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Read more about Dip shampoo bars and Dip conditioner bars
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Use the store locator to find a refill store or zero waste shop near you
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If you are Dip curious and do not know where to start, begin with the Dip conditioner bar. It is the product that has converted the most skeptics.
Dip will keep doing what it always has:
Real hair. Real people. Real sustainability. No plastic. No pretense.
