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Being a Sustainable Persian Business Owner: Celebrating Nowruz and the Cultural Significance of Hair

Being a Sustainable Persian Business Owner: Celebrating Nowruz and the Cultural Significance of Hair

As a sustainable Persian business owner, Nowruz presents an excellent opportunity to reflect on our practices and ensure that we are operating in a way that is environmentally conscious and socially responsible. I'd like to share the importance of being a sustainable Persian business owner and how Nowruz ties into our cultural heritage as well as the role of hair in Persian history and how it has influenced Persian culture today.  We learn through the tradition of Sizdah Bedar where families must gather outside: on this day fields, plains, parks and gardens are filled with families, old and young, who leave their homes to spend the day outdoors, preferably by a river or a stream.  It is embedded in our culture that going outside is essential to our happiness & luck for the new year.  

How to Choose the Best Conditioner Bar for Curly Hair and the Importance of Shopping Small to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

How to Choose the Best Conditioner Bar for Curly Hair and the Importance of Shopping Small to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

"I have curly hair so a conditioner bar just won't work for me." We hear this over and over, yet our curly customers are our biggest advocates since the Dip conditioner bar can replace so many plastic bottled products including detangling sprays, leave in conditioners, hair masks, air-dry creams, curl creams, and deep conditioning masks. Conditioner bars have become increasingly popular as a sustainable alternative to traditional liquid conditioners. However, choosing the best conditioner bar for curly hair can be a daunting task... ...especially when you have a graveyard of conditioner bars that you've already tried and been disappointed by. Sound familiar?  It usually does.

Review Pollution & Why We Don't Participate in "Buying Authenticity"

Review Pollution & Why We Don't Participate in "Buying Authenticity"

We believe in an intelligent consumer.  We think that people can sniff out that kind of inauthenticity a mile away now.  As for us here at Dip? We just try to make really great products you want to tell your friends about. That real human connection–and all that gritty, “unsavory” parts that come with it–are what make it genuine. We don't pay for likes, reviews or any other inauthentic marketing.  If that means we grow slower, then so be it.  We are cool with that.  

Small Business Spotlight: Dip in with Rise Up Retreats & Kassia Meador

Small Business Spotlight: Dip in with Rise Up Retreats & Kassia Meador

 Women friendships (and the shared passions that go with them) are an untapped power source in our industry. These types of friendships can spark some amazing things, and going forward, Kassia and I are ready to put those to good use.  So this is the meet-cute story of how Dip was built with human connection, and not corporate emails, conference tables, & phone-tag. We invented a new kind of "board meeting". We met with surfboards in the wild: your friendly neighborhood Dipette, Kassia Meador, and the badass crew from Rise Up Retreats.

No hair texture left behind: creating an all-textures welcomed culture

No hair texture left behind: creating an all-textures welcomed culture

Dip deserves a slow clap moment, because it’s about time that there’s a quality, sustainable product that is good for your hair and the environment.  Let’s keep in mind that until recently, sustainable beauty was not very colorful (literally and figuratively) in how it was marketed. Aside from crunchy packaging that came in fifty shades of beige, there was a lack of diversity in the faces and hair textures we saw representing these beauty brands.

Why Refill Is The New Record Store (And Why That Matters)

Why Refill Is The New Record Store (And Why That Matters)

Record stores, on paper, were just another shop trying to stay afloat. In person, however, they were cultivation grounds for something entirely different and beautiful. They were a place to slow down, to reminisce with music you already loved, or discover new artists that sometimes pulled you in a whole new direction in life. And, of course, they were always staffed by people who loved the art (not just the job).

Dip's guide to synthetic fragrance: Chemicals aren’t the problem but a 2D understanding of sustainability IS...

Dip's guide to synthetic fragrance: Chemicals aren’t the problem but a 2D understanding of sustainability IS...

On the flip side, natural fragrances are not sustainable by default. Despite their eco-friendly reputation, natural fragrances are made by extracting the scent from plants and animals, and that biomass has to come from somewhere. Cultivating these scents can lead to overharvested farmlands, deforestation, and pesticide use, among other concerns.  The green beauty industry loves phrases like “chemical free”, “no toxins”, but those can get a little greenwashy at the surface level. Chemicals aren’t the problem; a 2D understanding of sustainability is. 

The Collaborative Network of Sustainability in Our Community

The Collaborative Network of Sustainability in Our Community

We like to talk about sustainable going beyond the product line and into our attitudes, expectations, and supports. The sustainability movement is collaborative, a network, a community of small thinkers helping each other out. In setting up a brand there are a lot of behind the scenes helpers making it possible. And behind every great hair brand in particular is a great hair brand photo shoot, but just like everything else we do we decided to dip out of the mainstream of hired models and sterile looking studios and dove in head first to utilize our local network of people who actually love our product and messaging and supportive local businesses.  18 friends, family, friends of friends, family of family, and our solo employee gave up their Sunday to support and pose at Mancuso Salon & Spa in Sparta, New Jersey. These were real people who actually used the product so the energy was fun trying to move past that awkward stiffness that so many people face when in front of the camera. They are not professional models and the portraits reflect that but that’s the authenticity we were going for.  Our goal was to make hair care so good that plastic free was just the bonus, not the convincing selling point.  When selling a product with such a bold claim, authenticity matters. Our mission is to shop small, buy better & buy less, support local. We will not sell out to big box retailers that don’t fit our desires of sustainability in order to make a pretty penny.  When establishing a company with such an out there mission, giving credit matters.  So we thank Mancuso for making our first photo shoot possible and providing us with the space, the time, the hair stylists and make up artist to support our mission in providing a sustainable option to loving your strands (but that’s just the bonus part).    

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