Burt's Bees and the Buzz of their Ingredients

Ever since I was a little kid I always remembered my father, mother, and entire family always using Burt's Bees lip balm, and following in their footsteps Burt's is the only brand of lip balm I have ever owned. Originally I liked their products for the wide array of flavors they had and the unique design of the tube. Today I still enjoy them for these reasons, but also because of their use of all-natural ingredients as well as the company being environmentally friendly. Burt's Bees uses recyclable packaging, they use no animal testing, and they responsibly source, meaning that they support the communities and environments they source their ingredients from. This is part of the reason I love and use Burt's as many of their core values and what is important to them is also near and dear to my heart. I was thrilled to hear the amazing things the company does for all its suppliers and the global environment. A few years ago I found out that Burt's Bees actually had their headquarters in Durham North Carolina, about twenty-five minutes from my house which was pretty surprising to me. I would expect such a huge company to be based in a bigger city, closer to where their beeswax was made or perhaps their original home in Maine.

One of the main ingredients in all Burt's Bees lip balms, lotions, and creams obviously is beeswax. Beeswax is naturally occurring in hives and is created by glands under the abdomen of bees which is then used by them to create the honeycombs. There are over 300 different compounds in beeswax and can come either soft or brittle. Burt's Bees responsibly sources its beeswax from East Africa from countries like Tanzania and Nambia. The company meets with the local farmers they get their supplies from and instead of what is the most profitable they speak about what is the best for the bees and their health and how they can be most naturally productive. In human geography terms Burts' helps preserve the ancient tradition of harvesting honey and beeswax in these local communities. We see the factors and forces of production being connected but not in a negative way as we normally do with massive international companies, which is a welcome change.

Burt's farmers in East Africa farm bees in traditional hives that hang in trees instead of artificial apiary hives that are commonly used. The beekeepers pull down the hives from the trees and the raw honey is harvested from the combs while the combs are boiled down to extract the raw wax. These ingredients are then sent to Burt's main factory at their headquarters in Durham. Burt's Bees uses beeswax as an emulsifier, emollient, and thickener which gives a rich texture to their products like lip balm, lipstick, lotions, creams, and salves.

Shea butter is the second key ingredient used in a majority of Burt's Bees products. Shea butter comes from the fruit of the Karite tree of Sub-Saharan West Africa. Burt's responsibly sources its shea butter predominantly from Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso and is produced almost exclusively by women. Shea nuts are turned into butter by first boiling the nuts in order to extract their seeds easier. These cracked seeds are then roasted and beaten with water to release the fats stored inside them and are then boiled and cooled resulting in shea butter. This practice of producing shea butter in this way has been passed on from mother to daughter for over 700 years since the 14th century. Shea butter is sometimes called "women's gold" because of its importance as a source of income for these women living in remote villages. This way of life for these women is perhaps a form of "genres de vie" or way of life as their lives and income largely revolve around the production of shea.

Shea butter is rich in vitamins minerals proteins and fatty acids that help moisturize and nourish skin, a key reason why it is used in so many Burt's Bees products. Shea helps smooth skin and reduce wrinkles as well as fight free radical damage on the skin and generally replenishes the skin.

One thing I really liked to hear while researching this is that Burt's Bees actually aided in the founding of the Global Shea Alliance (GSA) which helps these women build a more competitive sustainable and profitable shea industry. This not only helps Burt's Bees shea butter quality improve and become more sustainable but it also helps the women of these shea making communities improve their livelihoods and shea prices more competitive. The GSA was only founded in 2011 but today serves over 400 members globally including international retailers, non-profit organizations, women's groups, and shea butter processers among others. This rapid globalization of shea over the last 10-15 years is quite remarkable and shows how a demand for a product for just one or a few companies can explode the demand for it worldwide.

Lavender has long been used for its calming, aromatic properties all the way back to the ancient Romans for its antiseptic use. In skincare, it can lessen and reduce acne, even skin tones, reduce wrinkles, as well as tone and revitalize skin. Today Burt's Bees uses it in a variety of its skincare products from body wash to lip balm to hand cream and even so-called soothing serums. Lavender essential oil is also used frequently to soothe and reduce the inflammation of eczema which I can personally attest to as someone who has used lavender-infused products to help control my eczema.

Lavender was originally cultivated in the Mediterranean but today is grown throughout the US, Europe, and Australia. Burt's Bees responsibly sources its lavender from France and Bulgaria.

The spread of lavender growth throughout the world is a great example of landscape morphology by humans in order to grow lavender near them even though it is perhaps not native to their region. In fact today in Harrisonburg there is a commercial lavender farm called the White Oak Lavender Farm which I recently visited was super impressive how widespread the use of lavender was in their products. What is even more impressive is how widespread the cultivation of lavender is in North America even though it isn't even native to the continent.

CBD recently has become a product that every pharmaceutical and personal care company has wanted to dip their toes into. Burt's just like all of their other products has continued to make its CBD and hemp-based products all-natural as well as responsibly sourced, this time out of Colorado on a 400-acre outdoor farm that uses all organic materials and even is Carbon Neutral Certified. CBD in skincare is used as an anti-inflammatory, can reduce skin irritation, and soothe sensitive skin.

With Burt's farm being in Colorado it really highlights the real advantage that the state had in the geography of their location. Colorado obviously was the first state in the US to legalize marijuana in 2012 and with that CBD was legalized as well. This allowed Burt's Bees to take full advantage and study this product and its benefits early on as their headquarters state North Carolina still has not legalized marijuana. Burt's Bees offers a full specturm of CBD products, meaning that they use every part of the hemp plant, from the stalk to the stem to the leaves and is the most beneficial form available. CBD like lavender essential oil is effective in treating eczema and psoriasis however I have not tried to use CBD on my eczema.

In a world where money and efficiency are the two most important things for an overwhelming majority of companies, Burt's Bees has managed to globalize their company while staying true to their values and what made them who they are. They have had a lasting impact on the communities they responsibly source their ingredients from by keeping ancient traditions and landscape intact for beeswax harvesting to helping the rural women's shea communities in Ghana create a global alliance, as well as keeping their consumers around the world happy and healthy. We see landscape morphology and the cultural landscape change with the now popular cultivation of hemp and CBD throughout the world but especially in North America and more specifically Colorado.

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