by Stephanie Legault
In the language Esperanto, Amika means ‘friend’. Amika’s mission is to be a“friend to all-to hair, hairstylists, her, him, you and them” as highlighted on their website. The colorful, creative and badass Brooklyn-based brand Amika,make their hair products with some key values in mind. Those values include: All Hair is Welcome, Always Cruelty Free, Going Greener, and Cleaner Ingredients. Amika acknowledges and appreciates the diversity of all hair textures, colors and lengths, and strives to create products that create happy and healthy hair for everyone.
The responsibility that Amika demonstrates as a brand is evident in their values, their culture, and their community. Amika is a true friend to the animals and has even beenc ertified under the Leaping Bunny Standards. They would rather teston human hair, sincethat is what the products are actually being made for! Using cleaner ingredients in their products is another important company value that Amika holds. They never use any ingredients that could be harmful, not only to the environment, but also to their consumers. Their products are always sulfates, parabens, aluminum starch and phthalatesf ree.
Like many of the competitors in the cosmetic industry, the race for recycled packaging is on. Amika is launching new product packaging that is made from 90% post-consumer recycled(PCR) materials. In an earth day blog post, Amika outlines their 5-year sustainability plan that includes activities like, launching ar ecycling collection program, sourcing their key ingredient from socially responsible farmers, onboarding salons to join the Green Circle network, and earningt heir B-Corp certification. They’ve even partnered with TerraCycle, a social enterprise waste management recycler. You can now send off your Amika empties in good faith, knowing that they will be reused to create new packaging.
In the midst of a global pandemic, many brands have considered the hardships and battles that the world is facing. Amika’ sresponse, as a haircare company, was to donate shampoo and conditioner to the front-line workers who need clean hair daily to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Understanding that their donations don’t reach nearly all the front-line workers in the health care industry, Amika has launched a special 40% discount fo rhealthcare heroes to claim. I consider Amika to be a responsible brand because they havec learly thought beyond the bottom line of their company by servinga diverse communityof stakeholders.They’ve recognized that creating great quality hair products doesn’t have to be damaging to hair, to the community, or to the earth.