Non-toxic, eco-friendly braid hair with Rebundle 🌍
Plus all you need to know about toilet paper and other tissue products
Greetings everyone,
This week, I interviewed Rebundle founder and CEO, Ciara May. Rebundle provides synthetic hair products that eliminate skin rashes and single-use waste. Ciara talks about traditional synthetic hair products, where Rebundle sits in the broader beauty landscape, and her long-term vision for the company.
I also explain why the tissue products you know and love are hurting the environment. On the flip side, I offer some solid alternatives.
Brendan 🍂
Non-toxic, eco-friendly braid hair with Rebundle founder Ciara May 🎙️
What led you to start Rebundle?
I went to USC to study social entrepreneurship for my master’s. None of the projects I worked on in grad school were climate-related. They were all education and social justice. That was really my passion at the time. But I always had an affinity for the environment and was doing my part – what I thought was my part – just by recycling and trying to be a conscious consumer.
About a year ago, I worked at a university and was bringing my recyclables there. A janitor asked me why I was separating them because they all go in the trash. I remember thinking, “What do I do now? There is nowhere for me to recycle.” I didn’t have a car and couldn’t recycle at work. I started to teach myself about zero waste and the circular economy – the part of sustainability that didn’t involve recycling. It was a whole new world for me, and I found it so inspiring. I was trying to implement these practices into my life, and so I would come to work with a list of things I wanted to research: shoes, clothes, electronics.
Synthetic hair was one of the products I used pretty frequently. I happened to be wearing it when I found an article about how it was made of plastic. I knew that synthetic hair wasn’t human hair, but I never equated it to plastic. It was really eye-opening when I read that, and it formulated my hypothesis that if it is made out of plastic, then there must be a way to recycle it. But there really wasn’t. Terracycle has a hair recycling program, so I asked them questions, but they weren’t able to help because they didn’t have the volume. I knew people like myself that wore the hair, so if I could figure out how to recycle it, I could solve that problem for them too. I also knew there were some issues with the product around itchiness and that other people experience the same discomfort. I sort of became a materials scientist in the process of learning why that was happening, and it had everything to do with the type of plastic used in the manufacturing process. I knew I needed to solve for both recyclability and comfort.
Could you describe what the product is and how it works?
We are in the product development stage. But what we do right now is collect and recycle landfill-bound plastic synthetic hair. We have been learning about the materials used today, sorting them, and determining their next best use. In terms of product, we are working on making something non-toxic and eco-friendly that can work in the same fashion, but without the chemicals or plastic.
What is conventional synthetic hair made of?
In its most basic form, synthetic hair is made of oil. It’s a petrochemical-based product that is extruded into long fibers and comes with many different additives and plasticizers to make it into a hair fiber. We have been decoding what each of these chemicals is and what they’re used for. We tested two brands — one of them was primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and the other was polypropylene, both with additional plasticizers and additives. Now what all these other things are and what they’re for, we are still figuring that out. There’s no one to ask because synthetic hair is all made overseas, so we’ve had to resort to reverse engineering it.
When you launch, where will you fit into the existing ecosystem?
We have a direct-to-consumer model. Our customers are men and women who wear braids, but primarily women. We don’t know what other channels we might explore just yet, but based on what we’ve seen so far, we plan to sell through our own website. Braiders and stylists are most definitely stakeholders in our business. We have already started to engage them. How they want to participate is still up in the air, but we have a list of stylists that work with us.
When your hair product launches, will you continue to have customers ship it back to you?
Ideally, they won’t need to ship our product back. That takeback should only exist for the plastic synthetic hair. We don’t know for sure yet, but that’s our thinking for now. As part of our mission to solve single-use waste, we offer the takeback for plastic hair for those who continue to use that.
How big is the synthetic hair market today?
A number doesn’t really exist. It’s not a segment of the industry that has garnered its own attention as it deserves. We use the global projection, which is $10 billion, which also includes human hair. They are not segmented separately, so we have been trying to work out our own estimates for just the synthetic braiding hair market. But that information is not readily available. Beauty supply stores are all privately owned. The conglomerates who manufacture all of the products are privately owned, so they don’t have to disclose relevant information.
Do you see Rebundle producing other products long-term?
Definitely. It’s not a one-product type of problem, it’s the entire industry. We may start with one product to get into the market but expand into other products as we learn more about our customers' wants. There are so many SKUs of synthetic hair products. To effectively solve the problem, we will need to provide alternatives for each of them.
What other problems do people experience besides scalp itchiness with conventional braid hair?
People have experienced hair loss, discoloration on pillowcases, rashes, bumps, hives – all types of nasty things. I have personally experienced hives, and it’s always itchy.
How has COVID-19 shifted your thinking for the business?
I think that this market is ripe for innovation. The customer journey heavily revolves around physical stores. It’s not a large ecommerce business, and I don’t really know why. With COVID, people are staying home and spending more money than ever online. I don’t see why we can’t create an experience supersedes the in-store experience.
How do you center sustainability in your life outside of Rebundle?
I try to be as cautious about what I buy and how it is disposed of. I take out my trash every three or four weeks, and that is because I am very intentional about my food waste, packaging, and everything else. If I can buy paper over plastic, then I do. I do my best in the ways I can, but waste management is in no way designed to be user-friendly.
Follow Rebundle on Instagram to keep up with its work!
Climate meme of the week 🤦
All you need to know about toilet paper and other tissue products 🧻
Bamboo tissue product companies are all the rage today—there’s Cloud Paper, No. 2, Reel, TUSHY, and Who Gives A Crap. Cloud Paper, for example, announced a $3 million seed round in September from a celebrity-studded investor lineup, including Mark Cuban, Ashton Kutcher, Marc Benioff, Robert Downey Jr., and Gwyneth Paltrow. Yes, that’s right, Tony Stark invested in a bamboo toilet paper company. If you’re short on time, all you need to know is well-articulated in this meme:
What’s wrong with traditional tissue products?
In the U.S., traditional tissue products (toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissues) largely come from timber harvested in Canada's boreal forest. More than a billion acres in size, the Canadian boreal forest is home to over 600 indigenous communities and diverse wildlife, including lynx, birds, and caribou. The forest is also an important carbon sink for the planet, sequestering about twice as much carbon per acre as the Amazon. Despite its importance for the health of the planet, the Canadian boreal is being decimated by deforestation, which is contributing at least 26 million metrics tons of carbon emissions each year. Though the tissue market is only part of Canada's deforestation story, it’s a market where consumers consumption preferences may be able to quickly shift the logging narrative.
The good, the bad, and the 💩y
The biggest brands you know — Charmin, Bounty, Kleenex — are the worst ones for the environment. The parent companies behind these brands, including P&G and Kimberly-Clark, source wood pulp from Canada and indirectly contribute to deforestation. The NRDC recently released its 2020 tissue scorecard which ranks consumer tissue products based on total percent recycled, percent virgin fiber, and bleaching process, amongst other criteria. I’ve included the highlights below, but before you read those, it’s worth noting that bamboo-based products were not considered in this evaluation.
Toilet paper:
Paper towels:
🟢 Earth-friendly: Everspring, Thrive Market, Green Forest, 365, Natural Value, Seventh Generation Unbleached, Trader Joe’s
🚫 Earth-harming: Bounty, Kirkland, Up & Up, Brawny, Viva, Presto, Aria, Fiora
Facial tissue:
🟢 Earth-friendly: Green Forest, Natural Value, Trader Joe’s, Seventh Generation
🚫 Earth-harming: Kleenex, Kirkland, Puffs, Up & Up, Presto, Fiora
Tree-free products
As I mentioned earlier, bamboo-based tissue product companies are gaining traction in the United States. Bamboo is a promising alternative because it requires less land and irrigation than wood fiber, which translates to a lower carbon footprint. As an additional benefit, most bamboo tissue product companies use zero plastic in their packaging. The best part is that bamboo products aren’t that much more expensive either. Take toilet paper, for instance. The top TP brand on Amazon goes for $0.30/100 sheets, while Cloud Paper goes for $0.33/100.
On the topic of toilet paper, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention bidets. If you can believe it, bidets actually require less water per use than toilet paper needs in its creation. Bidets are also great for your wallet in the long run, especially if you go completely toilet paper free with reusable towels. If you’re worried installing a bidet will require a full remodel, fear not, as bidet attachments fix on to your existing toilet without the need for electricity or special plumbing. TUSHY is one such company that sells affordable bidet attachments and bamboo towels. The company also sells plastic-free, bamboo toilet paper if you want to start there instead.
The ultimate low-waste stack
If you’re really trying to help the planet (and save money) here’s the ultimate stack:
Toilet paper > bidet attachment plus reusable towels
Paper towels > reusable cloth towels
Tissues > reusable handkerchief
If this is too hardcore for you, some of the bamboo options I’ve laid out above are solid improvements if you’re used to buying more traditional brands. Next time you’re tempted to buy some Charmin Ultra Soft or Kirkland paper towels, think of the adorable caribou who would prefer if you didn’t ❤️
Sources: NRDC
Thanks for reading 🙏 If you have any feedback or want me to research a particular topic, please leave a comment below or send me a note. Also, if you’re not a subscriber yet, you know what to do 👇