Winners of Best Sustainable Hair Care Products Brand 2024 - An’du

For most of our existence, the human population has been below 1 billion, kept in check by disease, climate fluctuations, limitation of food sources and other social factors. It took until 1804 for us to reach 1 billion people. Now, however, with continuing improvements in nutrition, medicine and technology our population is rising exponentially, we are currently 8.2 billion and expected to continue growing peaking at around 10.3 billion in the mid 2080s. In 1970 there were roughly half as many people in the world as there are now. Worldometers is a fun site to see how our population fluctuates on a daily basis.

With these statistics, sustainability within products is increasingly important which is why we are thrilled and excited to have won the title of Best Sustainable Hair Care Products Brand 2024.

Such an unprecedented rise in population brings unprecedented challenges. We all need somewhere to live, something to eat and health care to look after us. By the very act of living on this planet we have produced an  

• increase in consumption of land, food, air, raw materials, fossil fuels and
• an increase in waste products resulting in raised levels of greenhouse gasses, toxic materials and pollutants.

In evolutionary terms it has been lightening quick. In the 50s, 60s and 70s the world was still there to explore, space to conquer, penicillin had been invented and expansion was the theme. Sounding the alarm bells about the implication of our coming population growth were drowned out by world events.

But slowly, the message that we are consuming more than we can preserve is gaining momentum.

 ‘Capable of being maintained or continued at a certain rate’ is the Oxford dictionary’s definition of the word Sustainability. Since 1760 the use of this word was close to zero but started taking off in the 1950s. Since then its use has had a steady increase and its frequency is now 7 per million words.

The term sustainability can be used with almost anything - tourism, agriculture, health care, buildings…all affecting our finite planetary resources. 

The argument for plant-based diets is increasing, meat and fish while being nutritious and dense in protein, when farmed in large numbers are intensive on resources, soy grown for meat such as chicken, small fish harvested to feed farmed salmon are all depleting our land and seas.

The internet, like long haul flights has shrunk the world, within one generation people now expect to holiday, not in the UK, but globally, to eat imported foods, to have an unlimited supply of electricity. Fast fashion also plays its part, with the expectation that clothes will be outdated within months.  

Cheap, inferior manufacturing compared to 50 years ago, increases the expectation of our throw away society. All putting pressure on our world, our environment and our cohabiting fellow flora and fauna.

By definition, in a capitalist society, zero growth is not possible because of the mechanisms of competition and accumulation.

As companies brand their products, consumers are increasingly asking for reassurances that products are sustainable and ‘green’. But how do you define a sustainable brand?

Are wooden toys shipped from abroad more sustainable than plastic made in the UK? A heavier glass bottle uses more energy to transport than a lighter plastic one and are you better eating avocados and almonds flow halfway around the world than non-intensively reared beef sourced from within a 50-mile radius? You can redefine sustainability by changing your parameters.

Then there is straightforward ‘greenwashing’ where companies exaggerate or lie about their green credentials.

Client Earth an environmental organisation who use the law to protect life on Earth are currently supporting legal action against Danone, Nestle and Coca Cola for their misleading claims about recycling.

On social media sustainability has been made trendy by curated Instagram and TikTok posts with people showing their sustainable lifestyles (to be fair - most of these people are trying to encourage us all to do the same). However, it is the indigenous populations leading sustainable lifestyles in harmony with their surroundings who are losing out. With their unparalleled knowledge of how to look after nature, they account for less than 5% of the world’s population yet the UN estimate that the land they live on is home to up to 80% of the worlds remaining biodiversity.

Therefore, it means a lot of us at An’du to win Best Sustainable Hair Care Products Brand 2024.

Why were we chosen?

Below are a few highlights of the sustainable ethos that run through our company.

Fermented Surfactants

Regular cleansers (surfactants) are made via chemical processing - this inevitably produces waste requiring disposal. At An’du some of our surfactant are made via fermentation using 100% renewable carbon - the waste products are water - yes that’s right - plain old unpolluted  H20 along with  CO2 (which is reabsorbed by the next crop of sugar beat) and biodegradable yeast.

Plant based, vegan and cruelty free

100% plastic free

Both our packaging and the bar itself is free from plastics and microplastics.

Compostable packaging 

We print our packaging using vegetable dyes which makes our packaging compostable. Our packaging is FCS supported and supports the World Land Trust who in turn protect the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats.

Resource saving storage and transport

Having square/rectangular packaging allows for efficient storage and transportation (all of which use resources). We also do not consume resources by transporting water (found in liquid shampoos) around the country.

Made in the UK

Again, reducing transport pollution.

Petrochemical free

Great for travelling

Finally, we promote our bars as great for travelling. They definitely reduce the amount of water carried around the world, however you could argue we should reduce or stop our leisure travelling! On this note we are proud to say that last year our bars circumnavigated mainland Britain on the back of a bamboo bike .

Kate Strong, world champion triathlete, coach and climate activist kindly took them with her on her cycle around Britain raising awareness of climate change.

We try to live like this at home

Trying to live a plastic free sustainable non-polluting life is the aim but is realistically almost impossible in today’s world.

Join our An’du community and do what we do ‘ to row gently against the tide’. Do your bit - however small. If 8.2 billion people made just one 'swap out' of plastic to a more sustainable product - what a change that would be!

*https://www.sme-news.co.uk/winners/andu-care-limited/