A Decade of Persistence in the Name of Love

## Evolution of NBB: Pioneering Ingredient-Based Beauty in a Changing Landscape

NBB was established 10 years ago with a concrete vision. Beauty and wellness, made simply, with attitude. It was to be ingredient based but not in the way products are discussed now. It’s hard to believe that the landscape has changed so much since then, but it has. There was no (mainstream) talk of ceramides, hyaluronic acid, peptides, growth factors or spicules. Social media, globalism, instant and abundant information provided by AI as well as an industry push for science based research and cutting edge ingredients have all played a roll in this business, as in many others.

As far as ingredients go, NBB knew about many of them and incorporated them into the signature line. For example, kombucha was something most people didn’t know about and those that did still thought of it exclusively as a beverage sold at whole foods to hippies. This isn’t an exaggeration. I remember going back and forth about what terms to use, how to label, how to explain what it was we were trying to do. Fast forward, now it’s how to explain that hundreds if not thousands of years of skin and hair care actually have always utilized the benefits of whole ingredients that have now been separated from their original form.

## Balancing Innovation and Tradition: Our Transparent Approach to Consumer Awareness

The industry has set forth a new dialectic and it makes consumers both more aware of what they are choosing to use and also in some ways more ignorant. We love science and cutting edge innovation but are not willing to abandon that which is whole, natural and historically effective.

So going forward, as was always our goal, we will be transparent. Here is where that begins: the inspiration for starting this company was the idea that our unique set of skills could work together to look at the best the industry had to offer, reverse engineer it and then try to make it better and more affordable. How?

Well we could get into the trillion dollar business of advertising, paid product promotion, influencing, crowd sourcing and the like, but that will be for another post. This has to do a bit with the ‘attitude’ portion of our mission statement.

For now, we will just say that we have never spent a cent on advertising. Has that prevented growth? Absolutely, without question. But sometimes morality and integrity win over profit and promotion, IF you make the conscious choice. And we have. We know that our products are outstanding and we rely on word of mouth and sample sets sent out to our very few ‘ambassadors’, who also do not get paid (except in products and gratitude).

Make no mistake, we want to be a shining example of a successful entrepreneurial project.. however, we reject the old guard’s strategy. This primarily means cutting back on the fluff and focusing on the importance of the product itself, perhaps a tiny rebellion against the gaslighting, false promotion, glorification of unnatural standards and the fear of aging that has far too long been pervasive in this industry.

## Embracing Authentic Beauty: A Holistic Approach to Self-Care and Self-Acceptance

In conclusion, we are doing our best to explain the ingredients in our products to a consumer that is much more informed and demanding than before. We love learning, sharing knowledge, innovation and tradition. It doesn’t have to be “if this, then not that”. We like to say it’s not a competition, because we don’t believe in using someone else’s ruler to measure our progress and most certainly not our appearance. We don’t believe that aging can truly or should be halted. ‘Laugh-lines’ are a sign of a life well-lived. ’11’s’ are a indicators of contemplation. ‘Sun-spots’ mean that we spent time in outside, in nature, breathing fresh air. And while those may seem like romantic sentiments touted only by idealists, we believe in them absolutely. We also believe in taking care of our bodies from the outside and inside, with good products, healthy food and great minds. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but we believe that there are very few that have the ability to judge us where it counts, our souls. So we go forward into the next decade knowing that it not only feels good to care for others but it's our responsibility as service providers, entrepreneurs and voices projecting out into the void. We should feel good in our skin, not just because it looks healthy but because it has been with us through everything that has made us who we are. And we are beautiful.