Sḵwálwen Botanicals, which translates to ‘heart’ in Squamish, is one of several Indigenous-led skin-care and wellness brands that marries ancestral traditions with contemporary beauty regimes.supplied
Ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph has fond memories of being outdoors as a child. Growing up in B.C., she picked fresh fruits and vegetables from her late uncle’s garden along the Nanaimo River.
“I write about it in [Held by the Land: A Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness] – feeling the sun on my back, the breeze on my face and just how held, safe and calm I felt in those moments,” said Dr. Joseph, a member of the Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.
Those experiences helped nourish her connection to nature and inspired her to launch a skin-care company in 2017: Sḵwálwen Botanicals. The brand, which translates to ‘Heart’ in Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), pays homage to ancestral plant knowledge, inviting customers to connect with nature through small-batch lotions, cleansers, oils and salves.
Indigenous peoples have long traditions of harvesting native plants for food and medicine – along with long-standing skin-care, wellness and beauty practices – that have been brought to the mainstream over the past decade. Indigenous-led skin-care and wellness brands like Sḵwálwen Botanicals, Sister Sage, Wildcraft and Satya Organic introduce ancestral Indigenous traditions into contemporary beauty regimes, while keeping sustainability and community empowerment top of mind. Meanwhile, Indigenous-owned cosmetic lines like Cheekbone Beauty incorporate Indigenous culture into their lipsticks by keeping environmental impact top of mind.
Leigh Joseph, founder of Sḵwálwen Botanicals, draws on her knowledge as an ethnobotanist to create small-batch lotions, cleansers, oils and salves.supplied
Sḵwálwen’s best-selling product is the Kalkáy Wildrose Facial Oil, which uses rosehip oil to soothe and calm the skin. Dr. Joseph attributes the product’s success to celebrity hairstylist Jonathan van Ness’s podcast, Pretty Curious, which she was a guest on last year. In Squamish culture, Dr. Joseph explains, wildrose is known for its restorative properties, along with acting as a calming chemical and emotional agent. She adds that other Indigenous groups recognize the healing powers of the wildrose plant and rosehip.
Meanwhile, Sisters Sage’s smudge spray is the wellness brand’s best-selling product. The spray is a modern, smoke-free twist on smudging, “a traditional spiritual ceremony held not only by Indigenous people in Canada, but worldwide and in different forms,” said Lynn-Marie Angus, co-founder of Sisters Sage. She explains that smudging uses the smoke from traditional plant medicines, such as sage or sweetgrass, to cleanse the mind, soul and environment. Angus, who is from the Ts’msyen (Tsimshian) Nation, came up with the idea for a smudge spray when she lived in a basement unit that prohibited smoking. Today, Sisters Sage customers use the spray on airplanes, hotel rooms and even hospitals. Both Vancouver General Hospital and B.C. Women’s Hospital “buy them by the hundreds,” said Angus.
A core pillar of Indigenous-led brands is sustainability, particularly when harvesting and sourcing ingredients. “My specific teachings are that we never purchase our medicines and we never sell our medicines – [I would never sell a smudge bundle or a braid of sweetgrass],” said Angus. “But what I do is process it and use pieces of that within a larger product, and that’s how I can ethically and sustainably share our traditions.”
These principles extend to suppliers and partners that some Indigenous-led brands work with. Laura Whitaker, founder of Toronto-based wellness brand Wildcraft, said her team vets their suppliers to ensure their ingredients are not overharvested. She adds that it also helps that sustainability is the cornerstone for a lot of the retailers Wildcraft partners with, such as Whole Foods and Detox Market.
Similarly, Satya Organic is driven by ethical and sustainable practices. “We just recently got B Corp certified,” said Patrice Mousseau, founder of the Vancouver-based skin-care brand best known for its eczema relief line. “This means that every single aspect of our supply chain – from the ingredients to the packaging to the shipping – has been reviewed and is coming from an ethical source.”
Indigenous-led skin-care and beauty brands are also driven by community empowerment. Dr. Joseph, who participated in an Indigenous business accelerator a few years ago, said giving back was central to the business models in her program. In 2021, ‘Sḵwálwen collaborated with Satinflower Nurseries to start the Hiýáḿ Project. As part of the project, the skin-care company and plant nursery distribute thousands of native seeds to Indigenous lands.
“We also have ceremony releases, which are smaller runs of specialty products that the sales from the product go to a different indigenous-owned organization each time,” said Dr. Joseph. In Squamish, the word ‘Hiýáḿ’ translates to ‘return home,’ which signifies welcoming Indigenous plants onto the land and emphasizes the importance of harvesting with care.
One in a regular series of stories. To read more, visit our Indigenous Enterprises section. If you have suggestions for future stories, reach out to IE@globeandmail.com.