Fair Trade Beauty From North Africa

Fair Trade practices put people and the planet first. They help create solutions to issues including the overuse of natural resources, women’s empowerment, refugee livelihoods, human rights, inequality and sustainable farming. Fair Trade Enterprises support organic agriculture, adopt circular economy production processes, generate new models of social enterprise and create new ways to champion the dignity of workers, farmers, artisans and communities around the world.

October is National Fair Trade Month, and it’s the perfect time to raise awareness about this movement in our global economy, spread the word about who and where our beauty products come from, and also encourage consumers to buy from businesses that are committed to fair trade. 

This week, we are featuring Beautyologie's Fair Trade beauty brands from North Africa.

Katari Beauty (Egypt, Tunisia)

Katari scouts the most remote parts of the Mediterranean to assemble a collection of unique and proven by millennia single-ingredient beauty staples and artisanal accessories for the purest, most effective and luxurious skin and hair care. Their ingredients work incredibly well for all humans of all ages with all skin and hair types. Natural simplicity in beauty is extremely complex when done right. Katari even makes their own plastic-free artisanal glass packaging, because we all deserve a more sustainable and naturally beautiful world.

Katari Beauty is made with love and incredible skill of their artisans…each a master of the craft. Many of Katari artisans hold Ph.D. and MBA degrees. Wafa (top left) is Katari’s Rose Water Lady. She has an advanced degree in flower water distillation. Amr (top right) is Katari’s oil artisan who comes from many generations of oil makers known in their region of Egypt to press the best, most concentrated, potent and colorful oils.

Some Moroccan (Morocco)

Some Moroccan creates the purest skincare and haircare oils hand-sourced from women's co-operatives in Tiznit, Morocco. By doing so, these products provide these Berber women with fair-wages so they can become self-sustainable.

After doing a deep dive into the Argan industry, the founders of Some Moroccan learned that most middlemen take advantage of the female producers who produce this oil, taking the biggest cut when it comes to the price per liter. By going straight to the source and working directly with this cooperative, the brand is given a better price, which not only allows them to offer the best quality of fresh pressed oil at the best price, but also allows the women fair wages for the hard work they do. They also never negotiate with the women on price. They believe they deserve every dime of what they ask for. Poverty is commonplace for these communities in Morocco and many of these producer’s children drop out of school to help their mothers, either harvest the fruit of Argan or crack the nuts and help press them. To help mitigate this problem, Some Moroccan also gives  back 5% of each bottle sold to help these kids stay in school.