Our Ingredients

Kavana's transparency is our commitment to you. Our eco-ethics and a whole lot of plants, power our non-toxic skincare. We commit to using safe, wildcrafted, ethically sourced, local ingredients in all of our high-performance products, because eco-friendly and luxury, are not mutually exclusive.  

You can find all the ingredients listed on each product, simply click on the 'KNOW MORE' tab. If you have any questions, please send us a message at kavanaskincare@gmail.com.

We support the UN directive on sustainability and our intention is to get greener as we grow. 

 

INGREDIENT PHILOSOPHY

Every ingredient that we include in our formulations has a purpose and is  thoughtfully and intentionally chosen to create safe, luxurious and luminous products that rival the performance of conventional 'luxury' skincare. Our goal is to support nature and our role in the natural world and help women bring more intention to their seemingly insignificant, daily rituals of self-care.

Each ingredient we use, is selected for its efficacy, sustainability and effect on the environment from harvest to finish. Our wildcrafted ingredients are sourced locally (wildcrafted), and others that come from farther away, are selected from partners who commit to fair-trade practices with organic farms and eco-ethical farmers.

• All our product ingredients are cruelty free, never tested on animals, only on humans.
• Phytonutrients and vitamins offer powerful antioxidant action, which can help the skin look vibrant and healthy.
• Each ingredient rates 3 or less on the EWG SkinDeep database
• We do not use nanoparticle sized ingredients or any ingredients on the TOXIC TEN, DIRTY DOZEN, MEAN-15 List! See below!

WHAT'S IN OUR PRODUCTS:

• Organic moisture: we use unrefined, fair trade Shea butter (Ghana), Cocoa butter (Costa Rica), Aloe vera juice, Jojoba, Coconut oil, Squalane (sugar cane derived), Moringa, Meadowfoam, Borage Seed oil, Avocado, Apricot, Sesame, Sunflower, Olive oil and more. 
• Locally wildcrafted plants, resins and treasures from the hive: Our Phyto-5 phyto-nutrients are hand harvested from plants at a local farm north of Toronto, except for the rosehip seed oil (from Chile). We harvest pine resin, unpasteurized honey, beeswax and propolis at the same farm north of Toronto, in community, and purchase our royal jelly from another local apiary.
• Vegetable waxes: we hand harvest beeswax from a local farm north of Toronto, but also strive to offer vegan options and use carnauba and soy waxes ('Ritamulse' and 'Emulsimulse').
• Certified pure, therapeutic grade, cold-pressed essential oils: We never use synthetic fragrance oils in any Kavana products. All of our premium grade essential oils are chosen for their therapeutic qualities and scents.

WHAT'S OUT and NEVER IN KAVANA PRODUCTS:

Originally known as 'The Toxic Ten' and expanded to 'The Dirty Dozen' and 'The Mean 15', this list is still not comprehensive, but a great guide of ingredients to avoid, which you can keep on hand when shopping. You can refer to and or read more about each of these toxins here, on David Suzuki's Queen of Green page or Adria Vasil's website.

1. BHA and BHT: (preservatives with links to cancer, BHA is the worst of the two and has to come with a cancer warning in California.
2. Coal tar dyes: p-phenylenediamine and colours listed as “CI” followed by a five digit number (no synthetic colourants in here!)
3. DEA-/MEA/TEA (diethanolamine): Can create carcinogenic nitrosamines when mixed with preservatives. Cocoamide DEA has to come with a cancer warning in California.
4. Pthalates : Hormone disrupting chemicals hidden behind the word 'fragrance' but you can also look for the phrase "pthalate free". Also used as a plastic softener, common in vinyl/ PVC. Several pthalates have been banne from children's toys and childcare items in North America but not from children's bodycare.
5. Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives : DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, metehamine, quarternium-15 and Bronopol, a.k.a 2-bromo-2-nitroprp-pane-1,3 diol.
6. Parabens : estrogenic preservatives. Butyl and propyl parabens are banned fromchildren's items in Denmark thanks to their endocrine disrupting potential.
7. Parfum/ Fragrance: Potentially laced with pthalates and other hormone disruptors and sensitizers. Note: Kavana only uses all natural, certified pure, therapeutic grade essential oils. We do not use synthetic fragrance oils, even if they are 'pthalate-free'.
8. PEG compounds: polyethylene glycol compounds and anything with "-eth" in it's name. These are often contaminated with carcinogenic 1,4-dioxane.
9. Petrolatum/paraffin/ mineral oil/ petroleum derivatives: Green your bodycare by avoiding these nasty petrochemicals.
10. Siloxanes: Pass on cyclo- or '-methicone'. Cyclotetrasiloxanes (D4) and cyclopentasiloxane (D5) are eco-toxic sioxanes (silicone based polymers). Cyclomethicone is a mix of D4, D5 and D6 siloxanes. 
11. Sodium laureth sulfate: Foaming agent in soaps and shampoos often contaminated with carcinogenic 1,4-dioxanes.
12. Triclosan/triclocarban: Suspected thyroid disruptor. Health Canada is poised to declare this ingredient officially toxic to the environment.
13. Palm oil: or anything with 'palm' or 'palmate' in it's name, like sodium palmate. Avoid unless it's fair trade/organic.  The largest driver of Indonesian deforestatios and wastewater releases immense amounts of methane in to the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas 34 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
14. Retinyl Palmitate: Keep this one out of the sun as it seems to speed up carcinogenic effects of UV rays in mice.
15. Oxybenzone (BP-3/benzophenone) and octinoxate (octyl methoxycinnamate): Two sunscreen chemicals that may disrupt our hormone system and that can trigger allergic reactions.

OUR PACKAGING

 

At Kavana, we believe that beauty is living in harmony with our internal and external environment. As such, we've sourced our packaging as responsibly as possible, choosing beautiful frosted glass jars and bottles, with as minimal plastic components as possible.

The transparency of our packaging reflects the transparency of our intentionally non-toxic, clean, safe and natural ingredients.

We are committed to reducing our plastic packaging even further as we grow and are able to find eco-ethical suppliers with friendlier minimums for small businesses. 

We care about future generations who will inherit the earth and so we choose to forego the whole colourful unboxing experience, keeping our shipping packaging as streamlined and simple as possible. We hope to focus your attention on what's inside...and outside the box.