The Green Parent

By The Green Parent

24th September 2020

From her garden workshop in rural Bedfordshire, Sharron Jenkins the founder of Kalabash, creates a stylish range of effective and award-winning palm free soap, skincare products and soy wax essential oil candles, inspired by her Caribbean heritage.

The Green Parent

By The Green Parent

24th September 2020

The Green Parent

By The Green Parent

24th September 2020

Sharron makes everything in small batches by hand, using ethically sourced and exotic high quality 100% natural plant-based ingredients including skin nourishing cocoa butter, mango butter and coconut oil.

She uses pure essential oils for fragrance, and adds colour and exfoliating texture with herbs, natural clays, flowers and soothing botanicals.

Because, sustainability and zero waste are part of the Kalabash ethos, all products are beautifully presented in stylish recyclable or reusable packaging.

“Kalabash is influenced by two passions, both with an affinity to nature: Dominica, the so-called Nature Island of the Caribbean and the homeland of my Windrush parents, combined with my love of plants and gardening.

SELF-CARE SECRETS

Spending time nurturing plants and reading are my ways of staying in the moment and finding calm. Gardening has played an important role throughout my life. I have vivid childhood memories of volunteering to water my father’s rose bushes on summer evenings - a chore which brought me pure joy when they eventually blossomed into fragrant blooms.

For me, regular bursts of exhilarating exercise keep the stress and anxiety that goes hand in hand with running a business under control. During lockdown I used my daily exercise allowance for lots of wonderful long country walks close to our home with my husband, where we discovered dozens of hidden walking trails fringed with wild flowers.

BUSINESS PLANS

Kalabash is a relatively new business and is still evolving. My plans including adding new products to the range have been impacted by the recent health emergency and put on hold.

Right now, my main objective in these unpredictable times for all of us is to keep moving forward by raising awareness of the brand, and staying optimistic for the future.

In time, I’d like to see Kalabash develop wholesale partnerships with small independent boutique retailers, eco-friendly boutique hotels and spas. But, for now, my main mission is to make high-quality small-batch bath & bodycare products for my customers which enhance their daily selfcare routines by evoking Caribbean escapism.

WAYS TO BE MORE SUSTAINABLE

I think it’s important for the future of our planet and our children that we all act to minimise our waste by buying less, reusing and recycling as much as possible. I try to reuse and recycle as much as I can in the business. I don’t buy plastic packaging but give any bubble wrap or foam chips a second life by reusing any that my suppliers send me and ask my customers to do the same.

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