By Melissa Corkhill
09th October 2021
We’re sister-in-laws and thanks to Rowdy Kind we talk every day! We are proud Canadians, but Kate has lived in the UK for the past 20 years, while Anne Marie lives in Montreal, Canada. Our Rowdy Kind inspiration is Anne Marie’s 2 year old daughter Madeline and Kate’s 10 year old son Chris.
Rowdy Kind (www.rowdykind.com) started when Kate’s son Chris, then 7, challenged her for a better bathtime solution. After an extensive search for something that was both kind to the planet and his sensitive skin came up short, (and Chris wouldn’t let it go!), we decided we would have to come up with the solution ourselves! In fall 2020, we launched our range of plastic free bathtime bars formulated specifically for kids’ sensitive skin, and haven’t looked back since!
OUR MORNING ROUTINE
Kate:
I usually wake up around 6:30 pretty naturally, but if I don’t my cat won’t let me dawdle in bed for too long! I usually make a cup of tea, feed her and then take my tea into the garden to feed our chickens and ducks. We got them from a wonderful organisation that gives farmed animals a new life, and they make me happy every day.
On a weekend I will then try to sit down, often with another cup of tea and a book, and if I’m very lucky the cat will sit on my lap and I can have a peaceful 30 mins before I get on with the day. If it’s a week day I will be thrown into the chaos of getting ready for school/work/life, so my moment of calm with the ducks and clucks starts my day off properly!
I will work all morning from my garden office and have a call with Anne Marie around 2pm to discuss any outstanding issues.
Anne Marie:
5 hours later, on the other side of the ocean I’m usually abruptly woken up by my daughter Madeline at about 6:30am (EST). From there it’s the usual morning with a toddler routine: breakfast (which always includes a smoothie), wrangling Madeline into her clothes, and heading out the door for daycare drop off. Depending on how tired I am, I will treat myself to a chai latte at my favourite cafe on the way back home. By 8:30am I return home and get right to work on Rowdy Kind - smack dab in the middle of my dining room table. Generally around 9am I have my daily call with Kate where we connect on everything we need to get done that day, week, and so on… and the day goes on from there!
THREE THINGS WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOUR BRAND
The entire Rowdy Kind experience is plastic free. Not only are our bars zero waste, our cleansing, conditioning and moisturising bars save two plastic bottles each. All of our ingredients are ethically sourced. 75% of our range is palm-oil free, with the remaining 25% sustainably sourced. We plan to remove palm oil entirely in 2022. Our minimalistic shipping packaging is also 100% paper and fully recyclable.
Rowdy Kind is made for kids’ first - in both form and function. In addition to being made of the highest quality ingredients and specifically formulated for kids’ sensitive skin, Rowdy Kind bars are also made to stand the test of tub-time. Our bars allow kids’ to flex their newfound independence by allowing them to ‘take matters into their own hands’ at bathtime (yes even hair washing), are un-phased by being left in the tub for hours, and even float! Most importantly, our bars make bath time more FUN.
Our mission is to make bathtime plastic free. The bathroom is one big environmental challenge, not just the amount of plastic a bathroom ritual can require, but the fact that most Brits don’t properly recycle their bathroom waste at all (we’re all guilty of just putting it in the bin instead of walking to the recycling box in the kitchen)! We knew when we developed Rowdy Kind that we had to ditch the plastic all together in order to make a real impact. Now, in addition to our range of skincare bars we also support our mission by offering plastic free bath toys and accessories to complete the whole Rowdy bathtime experience.
BUSINESS PLANS:
Our mission is to make bathtime plastic free, our 2022 plans remain focused on this with the goal of replacing 10s of 1000s or even 100s of 1000s of plastic bottles from bathtime. We are also working extremely hard on developing new products and formats that we can offer families to help them make the switch to plastic free - we are excited to introduce some of these in 2022!
Check out the full range at www.rowdykind.com
