The skincare industry is an oversaturated market. From CBD serums to celebrity brands, we’re inundated with product choices. Everyone is battling on the shelves with their “sustainable packaging” and “paraben free” lines. As someone who has lived with sensitive skin for most of my life, I am extremely careful about what I put on my face. I don’t have the luxury of skincare roulette testing, or else I could break-out with the snap of a finger. The more natural, the better.
Karen Bradford understands what natural means in skincare. Sans labs and chemicals, her KB’s Natural Creations line was launched in 2013, but she’s been making her own products since she was a little girl in Georgetown, Guyana.
Growing up, it was natural for her to utilize nature’s resources to make the products she needed.
“I remember making Coconut Oil with my Grandmother. Grating the coconut on a grater – which was not the easiest – and boiling it for hours on end. If any of my siblings had a cold or cough, my grandmother would make Coconut Oil and give us a tablespoon with a pinch of salt to swallow. It was our version of cough syrup. If you had a head cold, a little warm coconut oil poured in the middle of your head helped to relieve the congestion,” Karen told me.
She doesn’t recall visiting the doctor as a child. Instead, she would go to the market to see “The Herbalist,” or the “Bush Lady” who would ask “What was wrong” and proceed to present various herbs for whatever remedy was needed.
Today, Karen is her own kind of herbalist, hand-making each KB’s Natural Creations product. The line includes face creams, serums, eye creams, face masks and scrubs.
The very first product in the line that I tried was the Foaming Exfoliating Face Cleansing Scrub. Made with grounded grape seed and honey granules, this is as natural as it gets. The scrub provides a deep cleanse, helping to remove dead skin cells. Honey and glycerin serves as a humectant (moisturizer) to eliminate dry skin. The green tea extract tones the surface, improves elasticity and decreases sagging while the Vitamin E helps with dark spots.
To know that my skincare is made with all-natural ingredients provides a certain kind of relief when I wash my face everyday.
Tested and approved!
Karen’s most popular product is her Eczema Cream. Her friend was suffering from Psoriasis and she wanted to help. The “herbalist” in her began to research ingredients.
The cream is made with a secret ingredient from Guyana, combined with Calendula Oil that was filtered and further infused with Tumeric and Oat Powder for several weeks. The result is called “Liquid Gold,” which is then combined with butters, carrier oils and essential oils.
Over the years, she has perfected the formula. Her customers swear by the Eczema cream, tossing their steroids and cortisone products in the trash. You know that a product is performative when the customer reviews are 100% positive. Whether it’s someone’s 3 month old baby or a woman suffering from atopic dermatitis, Karen’s customers are seeing incredible results with her Eczema cream.
Her Veggie Face Mask and Coconut Milk Face Mask are a must-try. You read about how good superfoods are for your diet… try putting them on your face. The Veggie Mask is a combination of Spinach, Kale, Broccoli, Green Tea Powder, Avocado Oil, Pumpkin Seed Oil, Shea Nut Oil, Vitamin E, Plant Juice and more.
As Karen says, “If you can eat your vegetables, you can wear your vegetables.”
If that’s not all-natural… then I don’t know what is.
You can learn more about KB’s Natural Creations on her ETSY page and on AMAZON HANDMADE.
