hibar zero plastic story

Goodbye Plastic. Hello HiBar.

Kindhumans Profiles

Goodbye Plastic. Hello HiBar.

A couple of years ago, four friends and fellow optimists got to talking one night and realized they’d all been working separately on the same project: getting rid of plastic in the bathroom. They officially banded together to re-engineer how people wash and care for their hair. Through a lot of trial and error and after working with a team of hair care professionals, HiBAR was born. They produced a beautiful, unpackaged, salon-quality, solid shampoo and conditionerno soap, sulfates, parabens, phthalates or silicones either. Just clean hair products for beautiful hair. We love HiBar and are excited to carry their products in the Kindhumans Shop. We asked the four founders a few questions to get to know them better. We hope you enjoy their story!

 

Tell us about yourselves, Nora, Jay, Ward and Dion! How do you all know each other? 

Our kids all went to the same schoola school that has a particularly strong family culture. We all became friends through that experience.

 

Why did you start HiBAR? What was the motivation and inspiration behind starting the company?

We had all independently been thinking about plastic trash. Jay and Nora were thinking about how to pivot their bath bomb company to be more about eliminating plastic waste, and they had asked Ward for his help. Dion had been thinking about plastic-free hair care for a while, inspired by a family beach vacation where he was saddened by the effects of plastic waste.

 

What were you all doing before HiBAR? Why did you decide to focus on hair care? 

Jay and Nora were partners in a bath bomb company (Bodylish), Ward had just sold his all-natural pet food company (Sojos), and Dion was still working at his creative brand consultancy (Persuasion Arts & Sciences).

 

Our journey into hair care really started out of need. Dion came back from vacation, disgusted by the plastic-strewn beaches he’d seen, and started to shop around for plastic-free products. He could not find a shampoo that he or his wife liked, so he started to think about how to fill that void.

 

Where did the name HiBAR come from? 

We were looking for a name that was friendly and approachable, but that also spoke of some optimism or positive ripple effect. We literally considered thousands but HiBAR stood out. It introduces itself, hints at the form of the product, and asks people to keep aiming higher.

 

What makes HiBAR different than other products, specifically the other bar shampoos and conditioners available?

HiBAR is genuine salon-quality, formulated specifically for hair. A lot of bars that are marketed as solid shampoo are actually just soap. If that works for someone, we have no quarrel, but for most people, especially anyone with longer hair or hair that is dyed, bleached, curled or dried with a blow dryer, soap can really damage their hair.

 

Our belief has always been that people won’t walk away from plastic products until there are equivalent-quality non-plastic products. So that’s why we set the bar so high in terms of product performance.

 

Specifically, that means color-safe and free of sulfates, phthalates, parabens, and silicones. We’re also 100% cruelty free, and four of our six products are vegan.

No plastic. No parabens. No phthalates. No sulfates. No problem. Shop HiBAR

 

What do you do to help educate people and/or organizations about the dangers of plastic pollution? 

We believe there is plenty of plastic (unfortunately) in the world already. Plastic pollution is worsening, and until there is a solution, it will continue to hit the headlines… and wash up on the beaches.

 

What role does sustainability have in your life and your company? 

We’re all conscious consumers and engaged citizensliving small, donating to environmental causes, and supporting leaders who prioritize the environment.

 

Can you share one of the biggest challenges you have come up against?

The challenge is that plastic is not just about the packaging of the finished product. It’s the entire supply chain of ingredients including the way they’re shipped, the materials that distributors require our pallets to be wrapped in, and how we’re shipping to customers. We’ve had to say no to some pretty big opportunities because of the shipping materials required, and we’ve had to reinvent a bunch of manufacturing and shipping processes to eliminate the plastic. It’s a lot of work and we’re only just getting started.

 

Can you share a moment you are most proud of?

Most satisfying are the thousands of reviews we get on our website and through social media that are absolutely glowing about our product and our brand. Comments like ‘never going back to plastic’ and ‘better than any of the brands I use in my salon’ tell us we’re on the right track.

 

What is the most surprising or interesting thing that has happened since starting the business?

The idea of “zero-plastic” feels as though it is using us to become real, rather than us pushing the idea forward. There have been so many weird coincidences, chance meetings, and random helpful connections.

 

How do you educate and inspire others?

At the moment, we do most of that through our social media channels. We try to keep things positive, and we never ever knock other plastic-free brands, even if they are on the face of it, ‘our competition.’ We also do some public speaking about optimism and purposeful actions. At the end of the day, though, our best and most useful channel for inspiration is the product itself. If it can be a joy to use, give people great hair, and help people step out of the shower feeling great about themselves and the impact they’re about to have in their day, then we couldn’t be happier.

 

What’s in the books for HiBAR in 2020?

We’ve set a company goal of eliminating one million plastic bottles from the world by the end of 2020. It’s a tall order for a company as young as ours, but we’re going for it! As part of that, we’ll be introducing new products, adding new retail partners, hopefully including new regions (we’re focused on the USA for now), and even looking around the bathroom for other places where single-use plastic has not been designed away into oblivion.

 

What is a message you would like to leave with the Kindhumans community?

With kindness, optimism, imagination, action, and determination, there is not a problem we cannot solve.

Share this story

More Kind Stories

Share via
Send this to a friend