Nicole Rechelbacher: Healthy HabitsIt’s in Nicole Rechelbacher’s blood to protect the health of the hairdresser. The daughter of the late iconic industry “ecopreneur” Horst Rechelbacher, Nicole is carrying on the mission of her father through her position as co-president of product development at Horst’s company, Intelligent Nutrients. Nicole says she’s been doing hair since she was 13 and soaked up the beliefs of her father, who also started Aveda.

Founded in 2009, Intelligent Nutrients develops certified-organic health and beauty products that are free of chemicals or harmful toxins and produced with a minimized environmental footprint. The skin care formulas contain plant stem cells and are safe enough to be edible.

“My father wanted the products USDA-certified as food grade,” Nicole Rechelbacher says. “That’s the only certification we have in the U.S.; there’s no beauty product certification. So ‘food grade’ certification really validates what we are putting on our body.”

She says that hairdresser health isn’t about feeling guilty about bad habits.

“Use a positive approach,” Rechelbacher advises. “Don’t get negative about any unhealthy habits, but think about what’s good about having healthy habits.”

For example, she suggests considering whether you’re breathing the particles that come out of your spray cans and checking the safety of the ingredients of the formulas you work with. Of course, you also want the products to be useful.

“We’re all about performance,” Rechelbacher says. “That’s why working with third parties makes sure we’re getting the best of the best. They go in and audit and make sure everything is done according to our standards and to their standards. We develop products for the user to feel good internally and externally.”

This month, Intelligent Nutrients is partnering with Oncology Esthetics to conduct a one-day Hair Care workshop on June 21 as well as a three-day Intensive Esthetics Certification program on June 22-24 for spa pros serving clients who are undergoing cancer treatment. Both workshops will take place in Minneapolis. For information on attending, go to the Intelligent Nutrients website.

For a salon professional, regarding health seriously, Rechelbacher says, means “looking at your own health and relaying your knowledge to your clients so that they can be healthy, too.”

See a video of Nicole Rechelbacher and Co-President/Creative Director Kiran Stordalen talking about Intelligent Nutrients.

Nicole Rechelbacher: Healthy Habits

Rosanne Ullman

Rosanne Ullman

Project Editor

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