Andalou Naturals is a organic hair and skin care line founded by Stacey Kelly Egide and Mark A. Egide, both of which have worked in the skincare and beauty industry for over two decades.
What Is Andalou Naturals?
Andalou is not your average beauty company, for they offer a unique twist to taking control of your external health.
What makes their products different is the induction of plant stem cell science, which is a natural alternative that the company claims can completely revitalize your skin and hair.
What are Andalou products?
Andalou offers products that are suitable for the entire body.
When visiting their site, one will see they have products in categories such as Hair, Skin, and Body. These products can be sold individually or in packages bundled together geared towards a unified goal.
Andalou’s products are made with plant focused antioxidants and Non-GMO, Cruelty-Free, Gluten-Free, Eco-Friendly, Certified Organic, Fair Trade, Vegetarian, Vegan, and Clinically Proven Ingredients.
To the skeptics who know of companies that slap these titles on their products by way of finding a legal loophole, consider this:
In order for Andalou to achieve their Non-GMO Project Verified status, Andalou, in concert with their manufacturers and suppliers, had to confirm that over 200 source ingredients, as well as the manufacturing process for each ingredient, did not include GMOs of any kind.
In 2011, Andalou Naturals became the first personal care brand to achieve 100% Non-GMO Project Verification on every single product and today they are the #1 selling facial skin care brand in the natural channel (SPINS Feb, 2016).
Is Andalou Quality?
Andalou reaches it’s product differentiation by leveraging the new research of fruit stem cells. Given the negative narrative around stem cell research, it’s to be expected that this terminology will cause a lot of eye-brow raising. But it’s to be noted that stem cell research in this context of plants is in no way connected to the moral diatribe of ebryo stem cell research.
According to Andalou’s site: “Fruit Stem Cells are equipped with the ability to differentiate and self-renew and never experience the aging process; their potential is unlimited and their ability to transform and facilitate growth even under the harshest of conditions is what makes them truly revitalizing to skin cells.”
Since human skin stem cells don’t have this ability, Andalou skin products are made with the purpose to counterbalance that fact. Plant stem cell science has offered promising results via clinical trials, confirming that when aged skin stem cells are treated with plant stem cells they display similar activity to young skin stem cells.
These statistics were determined during a clinical trial (quoted via Andalou’s website):
- 87% Overall improvement in skin tone and luminosity
- 100% Experienced Improved Hydration
- 62% Decrease in number of fine line and wrinkles
- 50% reduction in length and depth of lines and wrinkles
- 87% improved elasticity of the skin
Some of the plants that Andalou extract stem cells from include:
- Apples
- Grapes
- Argans
- Alpine Roses
Products
Andalou has 3 main product categories on their site: Hair, Face, and Body. These main categories break down into sub-categories which include: Cleansers, Masks, Shampoo, Conditioner, etc.
You can purchase these products individually or bundled together. With many becoming more adverse to chemicals, andalou offers a great alternative by way of only including all natural and organic ingredients. Here’s the ingredient list from one of their hair products: Argan fruit stem cells, Vitamin B Complex, Hair Regeneration Complex, Cysteine, Glycosaminoglycans, Meadowsweet.
Andalou has has also made strides in cornering the thinning hair market.
Roughly 1 in 4 women and 1 in 2 men battle with hair loss. Most thinning hair products are expensive and contain many chemicals that aren’t conducive to the longterm health of hair.
Andalou counters this fact by offering natural alternatives for people struggling with hair loss. They claim their product formulation targets and supports hair follicle health, as opposed to just masking an underlying issue. They offer multiple shampoo and conditioner options that help with overall hair health.
How much in Andalou?
Products with stem cell-derived ingredients usually comes at a price, often setting customers back a few hundred dollars. Because of this, you wouldn’t be wrong to assume Andalou products would be on the more pricey side, but the average price of their products are around $20.
This is a major difference in price from competitors. You can find these products on amazon as well, but there’s no price break. A quick Google of the term Plant Stem Cell products will bring you many product results with prices ranging anywhere from $300-$40, all of which are more expensive than Andalou products.
If you’re looking for quality products without the hefty price tag, Andalou may be your best option.
Who can benefit from Andalou?
Now that you have an understanding of Andalou and what the company has to offer product wise, who exactly are these all natural products for?
I would say everyone can benefit from these products, but more specifically those who are more health conscious. This includes the vegan and vegetarian crowd. Virtually anyone who puts a premium on health, for this aligns with the values proposition of Andalou products.
Even if you’re someone who’s not into the whole health scene, there’s still no downside in you investing in the products, especially when you consider that their priced the same as their chemically saturated competition.
Since many of the “health conscious” crowd reside in places like California, it makes since that’s where you can get these products in person. Anyone not living on the West Coast will have to place orders online.
Andalou Naturals Review Conclusion
Andalou makes a lot of great claims, but I would take these with a grain of salt.
Plant Stem Cell Science is still in it’s infancy, and although it’s clinically impressive, it’s hard to say just how factual the results are.
I’ve seen resources online urging people to completely ignore the claims of the plant stem cell science, stating that it has no effect on revitalizing skin cells.
This may or may not be true, But even with that being said, given the price point, this is still a product that couldn’t hurt testing out.
