A French-Canadian Beauty Brand called Butr

A humble French-Canadian brand called Butr is making massive strides to change the cosmetic industry’s current means of production. Here’s the story of the brand, along with its values and goals.

As a woman with the curliest, frizziest and driest hair on the planet, I am always looking for products to combat my daily hair problems. Just recently, I learned how damaging some of the silicone ingredients in most drug store products can be to my hair. Luckily, there are brands outside of these big companies that make it their mission to bring us all-natural products that can bring vibrance and silkiness back into our hair and skin. One promising small business continuing the trend of “organic” in our body care products is BUTR. I sat down with the owner of the French-Canadian owner of BUTR to see what truly inspired this lusciously organic cosmetic brand.

Founded in 2013 by eco-friendly cosmetic creator, Giroflee Ash, BUTR is the center for artisanal, custom-made cosmetics from soaps to shampoos to conditioners. After studying massage therapy, Ash found that essential oils have “powerful properties” that contribute to a rounded experience for the five senses. While also being skilled in graphic design, she wanted to pursue a project that was “a marriage of both worlds.” Thus, BUTR was born.

BUTR products are “a sensory experience,” she said. “It has to be because it’s not just about a product these days, it’s also about how it makes you feel when you use it.” While she emphasized the aromatic luxury of the products, she also stressed the efficiency of her products. “We don’t just want to have fun. It has to have properties that, in the end, will be beneficial for you,” she said.

Ash has always been environmentally conscious and was concerned with the amount of water wasted in the production of drug store skincare products. She became fascinated by Middle Eastern, specifically Egyptian, hair maintenance. “The Arabic world has amazing hair,” she doted. However, when doing research on the hair care rituals of these peoples, she found them to be too time-consuming to introduce into Western society.

Ash pondered; “How can I bring the ingeniosity of their hair care into our way of life here?” She ultimately decided to integrate the ingredients used in Eastern hair and skincare into her own shampoos, soaps, and conditioners.

“There is a purpose behind each product and experience when you use it, which makes it fun, but an intelligent choice of product as well.”

Now, a new aromatherapeutic item is in the works for BUTR. Ash eagerly announced that she is producing a new line of candles, revealing a spicy first fragrance for the launch coming sometime in the next month.

Although she is hoping to gain more traction and become a bigger company, she knows that her small shop is a big contribution to ecological sustainability. “I do the best I can with what I have here,” she said, humbly explaining how environmentally conscious her production is. “If everyone does their share, even if it’s just remembering to [shut off] the water when brushing your teeth, it is making a difference.”