How Plants Can Give You Beautiful Skin, According to Gabe Kennedy, Founder of Plant People

The inclusion of cannabis in skin care has become increasingly popular in recent years. From face oils and serums to body moisturizers and more, you’re sure to find this buzzy ingredient infused in tons of different products as you walk down the skin-care aisle of any beauty retailer. With so many boasted benefits, we wanted to learn more, and that’s when we discovered Plant People — a wellness brand that is inspired by the power of plants. Recently, the brand added skin-care to its repertoire, which is why we decided to chat with co-founder, Gabe Kennedy. Kennedy strives to provide skin-care products that are transparent in their ingredients, affordable and good for you and your skin, all while educating others about the healing powers of plants. Ahead, read on to learn more about Kennedy’s journey and his company. 

What’s the story behind Plant People and what inspired you to start your own company?

I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, in a house of alternative medicine practitioners. As a ski racer, I had a very serious back injury that led me to 15 years of dealing with it. Through surgeries and procedures, I turned to plants as alternatives to traditional pharmaceuticals. They changed my life. Then on a hike, my friend at the time and now co-founder, and I shared our stories of back traumas and came to the conclusion that these alternatives needed to be shared with our communities. That is where Plant People was born — a celebration of all plants and the power they hold. Nature has properties within it that can actually allow for intense healing, and this very idea is how Plant People was born. 

What inspired you to branch out into skin care?

We saw an opportunity to apply our expertise in botanicals to a new category. Additionally, we saw a gap in the market and were equipped to deliver exceptional quality products at approachable price points where as all other products [we felt] were either luxury and overpriced or mass market and lacked quality. As we began exploring the category, I realized that the skin plays a huge part in the overall well-being of a person. For many, it’s their way of practicing self-care, and when your skin looks and feels good, you feel good. Our philosophy is to make the whole person healthy and heal them from the inside out with the power of plants, so why can’t skin care have the same approach and philosophy? With ingredients that are clean, wholesome and infused with the cannabis plant we love so much, we were able to make a skin-care line that reflected what our customers love and what we love as a company.

Can you tell us a little bit about the ingredients used in your products?

We launched three products that could be integrated into anyone’s existing routines and serve a specific purpose — the Plant People Revive Botanical Face Serum, the Plant People Restore Botanical Face Mask and the Plant People Nourish Botanical Body Lotion.

Each are rich in hemp cannabinoids (including CBC, a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, and CBD) and other therapeutic botanicals, including rosemary, mushroom, seaweed and chamomile. We love that our ingredients read more like a grocery list than a skin-care product or science experiment. We decided to launch with these specific products because we saw them as core items that were effective for treating and soothing the skin, and they are useful items to incorporate into any customer’s current regimen. Each product is high-potency and has 300mg of hemp cannabinoids.

Can you explain a little bit about the power of plants and how they have the ability to help the skin?

We know that botanicals contain extraordinary amounts of nutrients and other compounds to support human skin. Cannabinoids (beyond CBD) are rich in anti-inflammatory properties and are the main reason we include them in our formulations. Hemp plants contain around 400 different compounds — many of which contain therapeutic properties on their own and have different interactions in the body. One of the most abundant and well-researched compounds, next to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is cannabidiol, also known as CBD.  For this range, however, we specifically use cannabichromene (CBC) because it serves as a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Further, CBC has shown powerful anti-acne properties, which influenced our decision to make this compound prevalent in our new topical skin-care products. 

What are some of the benefits and uses of cannabis in skin care?

There is more to cannabis than meets the eye. Cannabis is filled with hundreds of phytonutrients, major and minor cannabinoids and terpenes, each holding their own unique benefits, flavor and function. For example, Plant People uses the full plant for the “entourage effect,” which reinforces solutions by including other synergistic botanicals, each with their own set of benefits. For skin-care in particular, we chose to include higher levels of CBC because initial research has shown that it has strong topical applications with anti-inflammatory and anti-acne properties.  

What is your current skin-care routine?

My skin-care routine is pretty basic, but what I love to use the most is the Alaffia Shea Body Wash in the shower. Then for my face care, I use Malin+Goetz Grapefruit Face Cleanser, the Alder New York Everyday Face Moisturizer and the Plant People Revive Serum. And I actually do not wear deodorant, so I use essential oils instead, and I really enjoy the Vitruvi The Essentials Bundle. Because I have facial hair, I like to use the Primally Pure Old Fashioned Beard Oil to keep my skin and facial hair really healthy. Obviously I use all our skin-care products too — the Restore Face Mask has definitely become a staple of my routine as of late.

What is your favorite product from your skin-care line?

I love all of our skin-care and each has a really great benefit for the skin. The serum stands out right now because of its amazing ingredients. Rich in olive squalane, camilla oil, blue tansy, blue yarrow and blue chamomile, it’s functional, simple and multi-purpose. I add it to a moisturizer and rub it all over my face, beard included. All of the base oils absorb quickly without any feeling of greasiness. And of course, the aroma is divine. I look forward to it every day.

What do you want the world to know about the Plant People lifestyle?

Plant People is a philosophy. Alongside its high quality and innovative products (from skin care to balms and supplements), the company exists to empower people in making alternative, and altogether more positive, choices when it comes to healing the body and mind. Inspired by the power of plants, we made a commitment to share nature’s wisdom with the world. 

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