Why sunflowers matters for happy hair

Sunflowers are a powerhouse ingredient when it comes to hair care.

Why does this matter to you? Sunflower seed extract softens and protects skin and adds shine and bounce to hair. Our sunflower extract is high in oleic acid, is full of Omega 9 fats, and Vitamins E and K - the components that matter.

One sunflower is actually made up of thousands of mini-flowers.

It comes down to organic techniques and cold pressing. Cold-pressed means that you get to keep more of what that make sunflower oil healthy, vitamins and phytosterols. Cold-pressing also wastes less energy, since the seed temperature does not go over 110 degrees. By being local, our sunflower oil also hasn’t traveled around the world before we put it into our products. That makes fresher without creating un-necessary greenhouse gases.

Cerified organic means that all of benefits of the sunflower comes without the downside of harmful chemicals and pesticides.          

Sunflowers have deep local roots with the sunflower plant originating in North America. Native Americans living in the southwest, domesticated sunflowers to use the oil for cosmetic purposes – to protect and soothe skin, and as a hair conditioner. Native Americans expanded the sunflower's reach across the continent and eventually it became a cultivated crop in Wisconsin.

You will find sunflower seed extract in ANTIDOTE 1848:

• Goldenseal Hair Protector  
• Sunflower Non-aerosol Hair Spray
• Malva Flex Hold Aerosol Hair Spray
• Volumizing Burdock Root Spray Wax

In the 1700’s, Europeans learned about the sunflower from Native Americans, and brought it back to Europe. At first, the sunflower was an ornamental crop in Europe - remember Vincent Van Gogh’s famous sunflower paintings from the 1880’s. (In 1987, one sold for a record $40 million.)      

Planting will start in a few months - around mid-May - and it will it take about 2 weeks for plants to emerge.

Sunflower’s get their name because they are phototropic – their leaves follow the sun's rays throughout the day. Unlike the name implies, the sunflower head is actually made up of up to 2,000 individual flowers. The yellow petals serve to advertise these to nearby pollinators. Bees play a key role in increasing yields. Go bees!

We hope you love sunflowers as much as we do! They are much more than a pretty face.

- Abigail + David