Zaega.com Experts Steer Customers to “Trustworthy” Beauty Online
By Suzanne Blecher
The Rose Sheet, June 2001
Zaega.com touts itself as an expert-run website that can relieve consumers of the burden of locating legitimately “healthy” beauty brands and deciphering cryptic product labels.
Site co-founder Melissa Christenson says the “aha-moment” that led her to launch Zaega was the realization that “all of us want to be healthy and beautiful – as well as kind to the environment – but we’re all confused about where to go to get good advice, who to trust and, ultimately, which brands to buy.”
In a June 14 interview with “The Rose Sheet,” the former Aveda marketing rep suggested that cutting through the clutter to identify responsibly formulated beauty products is becoming increasingly difficult.
“It’s challenging and frustrating to see misinformation out there,” said Christenson. “Everyone is floundering, especially the consumer, who is starting to get concerned because of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics movement being picked up by the media channels.”
Prior to launching Zaega in fall 2010, Christenson conducted extensive legwork identifying potential brands based on three criteria – non-harming, high-performance and truth-telling.
After zeroing in on candidates, she contacted each brand with inquiries – “Do you have a policy against using specific ingredients?” – and requests, such as: “Please list your packaging and website/advertising claims and describe how you substantiate those claims.”
For every brand she considers, Christenson insists on having a conversation with the label’s founder. “Knowing the people behind the brand and believing in them, that’s a big piece for me,” she said. “We’re going to tell those stories.” Brands whose owners do not agree to an interview are rejected.
Christenson says she examines product formulations to determine if they are “safe for people and the planet,” she said. “Other retailers are looking at a formulation and just checking it against a database,” cross-referencing ingredients against “a bad-guy list… with really no understanding of why [they’re] there in the first place,” she said.
Christenson has run into some bloggers who do not share her concept of “safe” ingredients. She has been criticized for carrying brands with phenoxyethanol, a preservative, for example.
Christenson maintains that other so-called preservatives like citric acid lower pH but do not kill bacteria. “There are so few options out there, so phenoxyethanol is one of the important ingredients we need to have,” she explained.
While Christenson is concerned about “greenwashing” and aims to help customers find truly natural and organic brands, whether or not a product is certified matters little to Christenson, who says she can derive what she needs to make an assessment by reviewing a product’s formulation.
Demonstrated product performance is a more significant factor for Christenson than a product’s eco merits.
“If it’s green and doesn’t work, nobody cares,” she said. “If it doesn’t work, people aren’t going to repeat-buy. If it doesn’t cut the mustard with me, I don’t put it on the website.”
Zaega currently offers 11 brands, including Savane, an organic skincare line with African ingredients (“Organic Skincare Line Savane Features Authentic African Ingredients” “The Rose Sheet” June 13, 2011).
Upon meeting Savane’s founders at the annual LOHAS forum in 2009, Christenson examined the brand’s prototype products and “thought they were fantastic”, the entrepreneur said.
Christenson differentiates her site from others by featuring YouTube videos for each product that provide commentary on packaging, features, benefits and use.
“In her smart, straight-talking style, she dispels myths and delivers an unbiased, credible perspective on what every woman should know about health and beauty,” according to a company release.