Bask & Bloom: Top Black-Owned Beauty Brand

October 25, 2022
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We spoke to CSC Top Non-Toxic Black Beauty Brand Bask & Bloom Essentials Founder and CEO Candera Thompson on how a background in business and entrepreneurship and a personal experience with postpartum shedding led her to create a natural solution to address hair loss.

Candera’s Story

Candera Thompson is a mom-of-three who endured severe postpartum shedding and noticed a lack of natural solutions to address hair thinning and breakage. She launched Bask & Bloom in 2015 to fill this gap.

Candera credits her entrepreneurial resilience to her experience immigrating to the U.S. from the Bahamas alone at age 16, after being awarded a college track scholarship. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Marketing and an MBA; she worked in marketing and sales for 9 years before becoming a full-time entrepreneur.

Candera’s Caribbean roots are a source of inspiration for Bask & Bloom, which utilizes bright packaging and tropical scents to evoke the relaxing sensations of her home island, Abaco. Candera currently resides in St. Louis, MO with her husband and children.

THE NON TOXIC BLACK OWNED BEAUTY PROJECT

As one of our featured brands on CSC’s List of Top Non-Toxic Black-Owned Beauty Brands, Bask and Bloom’s products are free of the harmful ingredients on CSC’s Red List of Chemicals of Concern in Cosmetics, which includes chemicals of particular concern for Black women. This list and our accompanying database of products allows Black women to shop for beauty products with confidence knowing that the products they’re purchasing are free of ingredients linked to negative health effects, including those of special concern to Black women.

“Bask and Bloom provides high quality, non-toxic solutions to common hair concerns, like shedding, breakage, and dryness. The products are highly concentrated with herbal extracts, natural and naturally-derived ingredients. We are a cruelty-free brand, backed by science.”
–Bask & Bloom Essentials Founder & CEO Candera Thompson.

We asked Candera more about her business:

Can you tell us more about Bask & Bloom’s products?

All of our products work together to solve key goals in bouncing back to healthy hair: strength, protection and length retention. They are a highly concentrated blend of ingredients like nourishing butters and oils, herbal extracts, and mild proteins to achieve healthy hair results. They are safe for color-treated hair and kids.

What led you to create beauty products without harmful ingredients?

As a mom-of-three, I experienced severe postpartum shedding and hair loss in some areas. I was not able to find a solution that spoke to helping the hair thrive after childbirth. While trying to find a solution, I spoke with many women in a Facebook group who all felt left out by the hair and beauty industry, just like me. Their bodies had changed, including their hair, yet no one really talks about the journey it takes to get back to feeling like ourselves. With my background in business and entrepreneurship, I decided to fill this gap myself by creating Bask & Bloom.

Why should people shop clean beauty brands like yours?

Bask & Bloom provides safe and efficacious solutions for all hair types to flourish. We are a one-stop solution for simple to complex hair care and styling. We are driven by our customers’ personal stories and work with a team of chemists and dermatologists to keep the science of hair and scalp at the forefront of each formula, without sacrificing the overall health of the hair and body.

Are you actively involved in your local community or professional affiliations?

We are continuously involved in various events in our local community, such as Give STL Day, back-to-school drives, and Girls On The Run. I also lend my time bi-monthly to speak on various college panels for their business programs, where I share my entrepreneurial journey, answer questions, and give tips to help aspiring entrepreneurs. Bask & Bloom is an Arch Grant 2021 Awardee and Certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE).

What’s your personal mantra?

I am capable.

Where can people find your products?

We sell our products online at baskandbloomessentials.com and we also have a list of retail partners on our website who sell Bask & Bloom products. Our products are available internationally, with retailers in the U.K., Canada, and the Caribbean.