
An Interview with John Masters of John Masters Organics
Article Written by Chloe Ma
All Rights Reserved to Chloe Ma
I had the opportunity to interview John Masters, creator of John Masters Organics and owner of the only clean air salon in NYC. John’s curiosity for all things “supernatural” extended to his occupation as a stylist 20 years ago, marking the birth of John Masters Organics hair products. Sold in 25 countries, product users are eager to experience John’s passion for holistic beauty, or maybe they just want something that simply works.
John’s philosophy of “We only get one body, and we only get one planet. Why not treat them both with the utmost care?” translates onto his products with a simplistic and fuzz-free theme, packaged with recycled paper boxes containing heavy glass jar, holding only the most luscious organic ingredients, gifted by mother nature, designed by John Masters.
What inspired you to venture into organic skincare before it recently became the “it” thing?
It’s an expansion of my lifestyle. I started doing yoga and eating organic food back in the 80’s, when I was trying to take care of self in a organic and holistic manner. In the 80’s a majority of my friends are HIV positive and were very sick, and I was on the committee and was researching a lot on alternative therapies. It’s just that I live my life in a more holistic way.
It’s a choice between something organic and natural and instead of something filled with chemicals and petrochemicals and paraben.
Our things are going to get better we just formulated line our skincare line 72-100% organic and it’s really exciting. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) seal requires at least 95% organic material in the product, there are no cosmetic or beauty standard for the USDA label, but we meet the USDA food standards and most of our products are 95-100% organic.
What is the target audience for your brand? And what makes John Masters Organic something worth checking out?
Our target audience is for all age, from babies to senior citizens, and organic is good for everyone. Using organic shampoo is probably better for your baby then some baby shampoos out there.
Really our audience ranges and I see the clients who come to the salon from children to people to 80 years old or older. So I would say 20-50 is our medium range, but organic is good for everyone. We don’t have anything gimmicky or target a specific audience. We try to produce products that perform well for everyone.
I think people don’t realize in this world is that you don’t need 50 different products. You don’t need all this stuff you can find one to two things that work well and for everyone. I try to let people to know less is more, like a spray conditioner is essential a conditioner with more water, so you can just add a little conditioner to your damp hair.
I think having duel products that serves more than one purposes is really cool. There’s no need for having a different shampoo for everyone in the family. I’m really into products that’s more then one thing. Like there’s conditioner that can be left in, or our pomegranate facial oil that can be for your face or body, or add 10 drops for your bath as bath oil.
For the past 2 years scientist are beginning to look into ingredients in plants again instead of mimicking something synthetic. It’s really great for the direction that chemists are taking and it’s because of companies like mine and clients over the world are demanding and learning what these toxic chemical can do to 70% of the body and causing harm to you.
Today many brands claim to be organic. What is your definition of organic, and what makes John Masters product organic?
Relating to or employing agricultural practices that avoid the use of synthetic chemicals in favor of naturally occurring pesticides, fertilizer, and other growing aids.
How do you think organic products compare to high-end brand name products that guarantee’s eternal youth and porcelain skin? What are the unique benefits of organic products that chemical filled products can’t offer?
Not only are they are filled with chemicals, but they are at the point when they have not stopped using artificial fragrance when it can alter estrogen rates, they’re carcinogenic, and can cause allergies. There’s a lot of companies out there claiming to be organic and we look at the back of the bottle and it’s ingredients that you can’t pronounce.
Some of the things [cosmetic companies] put into these products are so strong, you have to do your research.
There are high end products with color that looks nuclear. Our products are slightly different from patch to patch from season to season. It can get darker, because it’s not artificially controlled. [The scent of our products] really depends on the harvest. Sometimes the lavender smells more florally sometimes it’s more “mediciny”. It’s got the real thing in it, it’s more expensive ingredients and more beneficial ingredients that’s better for you and the planet.
I know my product performs because we’re not a company that’s just into making natural shampoo. Frankly we’re the only one with an actual person behind it.
How do you come up with ingredients and formulas for your products?
I come up with formulas base on what people are asking for and I do a lot of research and I work closely with my chemists and herbalists and aroma therapists and I get inspirational all over the place, and I get a lot of guidance from green scientist and we’re constantly reformulating.
My normal hair shampoo changed 4-5 times, 16 years ago it’s not the same shampoo as now, and it’s an improvement. People don’t complain about it, and the reason why it’s because it constantly gets better. We constantly add things that’s cleaner, like [natural] preservative systems. We’ve changed our preservative systems over the years that are approved for food products.
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Are there any must-have products from your lines? And why?
I can tell you what products I use most personally, shampoos and conditioners, pomegranate facial oil, I mix it with my serum and body moisturizer, blood orange and vanilla moisturizer. You can add the pomegranate facial oil to everything, including your shampoo, in any products, and it’s a good way to start using organic. You can add the facial oil in body moisturizer use as bath oil.
I wouldn’t have my name on it if I actually didn’t love the product.
Like many others, my biggest concern is my extreme combination skin. Do you have any suggestions about what to do in these situations when I can’t seem to please both needs of my skin?
You use different product on different areas. I would use a mild surfactant and a toning mist and a light moisturizer like a serum that really penetrates. It’s very light and it absorbs and will moisturize the dry parts and not make oily parts over oily.
And I can’t stress to exfoliate once or twice a week and use products with exfoliators. That’s important to use exfoliating on dry and oily skin and oily skin. The exfoliator will get raid of all that dry skin and extra stuff that’s fluffing off because of the over secretion of sebum. You don’t want to use a high alkaline ph. A mild surfactant is the best.
My hair has been damaged after years of coloring, I think this happens to many of us. Is there any way to salvage hair that is close to breakage?
First of all, stop coloring them, give it a break for a while. When you see your hair breaking up it’s time to slow down. There are harsh chemicals being used that’s damaging hair and you need to put something back to your hair and it’s important to have a heavy reconstructive routine with heavy fatty acids, Linolenic and hyaluronic acid, and proteins to rebuild and strengthen the hair. You also want to moisturize it, you might want to add a little oil onto your hair too.
It really good tip to deep condition is to add heat to the hair that helps open up the hair follicles.
Like when you’re in the gym or the sauna it helps the treatment to penetrate, and you can also use a hot towel around your head or a plastic cap for like 20 minutes. We generate a lot of heat off the body and it helps capture it.
A lot of times people want their hair to grow and they don’t cut their hair and when hair’s been damaged it’s important to trim the ends. Just cut a quarter inch to cut the ends up it really helps. Have your hair cut once every 8 weeks.
It’s not hopeless at all, and we have a lot of success stories, we also have another product call shine-on with no petrochemical. Products with silicon, a carcinogenic cosmetic oil, builds on hair, and we use ingredients with no chemicals that gives a natural shine and not a plastic shine, and give a much better texture.
What should consumers look out for when choosing skincare products?
People should be leery to be aware of products with nanoparticles. They’re so small they penetrate not only skin but into organs too and [companies] have no ideas of what it’s going to do. The problem is that no one is required by law to state if their product is nano, rather their raw product is nano. When it’s certified organic there’s no way that it’s nano. We also don’t use anything with GMO (genetic mortified organism). There’s GMO products that may contain parabens and nanochemicals and they’re selling for a high price.
I would strongly advice the people to look at the back of the label for the ingredients. Just so you know to say organic in the front it has to be 70% organic. I see products that claim to be organic and have about 3% of the product at the end. I am in favor of a straighter oversight about this. We go by the EU (European Union) standard which are very strict much stricter then the U.S. All of our products are certified organic by a third party.
Do you have any lifestyle beauty secrets to share with the readers when it comes to establishing beautiful hair and skin?
Think positive and eat well, it’s not so much what we put on our skin but it’s also important for people to think about everything they do, their lifestyle, are they overstressed, and it’s also what you eat. Everything’s energy, our body is energy, food is energy, what we put into our body definitely have an effect on our wellbeing.
It’s a whole synergistic effect of what we do and use on our body.
Fill up a bath tub with warm water and listen to beautiful music for 10 minutes, you won’t believe the benefits for you. That’s a great way to make sure you take care for yourself, give yourself a minute a day to not think about stressful thoughts.
Can you give our readers one last bit of advice?
We live in a great world, everything is great, we want to live as healthiest as we can for as long as we can.
John is currently working with a team of scientist on his latest spa teenage skincare line. To find out more about John Masters Organic or purchase John Masters Organics products visit www.johnmastersorganic.com
Article written by Chloe Ma
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