The Clean Beauty Lab: Pioneers in Clean Beauty
Getting your hair done and going to therapy are not so different. I can bet my therapist would argue that they are, but for the sake of being real, I feel the same relief after getting my hair done that I do after a therapy session. The feeling that comes after that cape is removed from your neck should be studied by psychologists. I’m a Leo, so obviously my hair is very important to me. Back in 2019, I decided to dye my hair for the first time. When I say the first time, I mean the first time professionally. I, like many other stressed out college students, had dyed my hair red with Manic Panic just a few months prior, and was not a fan of the grown out look. At the time, I was on an organic lifestyle and clean beauty kick, inspired by my true Italian queen Organic Olivia. Olivia had posted about her clean hair experience with the Clean Beauty Lab (the Lab, for short), and I must admit, I was influenced. I wanted to go blonde. I made an appointment with the Lab, and within two sessions, had the most beautiful and healthy blonde hair that marked the beginnings of my personal Laundry Service era.
The Clean Beauty Lab played a huge part in the beginning of my sustainability and clean beauty journey. They’re pioneers, both in my life and in the beauty industry. Earlier this month, on a quieter Saturday than usual, I went back to the salon, itching to do something different with my hair, but also to find out more about the Lab to share with you guys. Not only are their products and practices organic and nontoxic, but the Lab is an emotionally and spiritually healing space. For so long, I’ve felt awkward in the salon chair. The hairstylists of my youth would talk amongst themselves for hours. The Clean Beauty Lab would never! They want to meet you and get to know the newest addition to their family. I have so much fun talking to the team when I get my hair done. I’ve learned as much about them as they have about me, and I know I’m not the only client who feels this way.
The team consists of four expert clean beauty colorists and stylists: Mauricio Artunduaga and Vinzar, co-founders of the Clean Beauty Lab, and Simone Baker and Lia Ormeno. This time around, I got to color and cut my hair with Simone, the queen of dry cutting. I’d always seen her clients end up with the biggest smiles after seeing their finished looks!
The Lab is a no judgment zone. I know I’ve been shamed for asking for a certain haircut or dye at different salons, but the Clean Beauty Lab team understands that the heart wants what the heart wants. They understand trends and have an appreciation for the current synthesis of different decades trending all at once. I’ve been wanting a shaggy haircut since middle school, and finally mustered up the courage to ask for the wolf cut. I asked a stylist at another salon for the cut earlier this summer, but was met with resistance to a current trend. I told this to Simone, to which she replied, “I actually really like the wolf cut, I think it gives stylists an opportunity to do something that’s out of the box.” I immediately felt safe under her scissors.
“In Colombia, they call it the 7,” Lia adds, and I immediately thought back to this photo of my Dad when he first got to NYC in the 80s, rocking the haircut that many alt New Yorkers are rocking at the moment, myself included.
“All different decades are coming back. Heavy bangs that are probably from the 60s, you have super textured hair that looks like the 80s, you have sweepy curtain bangs that look like the 70s,” says Vinzar. “I love the incorporation of all of those different elements plus the touch of now, which is natural. Everyone is embracing their natural selves and that’s beautiful, not just in the choices of products and services but also in the way that you portray yourself and communicate who you are.”
While in the chair, I found myself curious about Simone’s path to the Lab. I had to ask about her personal clean beauty journey. She reflected, “I think it was when I got to college. I became vegan, and that awareness always followed me my entire life, and I wasn’t surprised that it got to the point in my hair career that where I was like, you know what, I wanna do this differently,” she said. “I see the products that I’m working with, and I want them to reflect who I am at my core. I feel like I’m living in integrity because my artistry and my work reflects the values that I have.”
Everyone has to start somewhere, and for both Simone and Lia, their clean beauty journeys led them to become part of the Lab family. Lia got her start in the beauty industry shadowing Hiroshi Kawanishi at his Salon 02. There, she explored new coloring and cutting techniques. She has been at the Clean Beauty Lab for the last five years, and has been my colorist for the last 2 years. Each time we meet again at the Salon, she has so many new things to tell me and she always remembers the details of my life.
Pictured here: Simone Baker
People don’t just go to the Clean Beauty Lab for a haircut or for coloring. They go to uplift themselves and their energy. “They come to be heard, to feel special, and that’s the part that I love the most,” says Mauricio. Vinzar mentions a client he has been seeing for about ten years now. Over the years her hair has gone lighter and lighter, and they recently transitioned to a double process. At the beginning of their appointment, she vented to Vinzar about her life and anxieties.
“The moment we finished with the final product, I started to cry. I started to cry because I was so touched by all the efforts we have done over the years and just seeing her transform and she was completely happy.” says Vinzar. “The fulfillment of being able to add a little positive piece of love to a human being… that doesn’t have a price, that is priceless.”
It takes time to build the kinds of relationships that have grown at the Clean Beauty Lab. Mauricio and Vinzar have, over the years, developed their relationships with their clients and team, along with the vision they have for their clean business. Like something straight out of an early 2000s rom-com, founders Mauricio and Vinzar met at a concert about 16 years ago. “I was with a cousin of mine and it was super dark in [the venue] and back then, this was like 16 years ago, I had a camera, a little digital camera that I used to walk around with, so my cousin was saying ‘I think there’s a guy there looking at you,” recalls Vinzar. “So I took the camera, zoomed in, and there was Mauricio, with his tongue out.”
Are you kidding me? That is iconic! 16 years ago, there was no Instagram, so instead Mauricio and Vinzar exchanged business cards. They noticed that they each had “makeup artist” and “hair stylist” respectively noted on their cards: a common interest.
Vinzar was 21 at the time and Mauricio was 31 - an age difference that would have a huge impact on the way the business developed.
“When you’re 21, you have so much fire and so much curiosity and so much love and so much openness and you want to give your all. Not just your 100%, you want to give your 1000%” says Vinzar. “and when you’re 31, you are more confident, you’re secure, you know exactly what you want.”
They met for the second time in Union Square. Mauricio was sitting on the steps and had a book in his hand. The cover read “How to Open Your Own Business.” When Vinzar asked him about the book Mauricio said,
“You know what, I’m sick of those crazy chemicals in the salon environment that I work at and I’ve been doing research and I know that there are companies in other countries where they are incorporating new technologies and I want to try that and I want to open my own salon.”
Pictured here: Mauricio Artunduaga
Vinzar loved the idea. The duo both had money saved, and said “let’s do this!” and they opened the Clean Beauty Lab together a year later. The Lab was originally named Mauricio Hair Studio, in a very early aughts fashion, with the tagline “Clean Beauty.” They have been in the same place since the beginning: their studio located on 23rd and 5th in the NoMad/Flatiron District.
“I used to see my clients suffering when I was doing their color or coloring their greys. They would always complain about the itching and the burning… and that made me question my career,'' says Mauricio.
Mauricio began doing research, and found that cleaner products existed and were being further developed, so he would test them out with his clients. “I found a few products from Europe, and that was kind of my reference point, the start of doing clean beauty services” he says. 15 years later, and the salon is more alive than ever.
Each stylist at the salon feels that they have a huge responsibility to their clients and to the beauty industry. Most people don’t realize that there are alternatives to the toxic and damaging chemicals that are normally used in coloring and styling.
“[Using bleach and ammonia dye] is something that has been done for years, and that’s why people [still] use it, but people don’t know how it affects your body,” says Lia, “like putting it on your scalp, smelling it, and then even how it affects the person applying it.”
Pictured here: Lia Ormeno
I think back to my sister dying her hair blue at the height of the Scene Queen era. Sorry Ludmila, but you’re the perfect example. I thought she looked so cool, despite the fact that post bleach and flat-ironing, her hair was literally breaking off. I can still smell the bleach and burning hair.
“It's a big, big responsibility, because people trust you.” says Vinzar. “They trust that what you are offering them is going to be valid and truthful, and the responsibility for us comes from making sure that we are using the right brands, the right partners, that will deliver the effective results that everyone is expecting, but at the same time doing it in the safest way possible.”
“When clients don’t smell all the usual fumes that come with dying their hair, they think, ‘am I going to be a blonde? Am I going to be able to accomplish the red hair that I used to get done at this other salon? Is it going to cover my grays? I’m pregnant. Is it going to be safe for me and the baby?’” Vinzar recites.
Clean Beauty processes can actually perform better than the toxic dyes and chemicals of mainstream coloring practices.
“The beauty of non-toxic, clean color systems is that the hair cuticle is not aggressively opened. With ammonia, the cuticle is opened in about 12 mins, which really disrupts the PH of our hair, therefore causing irreversible damage, dryness and breakage” they say. “Through our clean color systems, with the addition of active oils and natural pigments, we are still able to open the cuticle, inject it with pigment and at the same time hydrate the hair while it is processing.”
Pictured here: Vinzar
There are many dangers to using ammonia dyes when coloring hair. When ammonia is dissolved in water, it can become a skin irritant, damage the cuticle, and cause dry brittle hair. Prolonged exposure to the vapors of ammonia products can cause respiratory issues.
The team at the Clean Beauty Lab are pioneers in the concept of clean hair care. There’s absolutely no need for ammonia, PPD’s (Paraphenylenediamine, a chemical commonly used as a permanent hair dye) or formaldehydes, and the team has developed coloring and styling techniques that will get gorgeous color results, but also strengthen and nurture our hair in the process.
If you’re just getting started on your clean beauty journey, and have anxieties about changing products or switching salons, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Sustainable Baddies are making the switch over to clean beauty, and if you think you’ve waited too long, remember that the best time to start is now!
“There’s no time to waste. Even if you don’t do it here, by joining another salon, [you’re] changing the industry” says Mauricio. “Our mission is to inspire other salons to do it; there shouldn’t be five salons in the city using non toxic products, it should be 95% of the salons.”
What are your thoughts on clean hair care?