This Minimalist Skincare Brand Started After Knowing That Most Ingredients Found In Natural Beauty Are From The Lands of B/IPOC, But Don't Always Receive That Credit

We love to find new melanin owned beauty brands in the market place! We’re so excited that we connected with Tasha Gear, the founder of a minimal ingredient & botanically sourced skincare brand - Linear Beauty.

When and why did you start Linear Beauty?

I felt like there was something missing in the natural beauty world, and definitely noticed that the space was made up of mostly white women. I wanted to create a brand that is centered around black, indigenous, and people of color, especially because most of the ingredients used in natural beauty products are from places like Africa, India, or the Philippines. These products have been used by BIPOC for a long time but the beauty industry doesn’t always showcase that.

Officially Linear Beauty started in July 2019, but it was in the works for about 5 years prior. I started making my own products in 2013 after being tired of the reactions I would have to various products. I gave products to friends and family and everyone started saying I should sell them so I experimented with different formulas before coming up with the 3 product line we have now. I wanted the products to be multi-use, simple, and straightforward to replace the typical 5+ step routines many people have.

With there being a lot of natural beauty brands popping up everywhere, I was also interested in creating something different. I personally do not like overly scented products, and I had used a lot of different essential oils, experimenting with aromatherapy and scents but then decided after a lot of research to opt out of using them and created an “essential oil free” skincare line.

Ultimately I’d like Linear Beauty to become a place where people can learn more about natural skin care ingredients, tips on how to properly use products, DIY’s, the process of how products are made and sourced, and interviews of people in the beauty industry and what they’re doing. I went to school for photography at FIT and I’ve always had a passion for photography and wanted to incorporate that into my brand, so all of the content you see on Instagram or the website was all created by me.

I’ve just published our first blog post but there’s much more to come!

How do you define sustainability? How is your brand sustainable?

I would define sustainability (in terms of consumption) as good for the people farming or producing it, the earth, and you.

It’s always a work in progress, but I would say Linear Beauty is sustainable by sourcing from BIPOC owned suppliers and paying fair trade for ingredients, using ingredients that are not rare or over produced (i.e palm oil), being conscious of the waste that is created during production as well as the waste that will be created once the product is finished, so packaging with glass and paper labels, and using recycled and recyclable/compostable packaging materials. I’ve just purchased some TerraCycle boxes and hope to have a take back program for hard to recycle items soon!

And lastly, creating something that was affordable. There’s no reason to be charging $150+ for an ounce of oil and making it inaccessible or exclusive to most people.

There are a lot of shea butter brands on the market - what makes yours so unique?

Most shea butter products I’ve used were either too fragrant, covering up the scent of the most important ingredients, or were too refined to make the shea butter scentless. I wanted to find a balance with the scent of our Shea Body Butter. I love the smell of the ingredients themselves without adding “scents.” As natural as essential oils are, they are not really necessary in skin care except for the effects of aromatherapy. I wanted to create products that have scents but without the addition of essential oils, as I feel that too many natural beauty brands use them as a base for their product and then think of the rest of the ingredients last.

As a POC/WOC...how does this show up in your brand/inspire your brand?

Every day I feel being a woman of color has an impact on my brand and how I make decisions. I prioritize people and women of color when it comes to pretty much everything. I don’t want to just be an “inclusive” brand, I want to showcase how beautiful women and people of color are and show that these products are specifically for us, but of course anyone can use them.

What is your greatest inspiration?

My greatest inspiration has to be seeing all of the black and brown women and people that are making changes in the beauty/health/wellness world. Hanahana Beauty, Papa Rozier Farms, Golde,The Diaspora Co, Redoux, Terra-Tory just to name a few. I don’t see anyone as competition and I really believe there is enough to go around for all of us!

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