The CBD industry is booming, and Sagely Naturals ’founders Kerrigan Behrens and Kaley Nichol foresaw this expansion four years ago. The Los Angeles-based CBD brand has pioneered the expansion of this untapped market landing them on the shelves of luxury department store Neiman Marcus and in CVS. Sagely’s foundation sets them apart from its competitors by employing PhD chemists, state-of-the-art facilities, and consciously clean ingredients. Behrens sat down with Haute Beauty to discuss her journey in the male dominated field, the many benefits of CBD, and what we can expect in the future from Sagely Naturals.
HB: How did you get started in the CBD industry?
KB: I had my first experience using CBD in the summer of 2015. A friend of mine told me about using CBD a couple of years before and that was the first and only time I had heard of it. Her doctor actually recommended that she use it for some of the chronic pain issues she was dealing with, and I remember thinking that it was so interesting that cannabis had more than just THC, which was the only part of cannabis I knew about. So, I kind of stored that knowledge away in the back of my mind.
In the summer of 2015, I saw a jar of CBD honey sitting on a friend’s kitchen counter and I asked her to try it since I’ve been wanting to try it for so long, and she was generous enough to share with me, and the rest is history! I had such an incredible experience using CBD, I’ve dealt with chronic lower back pain for many years, and I noticed after I tried it, my back didn’t hurt as much as it normally did, and I was feeling a lot calmer. So, Kaley and I discussed starting a brand with CBD because it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever tried, and it helps so many people. And fortunately, she was on board and had her own interest, because she was in the process of what we now like to call “the medicine cabinet makeover,” which is looking at all of the products you put on your skin and the medicine you take and figuring out how natural it is, or what the side effects are. So when she tried it and realized that this was actually a natural alternative to some of the things we’ve been taking our whole lives, she got on board. And that was the beginning of our exciting journey.
HB: When did you realize that the CBD industry was an upcoming booming market?
KB: I always knew it was going to be a huge success. I knew that CBD was going to be a national trend literally the moment that I tried it. The strongest I’ve ever felt about it was when the Farm Bill passed in 2018. Because we have dealt with some regulatory gray areas that made it difficult to do what we do, when the bill passed some of the major retailers that we had been talking to were open to the discussion about actually selling CBD for the first time. It’s been crazy how much we’ve been growing and how much we’ve had to do to get ready for growth in the category.
HB: What makes your company stand out compared to your competitors?
KB: Sagely Naturals sells products with CBD, and we consider ourselves a wellness brand. We are looking to help with, what we call “whole self-wellness -- soul, mind and body.” When we started there weren’t any brands that were creating approachable and trustworthy products that addressed the everyday needs of women. We decided that this was going to be a brand for women, we are fine if men use it of course, and we are not going to put pink all over the packaging. However, women’s needs are being ignored in this industry, we know who our consumer is -- she is typically a millennial who is dealing with daily stresses, or she is a baby boomer who is not necessarily stressed but is wanting to focus on her daily aches and pains So, we have a clear sense of who are consumer is, and our products are differentiated in that we use all natural ingredients, and we’re focused more on products that would fit inside the medicine cabinet, so you will never find us come out with something like a vape pen or even a tincture, because that is not something an average woman would have in her medicine cabinet. What we do really well is come up with products that are just as great of an experience compared to the the lotions that you currently use. We use natural ingredients, and also leverage botanical ingredients. So, it’s not just a CBD cream, it’s a CBD essential oil and a menthol cream. Our capsules contain herbal supplements like turmeric and ashwaganda and ingredients help to enhance the efficacy of the products.
HB: Most people equate CBD with cannabis, can you explain the difference?
KB: It helps to even take one step backwards. So, what’s the difference between hemp and marijuana? They’re both actually cannabis plants, and that’s where it gets really confusing. The botanical name of the plant is Cannabis Sativa L, and both marijuana and hemp are part of the cannabis family. There’s a really horrible history behind the use of the word “marijuana,” and they want to stop using the word and I totally get that, but at the same time they’re trying to use the word cannabis instead which doesn’t really make sense, because hemp is also cannabis. Marijuana and hemp are legally different in that hemp has to contain less than three percent THC, and CBD has no psychoactive effects.
HB: What are the many benefits of CBD products?
KB: CBD helps to interact with the endocannabinoid system in our bodies, which helps to regulate balance or homeostasis in our body, so it regulates various systems, our mood and our digestion. It’s involved in a lot of the processes in the body which is why it has so many diverse uses. It’s also known to be an anti-inflammatory, an anti-oxidant, so those two things can help at the skin level and internally.
HB: Why is it important to incorporate clean (non-gmo) ingredients into your products?
KB: Our skin is our largest organ, so we absorb what we put on the skin and natural products for the skin help to ensure that we are not getting things like parabens or artificial fragrances, these things can have the ability to disrupt our hormones. Artificial flavors, for example, are an endocrine disrupter, meaning that it can actually interfere with our body’s hormones. A lot of people have already started looking at the foods that they are eating, and they understand why they would buy something organic versus something non-organic. I think that’s something that is evolving into skincare.
HB: You have so many amazing collections between the Relief & Recovery, Tranquility and Dreamwell Collection, which collection is your favorite, why?
KB: That’s like asking a parent to choose their favorite kid! It really depends on the day, the product that I would say that I have used the longest is our Relief and Recovery cream. The product that I would say is my longest favorite is our Tranquility Capsules, I take those every single day. And my newest favorite is the Dreamwell Body Oil, I’ve been using it in place of my daily moisturizer, I use it morning and night.
HB: Describe the ideal customer for your products?
KB: We formulate products that can be used by both men and women. When we launched, we decided that we wanted to make sure women’s needs were being addressed. Initially, when we came out with the Relief and Recovery Collection, we had a lot of baby boomer women who were using the products and recommending the products to their friends. Then, we realized that there were a lot of millennials that were following us on social media, coming to our website, but they weren’t necessarily buying products. Which made sense because millennials aren’t often dealing with the same issues that baby boomers are, they’re dealing with stress. So, we came out with the Tranquility Collection to address their needs. So, we have women of all ages using our products -- we have millennials who are telling their moms about it and boomers who are telling their friends.
HB: Describe your brand in three words?
KB: Approachable, supportive, and wellness.
HB: What can we expect in the future from Sagely Naturals?
KB: We are working on a really exciting collection that will be launching in the fall, but I can’t reveal too much at this time. In October, a new collection of products we have never made before will be available to customers.
Photos courtesy of Sagely Naturals
