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The CBD industry is booming, and Sagely Naturals \u2019<\/a>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. \u00a0Sagely\u2019s 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\u00a0<\/em>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.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n KB:\u00a0<\/strong>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.<\/p>\n In the summer of 2015, I saw a jar of CBD honey<\/a> sitting on a friend\u2019s kitchen counter and I asked her to try it since I\u2019ve 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\u2019ve dealt with chronic lower back pain for many years, and I noticed after I tried it, my back didn\u2019t 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\u2019s the most incredible thing I\u2019ve 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 \u201cthe medicine cabinet makeover,\u201d 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\u2019ve been taking our whole lives, she got on board. And that was the beginning of our exciting journey.<\/p>\n KB:\u00a0<\/strong>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\u2019ve 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\u2019s been crazy how much we\u2019ve been growing and how much we\u2019ve had to do to get ready for growth in the category.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n KB: <\/strong>\u00a0Sagely Naturals sells products with CBD, and we consider ourselves a wellness brand. We are looking to help with, what we call \u201cwhole self-wellness -- soul, mind and body.\u201d When we started there weren\u2019t 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.\u00a0 However, women\u2019s 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<\/a> ingredients, and we\u2019re 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\u2019s not just a CBD<\/a> cream, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n KB: <\/strong>It helps to even take one step backwards. So, what\u2019s the difference between hemp and marijuana? They\u2019re both actually cannabis plants, and that\u2019s 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\u2019s a really horrible history behind the use of the word \u201cmarijuana,\u201d and they want to stop using the word and I totally get that, but at the same time they\u2019re trying to use the word cannabis instead which doesn\u2019t 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<\/a> has no psychoactive effects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n KB: <\/strong>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\u2019s involved in a lot of the processes in the body which is why it has so many diverse uses. It\u2019s also known to be an anti-inflammatory, an anti-oxidant<\/a>, so those two things can help at the skin level and internally.<\/p>\n KB: <\/strong>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\u2019s 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\u2019s something that is evolving into skincare.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n KB: <\/strong>That\u2019s 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<\/a> cream. The product that I would say is my longest favorite is our Tranquility<\/a> Capsules, I take those every single day. And my newest favorite is the Dreamwell<\/a> Body Oil, I\u2019ve been using it in place of my daily moisturizer, I use it morning and night.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nHB: How did you get started in the CBD industry?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nHB: When did you realize that the CBD industry was an upcoming booming market?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
HB: What makes your company stand out compared to your competitors?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
HB: Most people equate CBD with cannabis, can you explain the difference?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
HB: What are the many benefits of CBD products?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nHB: Why is it important to incorporate clean (non-gmo) ingredients into your products? <\/strong><\/h4>\n
HB: You have so many amazing collections between the Relief & Recovery, Tranquility and Dreamwell Collection, which collection is your favorite, why?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
HB: Describe the ideal customer for your products?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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