Bloomfield-based curly care brand sponsors plastic clean-up days

With every sale of its products, Bloomfield-based haircare company Wonder Curl will sponsor a clean-up day in a developing country to recover non-recyclable plastic before it enters the ocean, per a partnership announced July 21 with cleantech startup Cleanhub.

Cleanhub, based in Berlin, Germany, connects sustainable brands like Wonder Curl with collection partners who are the boots on the ground to ensure the waste gets recycled.

Not only does Cleanhub connect companies to collection partners, but it also keeps watch on them to make sure they’re doing what they say they’re doing, Wonder Curl Founder Scarlett Rocourt said.

Wonder Curl products come in recycled jars. – WONDER CURL

“It’s not like greenwashing, which is a huge problem with some businesses,” she said.

Rocourt founded Wonder Curl 11 years ago with the idea that curly hair doesn’t have to be difficult. “You don’t need a degree to deal with it. But it’s a whole different language,” she said.

She’d stopped relaxing her hair in 1998, which she said led to her “becoming [her] full authentic self;” and her growing passion for sustainability led to her packaging her jarred products in 100% recyclable plastic containers in 2019.

“We started our journey by offering 100% vegan and cruelty-free products, then by switching to completely recycled jars, and now we are taking that commitment even one step further by aiding in the clean-up of plastic waste in our communities through our Cleanhub partnership,” Rocourt said.

Building a sustainable business—using the recycled plastic jars, sponsoring the clean-ups, using more natural ingredients—reflects her values as a person, she said.

“I don’t want to tell people on my social media ‘reduce your plastic’ and then be like ‘here, use these plastic jars,’” she said.

Wonder Curl products are mostly sold online, though small boutiques and curly hair salons around the country sell them, too. They’re sold at JoeMiguel Salon in Elizabeth and Rocourt is opening a pop-up shop in the Hahne & Co. building in Newark next month.

She’s currently holding her “Christmas in July” sale from July 23 to 25. Customers receive 40% off orders July 23, 30% off orders July 24, and 25% off orders July 25.