Natasha Prives, Vada Natural Body Care - Calgary, AB

You are what you put on your skin

Talking with Natasha Prives is like sitting in on a science lecture. No surprise. The founder of skin care specialists Vada Natural Body Care studied biochemistry in her native Ukraine before emigrating to Canada 30 years ago. She laughs when told that her deep understanding of the hard science of skin care makes her sound a bit like an academic. “It’s just typical common sense,” she shrugs. "You are what you eat, so you are what you put on your skin."

As Prives sees it, about 60 per cent of what we slather onto our bodies every day (be it facial balm, a tincture to control eczema, or even sunscreen) is absorbed by the skin and enters the body.

“Most skin care products sit on your skin longer than food in your stomach. People will put it on in the morning and might not take a shower until the next day.” The Vada philosophy embraces pure, plant-based body products — skin care based on keeping the skin in its natural state.

“I look at it like this: what you can’t eat, don’t put it on your skin,” says Prives. Vada’s line of more than 70 different body care products (from hand creams and body scrubs to spritzers, cleansers, moisturizers, masques, and even lipstick) is all biodegradable and “cruelty-free”, meaning they’ve been designed with no harm to the environment or any of its creatures. They’re natural-sourced from essential oils, vitamins, nutritious food-grade materials, cold-pressed plant oils, bioactive herbal extracts, and basic fruits and vegetables.

Even the packaging reflects a regard for the natural world. Vada doesn’t overpackage. Instead of a glitzy wrapper, they concentrate on what’s inside.

Inspired by a European upbringing that placed an emphasis on all things natural, Prives established Vada more than 20 years ago, with the objective of keeping things simple.

And she’ll tell you that people want a natural, clean product. Growing up in “the old country”, Prives was weaned on natural, wholesome foods and the medicines made from what grew in the ground.

“It was all organic, but that word didn’t exist then,” she says. “When I came (to Canada) there were so many varieties of products, all loaded with toxins.”

Prives discovered that her Canadian-born children suffered from allergies and eczema — skin problems exacerbated from synthetic chemicals and unnatural irritants found in most commercial body care products. Fortunately, her other line of study, esthetics, had given her the knowledge to make her own natural cosmetics and skin care products, which she used to treat her family.

The changing demands of her clients signal a changing of the guard in how Canadians want to treat their body’s largest organ.

“People are starting to wake up,” says Prives, noting that we’ve slumbered for a long time ignoring the basic tenets of skin care and how our health can be affected by what we put on our bodies. However, some people are hanging onto that nagging belief that natural skin care smacks of something hippy-dippy, or as Prives calls it, “Granola-y”.

“It’s hard to convince everybody until they have a problem, or are willing to learn more.” Vada’s growth won’t damage its reputation as a leader in the natural skin care industry. Ten employees work at a modest factory in Okotoks, a bedroom community south of Calgary.

“I have no interest to grow bigger,” says Prives. “Once you start to grow big you lose track of the quality.”

Vada sells across Canada and the U.S. to health food stores and even spas, but not to big supermarkets.

“We’re very picky who we deal with,” boasts the owner. “Planet Organic is our biggest customer. They have given us a chance since the beginning.”