The Story Behind Hälsa Botanicals

Hälsa Botanicals Had a Very Untraditional Start 

Our founder, Catherine Bander, is an insurance sales executive and busy mom who never had time for complicated skincare routines or make-up.

But after becoming a passive investor in a hemp company, she began extensive research on its health benefits.

She learned that hemp is known for anti-inflammatory benefits – an important factor both for muscular pain and for skin care. Surveying the currently available products, Catherine was disappointed to find that most hemp topicals contained chemical ingredients.

All of this inspired Catherine to create her own hemp skincare line.

Mentors in the beauty industry helped her formulate her first three hemp skincare products - a night creme, facial masque and facial serum - using Swedish twinflower oil, rich with emollients. Despite an initial resistance to added fragrance, she came across the elderflower – a gentle plant, pleasantly perfumed and rich with antioxidants.

When she announced to friends that she was launching a natural skincare line, they couldn’t stop laughing. Knowing that she typically eschewed fancy skincare, they were skeptical. However, once they tried the products, they were happily surprised to find how amazing they truly were. 

Catherine named her luxury skincare company Hälsa Botanicals (Hälsa is the Swedish word for “health”) to underscore her commitment to purity in her natural skincare products. It was also to pay tribute to Swedish twinflower, the national flower of Sweden. 

As someone whose motto both at work and in her business is to “be of service,” the reception to her fledgling line of products has been the most rewarding aspect of her venture.

When she first started distributing Hälsa products, a 70-year-old Nevada woman wrote to tell her, “You’ve bottled gold for the skin.”  People sent her before-and-after pictures and a woman plagued by fibromyalgia wrote that Hälsa’s muscle-soothing roller had given her “complete pain relief for the first time.”

A few months later she got another message from Maggie, age 30, saying how the face serum has completely transformed her skincare routine, “Glow has changed the texture of my skin. My face is literally glowing from using this serum!”

“I could never have dreamed that we would create products as great as these,” Bander said, “I wasn’t looking to revolutionize skincare”.

Catherine also committed to creating a natural skincare company that reflects her values. That includes not only using high quality, non-GMO, vegan ingredients - organic ingredients where possible, but also producing her products in the US and sustainable practices like post consumer recycled packaging. 

Catherine and her team are on a mission to bring Hälsa products to as many people as possible so they too can get the same positive impact on their skin.