Our Why
At Desert Shadow we are passionate about living natural, we use the products we make and would never mislead or sell something we didn’t believe would help people. We are on a crusade and do this because we want to make a difference and offer a genuine alternative. An alternative that is affordable, accessible and most importantly truthful and transparent with health & wellbeing of the people & planet our number 1 purpose & goal.
This business was not born from anything other than necessity. Necessity for natural, necessity to do things differently and to shake up the world of the home hair colouring industry. To have product ingredients that don’t cause harm to people or to the planet. To stand up and say NO to companies that sell poisons to their customers and mislead with tag lines and promise of beauty & youth. We want to educate people so they know that they no longer have to harm their bodies with chemical laden hair colours & beauty products
for the sake of beauty.
WE KEEP NATURAL REAL.
We thank you for your support in our life mission to spread conscious beauty
Xoxo Charmaine & Tomas
This business was not born from anything other than necessity. Necessity for natural, necessity to do things differently and to shake up the world of the home hair colouring industry. To have product ingredients that don’t cause harm to people or to the planet. To stand up and say NO to companies that sell poisons to their customers and mislead with tag lines and promise of beauty & youth. We want to educate people so they know that they no longer have to harm their bodies with chemical laden hair colours & beauty products
for the sake of beauty.
WE KEEP NATURAL REAL.
We thank you for your support in our life mission to spread conscious beauty
Xoxo Charmaine & Tomas
How it all started
Desert Shadow started with a vision and passionate drive to create a change in the hair colour industry.
It all began when Charmaine couldn’t and wouldn’t use the regular chemical hair colours any longer. In 2008, after 18 months of trailing and testing, Desert Shadow was born.
“Every time I coloured my hair (which, at the time black was my colour of choice) I would get flare ups of psoriasis, my scalp would be red raw for days and apart from the fact my hair would be left dry and crunchy the smell was just awful. After having enough, I decided to look into why this was happening and the first thing I investigated were the ingredients in the products. Well, I nearly fell over when I did some research and was really angry, frustrated & sad because I trusted that these hair colour companies were selling me something that was safe to use. This couldn’t be further from the truth! A big red light was the lead acetate found in many of the darker colours, which is what I was using (and without knowing slowly poisoning myself). So began my journey to finding a better way, something more inline with how I wanted to treat my body and the environment.”
It all began when Charmaine couldn’t and wouldn’t use the regular chemical hair colours any longer. In 2008, after 18 months of trailing and testing, Desert Shadow was born.
“Every time I coloured my hair (which, at the time black was my colour of choice) I would get flare ups of psoriasis, my scalp would be red raw for days and apart from the fact my hair would be left dry and crunchy the smell was just awful. After having enough, I decided to look into why this was happening and the first thing I investigated were the ingredients in the products. Well, I nearly fell over when I did some research and was really angry, frustrated & sad because I trusted that these hair colour companies were selling me something that was safe to use. This couldn’t be further from the truth! A big red light was the lead acetate found in many of the darker colours, which is what I was using (and without knowing slowly poisoning myself). So began my journey to finding a better way, something more inline with how I wanted to treat my body and the environment.”
About the owners
Who are we?
Charmaine & Tomas, we are the people behind Desert Shadow! We are business & life partners and have been on this Journey with Desert Shadow for since 2008. We love that we can work together and run a business that is in line with our own personal ethics & morals. We love what we do.
A bit about Charmaine: I love growing vegetables in the community garden and get great satisfaction from watching plants grow from seed into something delicious that we can eat ( after snails have had a taste test - I let them roam! ). I am a label reader and am passionate about transparent business that has fair trade, sustainability & an ethical stance at its core. I am grateful for dancing, crochet, cups of tea, community and music. Charmaine is Australian born & bred from Fremantle, Western Australia
A bit about Tomas: I also love our veggie garden and digging in the dirt. Cooking with fresh produce from your own garden is the ultimate in taste & sustainability. Sailing is my sport and I enjoy being far out at sea with only the wind to guide me. I also love hiking in remote places and have done this since I was young back in my home country. I am grateful for nature, photography, cups of tea, hammocks and community. Tomas is Venezuelan who has turned a little bit Aussie. Lets call him Venez-stralian!