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Sustainable living
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Kate Assaraf, CEO of DIP Sustainable Hair Care joins me today to have a timely conversation about sustainability and shopping small - with some 90's throwback memories thrown in!
As we are in holiday shopping, consider shopping small and sustainable.
For info in DIP Haircare - https://dipalready.com/collections/best-sellers-1
IG - @dipalready
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Transcript
Introduction and Recognition
00:00:01
Sharla Mandere
Hello and welcome back to Momtabulous. I am your host, Sharla Mandair, and with me today is Kate Assaraf. Kate is a mom of two seven and nine-year-old boys and is the founder of Dip Sustainable Hair Care, which aims to playfully educate people about the environment as well as encourage people to buy better Buy less and shop small.
00:00:23
Sharla Mandere
I love it. She's been featured in Allure, Cosmopolitan, Birdie, and in 2020 was named Woman of Courage in Insignium Quarterly's Issue Celebration of Female Leaders, and in 2024 was named Mompreneur of the Year in New Jersey.
00:00:39
Sharla Mandere
She fights the urge to change her hair regularly and has experienced many hair dramas and triumphs firsthand, which she says doesn't make her an expert on anything except knowing that a good hair day can make a huge difference.
00:00:52
Sharla Mandere
I love that. And as we were saying, as a daughter of a hairdresser, i get that. So but welcome, Kate.
00:00:59
Kate Assaraf
Thanks for
DIP's Unique Selling Points
00:01:00
Kate Assaraf
having me. This is so fun.
00:01:02
Sharla Mandere
I love it. So tell me more about DIP hair care. Like what?
00:01:06
Kate Assaraf
right Basically, um dip hair care is very serious hair care for not so serious people like simple as that. And it just happens to be plastic free. I tried to make it so good.
00:01:17
Kate Assaraf
that the plastic free part of the marketing is not even touched upon for the most part. And so the shampoo is, it's in bar form. So the shampoo um is made specifically to solve that problem of choosing between your good hair day and a workout.
00:01:32
Kate Assaraf
So if you're somewhat like I run every day in the woods. And so I hate that that decision I used to have to make of overwashing, like, oh, do i run? And then like, I have to have my hair look good today, but then tomorrow I have this other event. So I just made it so gentle that you can use it every day.
00:01:47
Kate Assaraf
and you don't have to make that cost-benefit analysis. And then um the conditioner bar will replace, you know for me personally, 12 tubes of Oribe Goldlust. So even if you don't care about the environment, it saves you a lot of money.
00:02:02
Kate Assaraf
um And that's kind of a win-win for all because everyone thinks of sustainability as like ah something that's more expensive that's going to leave them feeling less than. And um the dip conditioner bar is like my magnum opus. It's the coolest thing I've ever put out on the planet.
00:02:17
Kate Assaraf
Besides my kids, obviously.
00:02:19
Sharla Mandere
but but
00:02:20
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:02:21
Sharla Mandere
I love this. And you're speaking my language. Like I'm a fitness instructor and it is the, it is like the days of like, I don't want to wash my hair, but I'm doing a spin class and I know I'm going to sweat like crazy.
00:02:32
Sharla Mandere
And then I like to go in the infrared sauna after. so I've got to time the sauna days to the hair wash days because the sweat just pools in the back.
00:02:38
Kate Assaraf
Yes.
00:02:40
Sharla Mandere
And yeah, you're speaking my language. Yeah.
00:02:42
Kate Assaraf
It's crazy. It's crazy. And then the other thing that like really helpful for moms is that the conditioner bar doubles as an after swim detangler. So whether you're a swimmer, a surfer, or just have children that love to go in and out of the pool, the dip bar conditioner bar, you dip in water, run down wet hair, and you can air dry and go.
00:03:00
Kate Assaraf
That's it.
00:03:02
Sharla Mandere
I that. Yeah. We're in San Diego. So we do the beach a lot this summer.
00:03:05
Kate Assaraf
Okay.
00:03:06
Sharla Mandere
So yeah, we're, uh, yeah. My girls have long hair, like, like their hair long, which I love.
00:03:10
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:12
Sharla Mandere
And so, um, yeah, we're always like at the ocean. They're like, can you braid it? So I don't know how to deal with it.
00:03:18
Kate Assaraf
you
00:03:20
Sharla Mandere
And then still, even with the braids, they try to brush it and the salt just makes it so you can't brush through, you know?
00:03:26
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. And so, yeah, the conditioner bar takes away that brittleness and breakage that comes with long stretches in the sea or in the pool and it's ouchless. So it's not going to hurt. Like they can put it on from the temples down.
00:03:39
Kate Assaraf
You can control where it goes and then doesn't hurt at all to get those tangles out.
00:03:43
Sharla Mandere
I love it so much. What like inspired you to to do this?
Inspiration Behind DIP
00:03:50
Kate Assaraf
Well, I would say, you know, back in 20, 14, I was pregnant with my first son and I really learned about the horrors of plastic then, not just the accumulation horrors, but like the horrors about human health and animal health and what was happening um with, you know know, endocrine disruption and all of those, um you know, kind of nasties that come along with plastic. But so I tried to do a plastic free, mostly plastic conscious life.
00:04:17
Kate Assaraf
um But it got to the point of so much frustration with plastic free hair care that I was like, I can't, use these bars anymore. Like the bars, would always, you know, buy different bars and try different bars. And then like, you know, when no one was looking, I'd be hitting the bottle in the in the shower.
00:04:33
Kate Assaraf
Like no one could see that I was like, i really was attached to my luxury hair care because you wear your hair every day. And um I knew, cause I've been in beauty for about 20 years that I could solve this problem. I could make really good bar hair care for people who really care about hair and the marketing wouldn't like, I was like, I,
00:04:52
Kate Assaraf
you know i care about the environment, but like i also, it's not at the sacrifice of just what I look like every day. And that might be vain, and but I don't think I'm alone there.
00:05:02
Sharla Mandere
No, no, you're not.
00:05:02
Kate Assaraf
yeah
00:05:05
Sharla Mandere
We've gotten so used to convenience, you know and and it is just, we I don't think a lot of people question it.
00:05:07
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:05:11
Sharla Mandere
Shampoo just comes in plastic bottles that you get at Target and and you squeeze it and that's that's where it comes. Yeah.
00:05:11
Kate Assaraf
Totally.
00:05:18
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:05:19
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:05:20
Kate Assaraf
So, yeah. So, I mean, that that's really where it came from. The the frustration was so real because I was trying to reduce waste. And instead I had this like graveyard of different shampoo bars and conditioner bars in my shower that I was just never going to use again. So I ended up actually creating more garbage than if I just stuck with the stuff that I loved.
00:05:37
Kate Assaraf
And, you know, ah totally defeated the whole point of my my journey. And i remember when i said to my husband, i was like, I think I think can make this better. i can I think I can make this and like revolutionize this category.
00:05:51
Kate Assaraf
And so far, so so good. i i meanne i really love i love what we made. I've never looked back. Every once in a while, I'll test out an old friend, an old luxury brand, and be like, hey you know what? It's just, it's not for me.
00:06:05
Sharla Mandere
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And like what, so you, you were in beauty for, you said 20 years before that, were you a hairdresser or what?
00:06:12
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. yeah
00:06:15
Sharla Mandere
Like.
00:06:15
Kate Assaraf
No, was on the product and marketing side.
00:06:15
Sharla Mandere
Okay.
00:06:18
Kate Assaraf
So I'd been behind the scenes on a lot of different brands, um not a just marketing, but also like um on the formulation side. So I've kind of been, you know, fluid within the industry on all different roles.
00:06:33
Sharla Mandere
Awesome. I love that. And I love that. Like, there's got to be a better way, right? Like on Shark Tank, like there's got to be a better way.
00:06:37
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. yeah Yeah. I love when they do that.
00:06:42
Sharla Mandere
but Because it's true.
00:06:43
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:06:44
Sharla Mandere
Like people think that all the time.
00:06:45
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:06:46
Sharla Mandere
Like I remember my grandma used to knit um like around the hangers.
00:06:54
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:06:54
Sharla Mandere
so that, so that it was like it, your clothes would stay on the hangers.
00:06:58
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:06:58
Sharla Mandere
Now we have these like velvet hangers that, and I was like, Oh my God, we were onto to some million dollar idea and never even, it was just something that I just was like, this is special.
00:07:05
Kate Assaraf
but
00:07:09
Sharla Mandere
My grandma made me a hanger. Like it wasn't now I'm an entrepreneur and I'm like, Oh, we could have totally sold that and made so much, you know, but.
00:07:18
Kate Assaraf
Totally. Totally. I would love to to go on Shark Tank and hear what Mr. Wonderful had to say about hair care because he's always got opinions and he has no hair. It would be super fun.
00:07:25
Sharla Mandere
Right. Baldness. He's such an expert. um So what i love, though, is how you built this business and you don't do Amazon.
00:07:37
Kate Assaraf
No,
E-commerce Strategy and Local Shopping
00:07:38
Kate Assaraf
no. Much to many moms dismay. I do not do Amazon, but there's actually a ah mom forward reason for that. And what that really is, is one, um i want people to shop in stores. I think moms specifically are bombarded with so much fear marketing in so many different departments, right? Like where every time I see an ad that's clearly geared towards me as a mom, it's it's pretty much not problem solution, it's fear.
00:08:05
Kate Assaraf
like fear, fear, fear. So I think the bombardment of ads is one thing. um i think digital noise is has become overwhelming. Once you become a parent, they know.
00:08:16
Kate Assaraf
The internet knows and it and it finds you really fast. And so I know what most moms want are are really good things for themselves and really good things for their families. And so... I encourage them to explore um zero waste stores or or refilleries that exist all all around the country. And many may already shop there, but a lot of them don't know that these places exist. that do the um They do the homework on the ingredients for you.
00:08:41
Kate Assaraf
You know, they do, they they vet every version of a product before it's on their shelves. So if you want like the best shampoo and conditioner bars, a lot of these refilleries or zero waste stores, they carry dip. They've tried all 200 brands and they're like, no, I'm putting all my eggs in this basket.
00:08:57
Kate Assaraf
And um I think that's really helpful for moms who are trying to find really good stuff. for their families. It's all of that weight and responsibility falls on motherhood a lot of the time.
00:09:08
Sharla Mandere
Mm-hmm.
00:09:08
Kate Assaraf
And I figure that if I can get people into refilleries to check out dip in their local store, there it's a win-win.
00:09:16
Kate Assaraf
They're supporting a local entrepreneur, many of which are moms. but running these stores and they're kind of, they don't have to do all the extra homework that comes with finding like the best thing for your family.
00:09:27
Kate Assaraf
And so that's the reason I don't sell on Amazon because i I need people to learn that there are solutions in your town, in many towns, not all of them that make it easier for moms.
00:09:40
Sharla Mandere
Yeah, I love it especially if you're in a big city, right? Like I think big cities lean a little more towards the the refilleries and I've seen some around San Diego too.
00:09:43
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:09:51
Sharla Mandere
um I love that so much.
00:09:54
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:09:54
Sharla Mandere
Yeah. yeah And I think it's an important point, right? Like we've gotten so used to the convenience of shopping online or the one-stop shop like Target has groceries and clothes and birthday presents and toys and shampoos and everything.
00:10:03
Kate Assaraf
Right.
00:10:08
Sharla Mandere
and
00:10:08
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:10:09
Sharla Mandere
and And, we've gotten so used to just because we are busy, so busy.
00:10:13
Kate Assaraf
Right.
00:10:15
Sharla Mandere
So if someone is looking for like a zero waste store or a refillery like, and they don't know anything about it, what are the other kinds of things that they might be able to find there?
Benefits of Zero Waste Stores
00:10:27
Kate Assaraf
So if you're in a family with two messy boys like mine, you might be looking for a replacement to paper towels. So I think that's probably one of the most cost-effective replacements I've made is getting rid of paper towels and just buying. they have There's a brand called Marley's Monsters. There's another one called Planet B. um And they both they they both solve the same problem, which is like, I still keep paper towels for making bacon.
00:10:50
Kate Assaraf
Um, that's, that's a must. So anything we do, like, and anything I promote about refilleries, it's not done in an extreme. I'm not saying you should buy everything there or never shop on Amazon because then I would be a phony. I do, I shop on Amazon and I do buy, um, some plastic items, but I think even a replacement for Ziploc bags, there's so stasher bags or, you know, the high volume things that you, you really don't need plastic jugs for anymore, like hand soap.
00:11:17
Kate Assaraf
You can just refill whatever container you already have. um and pay for what you take, ah laundry detergent, um dishwasher, detergent. those Those three things are like the household kind of work courses.
00:11:30
Kate Assaraf
And you can buy those and never really need plastic again, which I think is so cool.
00:11:35
Sharla Mandere
Yeah, that's awesome. I do like that. I have looked for like paper towel alternatives that work kind of just as well, you know, and we have replaced our plastic bag, like Ziploc bags, like the biodegradable ones that work.
00:11:52
Kate Assaraf
Oh yeah, it's great. Yeah.
00:11:54
Sharla Mandere
I'm like, they work just because there were, I've tried other like sandwich, but they're, they're big and and bulky and they don't zip all the way.
00:11:57
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:12:02
Sharla Mandere
And then the sandwich goes in backpack and
00:12:03
Kate Assaraf
Totally.
00:12:05
Sharla Mandere
So, but the ones that i I really like and they act just like a Ziploc baggie and they're the green, you know, and they're biodegradable.
00:12:09
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:12:12
Sharla Mandere
So I feel like even if I throw em away, they'll break down.
00:12:15
Kate Assaraf
Yeah, totally. And what's cool is like, so that frustration you had where you like, you tried a couple and they weren't for you. Like if you go to, you know, a zero waste store, that store owner, like already knows everything about every version of the product that there were.
00:12:29
Kate Assaraf
From my experience, they have the ones that I work with. They really like, they're going to try every Ziploc alternative before they put the one or two brands on their shelf. And I think that that is like a relief.
00:12:40
Kate Assaraf
um It's a relief to go in there and not have to buy the worst versions of sustainable things and only have the best curated for you.
00:12:40
Sharla Mandere
ne
00:12:48
Sharla Mandere
Yeah, totally. And it's good to like be able to add, right? It's like shopping at a department store where you have the shopper that knows, yeah.
00:12:55
Kate Assaraf
Right.
00:12:55
Sharla Mandere
Oh, like that style. You got this over here that you might like to, right? So
00:12:59
Kate Assaraf
yeah Don't you miss that about going into, ah like, I remember going into stores and there would like be someone helping you choose like, you know, a dress whatever for an event.
00:13:05
Sharla Mandere
yeah.
00:13:08
Kate Assaraf
I kind of miss that.
00:13:10
Sharla Mandere
Yeah. Yeah. I think you only get it now at like the Bloomingdale's, like the high, high end.
00:13:13
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:13:16
Kate Assaraf
Totally.
00:13:17
Sharla Mandere
But yeah, I do. I do. I like that human interaction. i think it's time like for us to be getting back to human interaction and
00:13:22
Kate Assaraf
I
00:13:27
Kate Assaraf
i agree. i think I think it'll bring some empathy back to capitalism. um And I think that that's really important. I think we're we're losing it in the add to cart world. We're losing... like just knowing who the people are in your town.
00:13:40
Kate Assaraf
um You're you were losing this, the thing that made like human beings like create civilization, right? Like commerce was one of those things. And it used to be person to person and you'd have to look someone in the eye if you sold them something crappy.
00:13:55
Kate Assaraf
And now it's not like that. People are selling crappy goods like right and left. And then they put you in an AI hell loop for customer service. And like, then you're pretty much just like, it's not really worth my time or my life to get my money back at this point.
00:14:07
Kate Assaraf
I guess I'll just like, you know, write a bad review and move on. And most brands can control reviews. So it's not even, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of like, we've lost so much of like, the social fiber of being human from, from this, you know, direct to consumer world.
00:14:16
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
Impact of Modern Commerce on Human Interaction
00:14:25
Sharla Mandere
Totally. Yeah. I don't even like the self checkout at the grocery store.
00:14:28
Kate Assaraf
Me either. me either. But I do it because there's no one ever at the register.
00:14:33
Sharla Mandere
I know I'm like, and yet you are paying someone to stand there and monitor the self checkouts.
00:14:39
Kate Assaraf
I know.
00:14:39
Sharla Mandere
So you'll have, you know, you still need humans. Yeah.
00:14:42
Kate Assaraf
Totally. And I used to let like, i used to, um, in my supermarket, I used to have one lady that I really liked to go to. She's like my favorite lady. And like, now she, I don't even know she's still there. I haven't seen her.
00:14:53
Kate Assaraf
Um, and you know, I, but my whole life, like I've always tried to make it a point to know who works at my post office, who works at the bookstore. And if those things kind of go away, like it's weird.
00:15:01
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:15:04
Kate Assaraf
You're just in your house clicking on things.
00:15:06
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:15:07
Sharla Mandere
I remember like you're bringing up a memory of like with my grandpa when I was little and there was at the bank. there was this window outside of the bank, which now basically she was a human ATM.
00:15:07
Kate Assaraf
Oh,
00:15:17
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:15:19
Sharla Mandere
You would go up to the window and my grandpa would write the check and she would give him the cash.
00:15:19
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:15:23
Sharla Mandere
And it was this, it was like a teller on the outside of the bank behind this window. and then all of a sudden there was an ATM machine there. And I was like, where did the lady Where did she go?
00:15:34
Sharla Mandere
Like what happened to her?
00:15:35
Sharla Mandere
And, you know, and it was like, yeah, I remember my parents being like, someday we're all gonna be replaced by robots. And I feel like here we are.
00:15:35
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:15:41
Kate Assaraf
I know.
00:15:45
Sharla Mandere
It's great to be able to support like the small businesses. And and i love that you have done this, not on Amazon. And then it sparked this whole conversation. Yeah.
00:15:53
Kate Assaraf
Well, what's cool is like, you know, there's these um store owners all around the country and like some of them, because of my, um you know, my stance on Amazon, not putting my products on Amazon, they're able to have like make a living because people come in and regularly buy dip from them. And that's very important to me, like as you know, to that people go into their store and purchase from them. Like I make less money per bar, but, but I have now a network of people that,
00:16:23
Kate Assaraf
are really important to the movement. Like, cause it's not just about shampoo and conditioner. It's about the bigger, you know, stories like getting plastic out of, out of everything in our lives. Like, of course it's very, it's, it's got properties that make it very amazing for so many other things in our lives, but where we can kind of mitigate our exposure to it for our bodies or health, like that's,
00:16:44
Kate Assaraf
that's what I want people to do. Go into store and be like, oh my God, I'll also, i can also solve this other problem, you know, at the same time. um that's That's what I'm trying to do. It weirds people out a little bit. They think it's not all altruism. It's like, I'm i'm trying, you know,
00:17:01
Kate Assaraf
I know that there's a bigger thing out there, like with with our health, we're going to see it, you know, get dramatically worse in every in every generation. We're already seeing that. And if we can reduce our exposure to plastic and allowing it into our bodies, it's it's a win for for everyone.
00:17:19
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
Plastic Reduction and Informed Consumer Choices
00:17:20
Sharla Mandere
And I think that's something that people aren't aware of is and as like a health coach, like I is becoming more and more top of mind for me too, is the amount of plastic that we just have in our body.
00:17:30
Kate Assaraf
I know.
00:17:30
Sharla Mandere
Just even if you like have to feed a baby from a bottle, like, which I, had to supplement both of my kids, you know, like you feed them from a bottle, a plastic bottle.
00:17:31
Kate Assaraf
around Right.
00:17:41
Sharla Mandere
And so from infancy, we're getting these micro, these microplastic, I've even stopped cooking with foil because you, when you heat the foil, little pieces of it, and then you have metals inside your body.
00:17:48
Kate Assaraf
Me too.
00:17:53
Kate Assaraf
Totally.
00:17:54
Sharla Mandere
Right.
00:17:55
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:17:56
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:17:56
Kate Assaraf
It's, it's, and, and I, if anyone's listening, like everyone, you gotta, you can't live in like the fear either of like aluminum foil or any of those things, but what you can do is just reduce your exposure to it because you're going to go to a restaurant, you're going to get like takeout in aluminum and it's not going to be the end of the world. It's just reducing the amount.
00:18:16
Kate Assaraf
And, um and, you know, like that's something I always want. i always want people to realize, like, I don't want them to panic over every, you know, piece of exposure to plastic, you know, but but it's, it's something that we should be thinking about, especially as moms.
00:18:27
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:18:32
Kate Assaraf
um We're the gatekeepers to what ah many times our family is exposed to.
00:18:37
Sharla Mandere
Yeah, totally. So, and I, and I like that it's not an all or nothing, right?
00:18:41
Kate Assaraf
Right.
00:18:41
Sharla Mandere
They do think people hear, conversations like this and like, Oh my God, we've got to get rid of everything that is, no, that's so overwhelming.
00:18:46
Kate Assaraf
right
00:18:48
Sharla Mandere
So I'm just going to do nothing.
00:18:49
Kate Assaraf
Yes.
00:18:49
Sharla Mandere
But if you can, if you can, you know, I've got my reusable water bottle here, right. I'm not just in the shirt today.
00:18:56
Kate Assaraf
but but
00:18:57
Sharla Mandere
You know, but like not buying the plastic water, but we buy the plastic water bottles for birthday parties, but for the day to day, I send my kids to school with a hydro flask, right?
00:19:03
Kate Assaraf
Right.
00:19:07
Sharla Mandere
but yeah Like we,
00:19:08
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. Yeah, you're at an amusement park, your your kid is thirsty, get them the water, it's okay.
00:19:09
Sharla Mandere
with
00:19:14
Kate Assaraf
you know don't don't i mean like it The stress of being in the extremes is is too much. It's like not worth it. But if you're in moderation on all of these things that just kind of make small changes as you see necessary, it's a better way to live and it's a it's a stronger way to kind of adjust.
00:19:33
Sharla Mandere
Yeah, totally. Yeah. i mean, we can't all just live like on, on the land, like we did.
00:19:38
Kate Assaraf
No.
00:19:38
Sharla Mandere
man Right.
00:19:38
Kate Assaraf
No.
00:19:39
Sharla Mandere
like but We're still going to drive a car.
00:19:39
Kate Assaraf
And I don't want to. ah
00:19:43
Kate Assaraf
right
00:19:43
Sharla Mandere
I know I'm looking at this wall behind you and I, you have a peak.
00:19:44
Kate Assaraf
You know who'd be still cleaning up after the animals? Me. I don't want
00:19:52
Sharla Mandere
I love peacocks.
00:19:53
Kate Assaraf
Oh yeah. It's a, yeah, there's this crazy wallpaper company called Mind the Gap and they have this, it's just top to bottom. i don't know whether that you can see, but like, it's just really cool. There's like arches at the top. I don't know.
00:20:06
Kate Assaraf
I don't know. It's, it makes me feel like I'm in, um in Morocco, um but I am not, I am here in New Jersey.
00:20:13
Sharla Mandere
I love it. A little bit of Morocco and Jersey.
00:20:16
Sharla Mandere
I love it. um Awesome. Well, okay. Is there anything else? Like, like what can, so if you want to whip moms to have like one takeaway,
00:20:16
Kate Assaraf
Yeah.
00:20:25
Kate Assaraf
yeah
00:20:25
Sharla Mandere
from like what you've learned over the last years of, of, of creating this and doing, doing this and and being part of this movement. I see you as like a face of this movement for a more sustainable, like living lifestyle.
00:20:33
Kate Assaraf
but
00:20:38
Sharla Mandere
What's like one takeaway that you want moms to hear?
Returning to Face-to-Face Commerce
00:20:41
Kate Assaraf
I think I want moms to hear that. think. that I think that there's this new kind of wave of face-to-face commerce that is coming back. We've lost it for a little bit. And I think that it's healthier for people, you know, if if you're buying from someone face-to-face,
00:20:59
Kate Assaraf
And you're able to like return something face to face, really like no, you know, really know the people in your town that curate stuff that's specific for you and the best of the best. And I think that that's what I really want people to understand is that I think it's starting to shift and it relies on moms because we're the ones that really do most of the shopping.
00:21:21
Kate Assaraf
You look at any stat or talk to any family, it's mostly the moms that that pressure is put on. And, um and I think for just kind of our own sanity, we need to, we we need, we need like this, the social fiber of shopping person to person back. I'm tired of buying this stuff that stinks online.
00:21:41
Kate Assaraf
um but
00:21:41
Sharla Mandere
you so You don't know if it's going be good or not. There's that like...
00:21:44
Kate Assaraf
No, I know.
00:21:45
Sharla Mandere
oh
00:21:45
Kate Assaraf
And then you're stuck with it more more often than not, because every mom I know is kind of busy. They don't need to sit and like, argue with AI forever, you know? Totally.
00:21:56
Sharla Mandere
Well, you know what I get stuck in with Amazon returns is then you go to Kohl's and then you get the 20% discount. And then I've spent $200 at Kohl's and I just want to return the pants that didn't fit.
00:22:05
Kate Assaraf
Totally.
00:22:07
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:22:07
Kate Assaraf
Totally, totally. And all that money looks so much better in your bank account than it does in Kohl's cash, to be honest. so it's
00:22:13
Sharla Mandere
Right.
00:22:16
Sharla Mandere
I know. I'm like, I'm going to return at the UPS store. There's nothing for me to buy there.
00:22:22
Kate Assaraf
Until you see those cute birthday cards and you're like, maybe I need these for a rainy day.
00:22:25
Sharla Mandere
Maybe I need to ship something somewhere.
00:22:30
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. I mean, I honestly, like I, I, I want people to discover all the options that are out there for them that make life easier, um that don't make you feel like your sustainable choice was like an expensive regret.
00:22:43
Kate Assaraf
That's really what I want.
00:22:45
Sharla Mandere
Yeah. And I love, I love that you said that because I feel like, you know, having two teen, two teen girls now, I, I see, you know, like but in the eighties when I was growing up and we had a sleepover, it was like, we were making up games and playing truth or dare and prank calling people and right. Doing the things.
00:23:05
Sharla Mandere
My kids have sleepovers and they're all, ah they're all on their phones. Like, so and like, why don't you guys, and they're like, no we're playing together. They're playing like, we're playing. And I'm like, you're not playing together.
00:23:15
Sharla Mandere
You're playing next to each other, but you're, and and you're in the same game, but this isn't actually like, I will physically, I'm the mom that will physically take the phones and be like, here's a board game.
00:23:26
Kate Assaraf
is no one is no one freezing bras anymore is that god that was such a funny thing that we used to do
00:23:29
Sharla Mandere
well
00:23:35
Sharla Mandere
Right? Yeah. Don't be the first one to fall asleep. We'll put your hand in warm water.
00:23:38
Kate Assaraf
um
00:23:41
Kate Assaraf
cool yeah it's a wild time 90s right
00:23:45
Sharla Mandere
i know. I was telling my kids about like TPing houses and they're like, you could, you just threw toilet paper at people's house. I'm like, yeah, it was really fun.
00:23:53
Kate Assaraf
yeah yeah i mean we had mischief night in new jersey it was like a big deal i don't know i didn't know it didn't exist in the whole country but did you have that where you grew up it was like the toilet papering night but it was it was basically the night before halloween
00:23:54
Sharla Mandere
They're like, don't get it
00:24:04
Sharla Mandere
No, what is Mischief Night?
00:24:11
Kate Assaraf
mischief night
00:24:11
Sharla Mandere
Oh. Wow. that would be And you just, you were just, everybody everybody knew and everybody just.
00:24:17
Kate Assaraf
yeah i never i my mom but did not like mischief night so i was never allowed to participate but that's like when people did the tp-ing i'm like the other one was like the plastic forks in the lawn you had to like take them out one by one
00:24:17
Sharla Mandere
That
00:24:24
Sharla Mandere
was funny.
00:24:33
Kate Assaraf
yeah
00:24:34
Sharla Mandere
like pranking people, but like.
00:24:35
Kate Assaraf
yeah They were like, really you know, not so harmful pranks.
00:24:36
Sharla Mandere
everybody
00:24:39
Kate Assaraf
Sometimes someone would get their mailbox smashed. That was a bad one.
00:24:44
Sharla Mandere
Yeah.
00:24:46
Sharla Mandere
We didn't have mailboxes by the, we had mailbox, like it was like a slot that went into your house.
00:24:52
Kate Assaraf
Oh, cool.
00:24:53
Sharla Mandere
So, you know, that didn't exist. Yeah. We did have a foreign exchange student from France. when I was in high school and, and there was a bunch of us that had these exchange students. And so we took them TPing and they had never done it. And then we got letters cause it was the nineties. We got letters to France of like, we took our friends TPing and I was like, we made international.
00:25:20
Kate Assaraf
That's so funny.
00:25:21
Sharla Mandere
I don't know they took off in France or not, but they did it, you know
00:25:21
Kate Assaraf
you know
00:25:24
Kate Assaraf
It's so crazy. My husband and i when we did our honeymoon, we did this like road trip around the United States and we went to this campground and there was a bunch of international people in Monument Valley and all of them were so excited that there were Americans there to show them how to make s'mores.
00:25:43
Kate Assaraf
It was like their whole, they were wanted so badly. They were like, Americans use red cups for parties and make s'mores.
00:25:52
Kate Assaraf
you Yeah. and
00:25:54
Sharla Mandere
I love, it it's so funny the things that they think that are like, but it is, it's like, make s'mores.
00:25:58
Kate Assaraf
It is.
Cultural Reflections on Shared Experiences
00:26:00
Kate Assaraf
I know. We make s'mores every time. it was a fire. If you go to a fire and there's no s'mores, you're pissed.
00:26:02
Sharla Mandere
There's
00:26:05
Kate Assaraf
It's amazing.
00:26:05
Sharla Mandere
even a restaurant out here that's like a camping themed restaurant and they bring a little table and you can make s'mores at the table.
00:26:11
Kate Assaraf
amazing
00:26:12
Sharla Mandere
ah It's like inside s'mores. Yeah. We are maybe a little s'mores obsessed in America, but that's funny. The things that like, yeah, just don't exist.
00:26:24
Sharla Mandere
And I think it's important to travel and and see the world and experience the other cultures and then have them like, like figure out, you know, us too. Like we're a little weird.
00:26:33
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. Totally.
00:26:38
Sharla Mandere
This has been so fun. Thank you so much, Kate, for coming on. And, and I love the movement. I love the movement of, you know, face-to-face shopping and sustainable I love the zero waste stores and refilleries.
00:26:50
Sharla Mandere
It's a great tip. And I encourage people to hop on Google and or the maps and find one near you and and go. and and And can you smell things there? Like you can smell them, smell
00:26:58
Kate Assaraf
Yeah. Yeah, i encourage I encourage you to go like the box is designed so you can smell at the top. And what I do want to say is something on the back of the box in our ingredient deck, it does say fragrance. And I want people to know we chose synthetic fragrance for very specific reasons. And right now there's like this anti-fragrance movement, which is rightly so. in in many There's different levels of fragrance.
00:27:22
Kate Assaraf
So there's fragrance that's full of like phthalates and endocrine disruptors. Ours is not. It is specifically formulated um to take the nasties out. ah It just appears the same as a bad one on the box.
00:27:36
Kate Assaraf
And something that people, you know especially at california in California, a lot of people, i they always ask questions about the fragrance. And what I want to say about essential oils that a lot of people don't know about is many times they're cold pressed with pesticides on the plant.
00:27:51
Kate Assaraf
And so people don't know that when you're when you're getting essential oils, depending on where it's sourced from ah or whether it's you know like commodified and comes from many different farms, you don't know what the farming practices were for those plants. and So for me, just so I can sleep at night and it's something that I would put on myself and my own children, I wanted this cleanest level of synthetic fragrances. So I would never be responsible for putting accidentally putting pesticides on someone's child because those are intended to kill, you know, the essential oil part is great, but you don't often know how they're farmed. Like what, like all the farming
Synthetic Fragrance in DIP Products
00:28:30
Kate Assaraf
practices, all those things. And, you know, with sustainability in mind, which is always like the heart and soul of what i do, the amount, you know,
00:28:38
Kate Assaraf
that The dip scents are made in a lab. We also have fragrance free. If you're just trying, if you're like, hey lady, you're full of it. Like, like you yeah I don't trust what you're saying about fragrance. Like, that's fine. We also have fragrance free.
00:28:51
Kate Assaraf
So I want to make sure that if you have any questions, like our team is there for you. Get human customer service. where' We're able to answer anything. um But I want people to know when they see fragrance on the box, like that they have their to credos clean standards and also internationally,
00:29:08
Kate Assaraf
clean standards, like we could sell these in Europe if we wanted to. So that's something I want your audience to know when they see it.
00:29:15
Sharla Mandere
That's awesome. I love that. Yeah. and And we do. Yeah. Californians, we do like to ask about fragrance everywhere.
00:29:20
Kate Assaraf
I know. I know. I love it.
00:29:21
Sharla Mandere
think i know it's something that's top of mind right now.
00:29:25
Kate Assaraf
I love it. And I, I'm happy that fragrance is getting like kind of, you know, noticed because there are a lot of really cheap synthetic fragrances out there that are disrupting human health. Like there's just no doubt about it.
00:29:38
Kate Assaraf
And when you have exposure to those things after like, you know, say an air freshener for a long time, or like, you know, very cheap cleaning agents for your house and you're breathing those in, like you, you you can almost like feel it. Like the animal part of you is like, I don't like this, you know?
00:29:53
Kate Assaraf
Um, So, so anyway, that's, I wanted, if before anyone goes like crazy on the fragrance, I wanted them to know that I, I made it so clean to the highest standards of clean that I know that's available on the market.
00:30:07
Kate Assaraf
Thank
00:30:08
Sharla Mandere
I love that. I love your passion for that. And I love that you did that research and that homework and really put, I can tell you put your heart into this.
00:30:10
Kate Assaraf
you.
00:30:16
Sharla Mandere
And so. Yeah.
00:30:17
Kate Assaraf
Yeah, I used to go to the Church of Essential Oils myself. I used to be like, oh my God, like this is, it's all natural is like where it's at. And then suddenly I did like, I went down a rabbit hole and I was like, oh no like not, no, like that's not what I would put on my kids at all. Like, cause you get to a point in life where you forget about yourself and everything's like for your kids.
00:30:36
Kate Assaraf
um I've done that, been guilty of that a little bit. But when I make choices for things for our family, it's always with the children's health in mind before my own now. And, um, that was something that was like, really, was it was ah it a tough decision because I knew fragrance was going to get a bad rap.
00:30:52
Kate Assaraf
Um, but it, it's also, it's so important on the backend to make sure that it's, you know, clean. Um, so yeah, but you can go into store and smell them and then you can be like, you know what?
00:31:04
Kate Assaraf
I just want fragrance free. I don't even want to be part of this conversation because we have that too.
00:31:08
Sharla Mandere
you know Awesome. and And your web, the website is dip.
00:31:13
Kate Assaraf
dipalready.com. And that's also our social.
00:31:15
Sharla Mandere
Awesome.
00:31:16
Kate Assaraf
So on Instagram, I'm most active. If you want to ask me any questions, I'm there at dipalready. And then also on the TikTok. It's the same.
00:31:25
Sharla Mandere
awesome Thank you so much for being on, Kate.
00:31:26
Kate Assaraf
Cool.
00:31:27
Sharla Mandere
I love this. And and yeah, i hope I hope that moms take away like, go, let's shop small. Let's bring it back. Let's bring it back. And you're in like mom-owned stores.
00:31:37
Kate Assaraf
A lot of them are mom loaned for sure. Not all of them. So we we sell in zero waste stores, surf shops, and hair salons. Like it's earned, dip has earned its spot in hair salons. So if you're worried about whether it's going be good or not, I'm telling you, even even like celebrity salons are starting to bring it in, um which is really exciting for me. It's like so exciting actually.
00:31:58
Sharla Mandere
Yeah, I bet. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, congratulations. And you so much for being on.
00:32:02
Kate Assaraf
Thank you.
00:32:05
Sharla Mandere
Appreciate it.
00:32:05
Kate Assaraf
Thank you so much for having me.
00:32:07
Sharla Mandere
Of course. And we will see you in the next episode. Bye.
00:32:11
Kate Assaraf
Bye.