“Cannabis will become a whole body supporter, not just a novel skincare ingredient!”
Where the US leads, the UK inevitably follows, especially in beauty and wellness, and a new development at the Beverly Hills branch of Barneys New York – a luxury cannabis shop – shows green shoots for this blossoming market: ‘The High End’ will feature cannabidiol beauty products, Beboe silver vape pens, gold rolling papers and jewellery, and will open in March.
The scalable value of the market for cannabinoids (with their healing, antioxidant and neuroprotective benefits) – and CBD in particular – is huge: research by Energias suggests that the worldwide medical cannabis market is expected to develop significantly from $8.28b in 2017 to some $28b by 2024, and the global legalisation and regulation of cannabis is believed to be the number one driver for this rapid growth rate. Here, a number of savvy proponents are preparing for the demand.
The Chelsea Drugstore recently had a CBD pop up and Belfast-based Clinical Aromatherapist & Cannabis Researcher Colleen Quinn, who consults to cannabis farms across the US, believes the hemp and marijuana movement is the next big thing in UK beauty and medicine.
“In the next five years CBD will be a standard beauty ingredient”, she says. “However, innovative formulas which intelligently combine other plant terpenes with the cannabinoids within hemp will be the science that will greatly impact our skin’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant function. Moreover, utilising hemp as a daily internal supplement will ultimately be the driver to stimulate our endocannabinoid system and consequently support our immune system”. She adds that “the focus will shift from CBD to the cannabis plant as a whole with research emerging from the States and Israel primarily to support the effect of using all the cannabinoids and terpenes collectively.”
Brands leading the way in CBD beauty currently include Lord Jones, Milk makeup (who have added it to mascara) Kush Queen, Vertly balm, Disciple skincare, MYADERM CBD and LEEF Organics.
