The Power Of Tea Drives Dermatologists De Anne Harris Collier and Raechele Cochran Gathers’ New Scalp Wellness Brand Bloomballa Beauty

Dermatologists De Anne Harris Collier and Raechele Cochran Gathers are big believers in the power of tea—and not just for sipping.

They’ve made tea the star of their adaptogenic scalp wellness brand Bloomballa Beauty, which has 10 products available across three categories: tea infusion serums, tea rinses and teas. The products contain rooibos, peppermint, green tea, yarrow, calendula and more for soothing scalp irritation, promoting hair growth, relieving stress and supporting strong strands, among a myriad of benefits.

In the tea category, Gro-Well + Stress-Less Hair Tea is Bloomballa’s hero product. Tricho+Calm Tea Booster Follicle Defense + Adaptogens Tea Rinse is the hero product in the tea rinse category, and Damage Defender AOx Detox Serum + Antioxidants is the hero product in the tea infusion serum category. The products are priced from $12 to $69 on a one-off basis, but subscriptions save customers 15% on several of them.

Cochran Gathers extols tea’s high levels of healthy polyphenols. She says. “What these polyphenols do and what antioxidants do is they reduce damage at a cellular level, so they can help to really neutralize harmful free radicals in the body that may develop from exposure to stress or from exposure to environmental toxins.”

The process to bring Bloomballa to market wasn’t easy. The period between ideation and completion stretched several years, and Cochran Gathers and Harris Collier poured a six-figure amount into brand development. Harris Collier says, “We had to learn every aspect of the business, from website to development, managing inventory and continuing to learn things about bottles, labels and vendors. I mean all of this is foreign to us, and it all happened during a pandemic, so it was just sometimes overwhelming.”

Cochran Gathers and Harris Collier painstakingly researched every botanical incorporated in their brand’s products prior to deciding to include them—and there are a lot of botanicals. The product Revita+Fol Defense Serum + Adaptogens, for example, has 20 active botanicals such as holy basil, bilberry fruit, moringa and baobab oil. Once Cochran Gathers and Harris Collier had a good handle on Bloomballa’s formulations, they tested them with friends and family members.

To extract the botanicals in its products, the brand employs a four-week proprietary small-batch process it calls radical botanical infusion. Cochran Gathers says, “The products and the benefits that they give you cannot be made overnight. It takes time, it really takes intentionality and, to do it in this way, we feel has to be done in a micro-batch, small-batch type of way.”

“The products and the benefits that they give you cannot be made overnight. It takes time.”

In the beauty industry, scalp health and wellness has been a robust segment of late. Also in the beauty industry, dermatologists have long been players, but they’ve become especially relevant now as the spotlight on expertise burns bright. Cochran Gathers and Harris Collier join an expanding group of them establishing new beauty brands. Bloomballa is informed by a combination of their expertise and experiences. Cochran Gathers, who previously founded online beauty content destination M.D. Hair Mixtress and won L’Oréal’s Ethnic Skin and Hair Symposium Young Investigator Award, has extensively researched hair loss.

“While researching and studying hair loss, I actually became really intrigued by the role of natural botanicals in healing and in health,” she says. “And when you look at healing, I think it’s really like a puzzle. You’ve got traditional medicine, which is paramount, and I think another part of that puzzle that I began to discover was using botanicals, phytonutrients and things like various herbs, teas, oils.”

Harris Collier has dealt with hearing loss, leaky gut issues, scalp inflammation, hair loss and breakouts exacerbated by nutritional deficiencies and fatigue. Drawing on her Jamaican roots, she turned to a plant-based drink her father concocted to address her ailments—and it was beneficial. That result was integral in persuading her that botanicals can be advantageous in patient care. Dedicated to clean, natural formulations, Bloomballa adheres to what it dubs “The Never Nine” pledge to avoid phthalates, phenols, formaldehyde, parabens, artificial fragrance, silicones, diethanolamine (DEA), and polyethylene glycol and other petroleum-derived ingredients.

For its first year in business, Cochran Gathers and Harris Collier haven’t set a sales expectation in stone for Bloomballa. Instead, they’re committed to the first year being primarily for learning about its customers and place in the market. Harris Collier says she and Cochran Gathers “want to get the brand out there and educate people about what we have to offer and start getting people to talk about tea infusion beauty. [We] certainly hope we inspire customers to buy.”

At the outset, Bloomballa isn’t sold at retailers. Instead, it’s strictly in direct-to-consumer distribution. However, in the near future, Cochran Gathers and Harris Collier are open to placing it in retailers that fit its clean beauty, clean living and self-care philosophies.

Over the next few years, Bloomballa’s goal is to evolve into a global lifestyle and wellness brand centered on tea-infused products and become a household name. Harris Collier says, “Will do this by spreading the gospel of self-care and the role of how adaptogens, antioxidants and phytonutrients have their place in wellness and beauty by providing high-quality, performance-driven clean and natural products.”