The sun bathes the walls of Boynton Canyon in glowing red. It is said that an energy field emanates from the stones. This special place is home to Mii Amo, a beautiful, exclusive resort; an enclave to unwind, rethink, reboot. The resort's spa plays a very crucial role in getting away from it all. If you wrap yourself in a fluffy bathrobe here, your skin has been cared for by the experts - BABOR. For years, Mii Amo, this oasis in the Arizona desert on the west coast of the United States, has relied on expert skin care from Germany.
G-Beauty, German Beauty, is catching on in the USA. BABOR Co-CEO Tim Waller knows why: "Our promise is unique. We call it the BABOR Trinity: outstanding product performance and luxurious, clean textures, produced in a particularly sustainable way in Germany." By the way, this is not only convincing at Mii Amo. In addition to the upscale resort, more and more top addresses are relying on the German label. The brand, long considered a hidden gem for connoisseurs, is well on its way to becoming a global player. It began modestly in a kitchen in Cologne.
OUR PROMISE IS UNIQUE. WE CALL IT THE BABOR TRINITY: OUTSTANDING PRODUCT PERFORMANCE & LUXURIOUS, CLEAN TEXTURES, PRODUCED IN A PARTICULARLY SUSTAINABLE WAY IN GERMANY.
TIM WALLER
BABOR CO-CEO
SUSTAINABLE SINCE 1956
In 1956, chemist Dr. Michael Babor developed HY-ÖL, a facial cleanser based on natural oils. This was the birth of the BABOR brand. At the time, it traded as "Dr. B. bio-medical cosmetics", a name that still describes the essence of what it is all about today: Nature meets science. "Being organic, being sustainable, is sort of in our DNA", Tim Waller tells us. "We were often ahead of our time." For instance, the brand explored refill in the 1990s, or waste management and water microfiltration at a time when sustainability still was ridiculed. "When it comes to ingredients, we're committed to an ambitious Clean Standard", Waller says. "It states that by 2025, all skincare products must be free of microplastics – not just microplastic particles, but also synthetic polymers. Products should be free of silicones, parabens, PEGs, mineral oils, critical sulfates, non-certified palm oil and synthetic dyes. And all of this meets the outstanding performance that BABOR products stand for."
To ensure that this ambitious goal is achieved, the BABOR brand relies on its own laboratories at its headquarters in Aachen, where scientists scrutinize, optimize and test every new formulation. "We have the complete value chain in our hands", Waller reports. "That means we can not only create the exact products that meet the highest BABOR standards – i.e. performance, luxury and sustainability – we can also produce them in a way that is extremely sustainable." A new production facility has just been built for this purpose – the largest investment in the company's history. The building meets the criteria of the german KfW 40 energy efficiency standard, making it a low-energy building. It is to be energy self-sufficient by 2030. This is made possible primarily by a gigantic photovoltaic system on the roof. Electricity that is not currently needed flows into a car battery cube that would have the capacity to supply 120 single-family homes for a day. This "Electric Factory" uses almost no fossil fuels. In 2024, the last few percent will be converted to hydrogen.
EXCELLENT SELF-CARE BEGINS WITH EXCELLENT SKIN CARE
PERFORMANCE
Back to 1956. The facial cleanser developed back then is still a bestseller today, and something else is valid. "For the second part of the slogan back then – 'bio-medical' cosmetics – we would now translate it as 'efficacy'," explains the Co-CEO. "This product performance is our guiding principle. BABOR is an expert skin care brand, which means our products have to convince professionals – and they do. For more than 65 years."
Today, the brand has moved out of its niche. Salons and spas, such as the dreamlike spa at Mii Amo, are still the centerpiece, but in addition it can also be found in, for example, KaDeWe, flagship stores and, of course, on the digital shelf. Above all the BABOR ampoules.
These 2 ml glass vials contain just the right single dose of innovative ingredients to achieve an immediately visible effect. The idea for the small glass vials came from the medical field. For the world of beauty, the ampoules were an absolute innovation. To this day, their effect is unrivaled. This is guaranteed by continuous research and a sophisticated manufacturing process. Each ampoule is melted only immediately before filling, kept sterile during the filling process and sealed airtight immediately after filling.
The valuable active ingredients are protected as if in a high-security facility. The latest highlight from the BABOR laboratories: power ampoules that use 8-fold hyaluronic acid, retinol and vitamin C on top of each other to visibly renew the skin in one week. Fast effect in seven days? Sounds rapid. "In our fast-paced world, time spent mindfully is the ultimate luxury. Indulge in excellence is what we call it", explains Waller, who travels extensively himself for his job.
"We believe that excellent self-care starts with excellent skin care. It can be 5 minutes in the bathroom in the morning when I quickly crack open an ampoule – a top unisex product, by the way. But it can also be a treatment with one of our more than 100,000 skin experts worldwide. Here, I can completely immerse myself and switch off." By the way, if you want to experience this once, you don't have to travel all the way to Arizona. It can also be done in one of the flagships in Hamburg, Berlin or Frankfurt, at the foot of the Brandenburg Gate in the renowned Hotel Adlon, or even quickly in the bathroom. However, Waller also knows: "The Mii Amo is an excellent travel recommendation."
