Coming to our Senses: How Botanical Skincare is Setting the Bar for Eco-Conscious Hospitality
By Alex Ruelas
Yucatán has a vast cultural and natural heritage. Quintana Roo’s neighboring state is known worldwide for being a melting pot of historical and biological elements. This place full of possibilities birthed a project seeking to harness this wealth and shift the local hospitality industry towards a healthier relationship with our bodies and the environment.
“It began with the idea of promoting environmental consciousness in the hospitality industry,” says Adriana Vales, founder and director of Yucatan Senses, a Mérida-based company that is working to change the face of self-care products. “We were looking for ways to transform people’s mindset through high-end amenities and skincare products that are really good for us and the ecosystem.”
That mission began with a rather simple idea –refill, or why on Earth would you get rid of a perfectly good bottle after a single use. It was then 2016. Adriana, born in Yucatán, was back from Florence after studying a degree in international business and came home with an urge to revalue local products by combining them with top-notch design. She started experimenting.
A family-owned property in Progreso, very close to Mérida, became the testing ground for a brand that is now rapidly expanding along with the tourist industry in the Riviera Maya. Travelers are keen to try other ways of consuming that reduce their impact on the planet, and Yucatan Senses provides just that.
The initial thought of refilling bottles to reduce waste unraveled and morphed into a larger question. How to turn Yucatán’s cultural and natural diversity into natural products that are paraben and preservative-free and take care of the place where they are made? Further, these should become part of a travel experience. “We wanted to give tourists not only a product that is good for them, but that also has an authentic quality,” relates Adriana.
The answer was in local traditions. “Many artisans in the region have been making soaps and other products for a long time,” she states. “However, there is a lot of raw material that isn't used to its full potential.” To fill that void, Adriana and her partners started by bringing people together.
They went to Yucatán’s interior, looking in small communities for stellar ingredients and skilled hands that could give them new life. Then, they contacted expert chemists to develop formulas that turned raw elements into nourishing products, from organic shampoo to aromatherapy essential oils. Finally, they created a clean and elegant design concept that felt at home in the world’s top markets.
Their search led them to three core ingredients: aloe vera, coconut oil, and honey. Each of them has a particular significance, not only because of their well-known medicinal properties but because of what they mean to local communities. Yaxcopoil, a small village to the south of Mérida, used to be a major henequen producer at the beginning of the last century. Now one of its main products is honey. Coconut oil is sourced from San Crisanto, a seaside village on the Peninsula’s northern coast. Aloe vera is bought in Valladolid, one of Yucatán’s colonial jewels. All of these products are certified organic to guarantee their purity.
For Adriana, working with natural ingredients is not just a business guideline, it is a personal quest. “A few years ago, I suffered a particularly aggressive case of psoriasis. It was terrible. I thought I was going to die.” she recounts. From then on, she made it her goal to research how to take care of sensitive skin types. “I mean, it’s like anything you put into your body. Like food, what you use on your skin has to come from nature. They are nutrients that can either sustain or harm you.”
Manufacturing processes are important too. Working closely with artisans in the region, Yucatan Senses has maintained a handcraft-based production as they expand into local and foreign markets. Artisan production also means rejecting animal cruelty. “We don’t test on animals,” Adriana strongly asserts. “In fact, I test the products on myself. I am confident that things that come from the earth will not harm me”.
This is part of her company’s environmental mission. What started as a concern with single-use plastic in packaging expanded to other impacts that cosmetic companies tend to overlook. For instance, an estimated 808 trillion microbeads –tiny pieces of plastic used in scrubs– flow from American drains to the ocean every year. Other chemicals found in sunscreen, like oxybenzone, disrupt coral reproduction and lead to reef bleaching.
None of these are part of Yucatan Senses’ products, which have an expiry date due to their lack of preservatives. As Adriana puts it, “It is impossible to make a reef-safe sunscreen that is 100 SPF, or an insect repellent that lasts for years. Natural products have expiry dates. If it can’t degrade, then it is not good for the environment”.
They shun other pollutants too. Reusing bottles started a chain reaction that led to getting rid of bubble wrap and swapping the styrofoam of packing peanuts for biodegradable starch. It also prompted the creation of Back to Yucatán, a program that allows customers to return their empty bottles in exchange for discounts. Yucatan Senses products can even be bought in bulk at the Wóolies Foodie Market in Tulum. “There is no need for people to have our bottles. They can come with whichever container, and we are happy to refill them with any product they want”, says Adriana. This approach has not only brought more people in; companies are also joining.
As it expands in the Riviera Maya, Yucatan Senses collaborates with companies that share the same eco-conscious mindset. All amenities in Maya Luxe villas are now paraben and preservative-free. Further, complimentary biodegradable sunscreen and repellent guarantee that we are not harming the fragile Caribbean environment. These are becoming hallmarks of top-notch service. “Our main market has been in high-end tourism, where companies are willing to pay a bit more to give their guests a better experience that also takes care of nature,” Adriana abounds.
Yucatan Senses is promoting a shift in consciousness. As the need to protect the environment becomes ever more urgent, they have turned to possibly the source of all answers: nature itself. Like Adriana suggested before, if it comes from the earth, then it must be good for us, too. Further, taking care of our bodies can become a daily reminder that we all have a role to play in setting new standards for how we travel and how we relate to the world around us.
