Woman creates sustainable bath product line inspired by cluttered Toronto condo

We all know Toronto condos are notoriously tiny. When you’re already practically living in a shoebox, real estate is precious in every single little space, even the bathroom and shower (which are often also quite small).

Enter Glow Green Co., founded by Jehan Raffiuddin, who became alarmed not only by the bath and body products piling up and cluttering her space, but also by the amount of plastic they represented.

“I started Glow Green Co. to solve a massive, overlooked problem in beauty,” Raffiuddin tells YourCityWithIN.com. “The waste we don’t see.”

She wanted to find a way to combat the billions of single-use plastics and millions of wasted litres of water that come from creating beauty products, and even fight food waste by incorporating discarded materials into products.

“Everything we create either saves water, reduces carbon emissions, or upcycles food waste and still works just as well, if not better, than the top global brands,” says Raffiuddin.

She’s actually been working in beauty for over 10 years but has also worked across many industries, doing everything from working at startups to leading global campaigns.

“Even with all that, nothing truly prepares you for entrepreneurship. It’s messy, emotional, and forces you to grow in ways no job ever could. The only thing that keeps you grounded is the why, and for me, it’s our mission and the people we serve. Every DM, every review, every customer who tells us they feel proud to make the switch, that’s what keeps me showing up, even on the hardest days,” says Raffiuddin.

“Like any early-stage founder, I wear every hat, from product innovation to marketer to chief executive officer. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Building something that genuinely helps people feel good and do good at the same time? That’s the dream.”

When it comes to Glow Green Co. specifically, it’s a dream that’s been nearly three years in the making. Over 120 formulas were tested just to make Glow Green’s first products a reality.

“Every formula either saves water, reduces carbon emissions, or upcycles food waste,” says Raffiuddin.

So to save water making beauty products, just remove the water, right? Raffiuddin basically set out to do just that, creating products with the water removed that could be rehydrated at home.

“The machines and systems needed to develop powder-based formulas that lather, hydrate, and feel amazing on the skin just don’t exist in most beauty labs. It’s not a mainstream process, and most manufacturers didn’t know how to do it, or flat-out didn’t believe in our idea,” says Raffiuddin.

Water wasn’t the only thing she wanted to remove from Glow Green Co. products, committing to avoiding over 1,700 ingredients, presenting significant formulation challenges. And what about all that wasteful packaging that inspired her in the first place?

“Most body wash bottles are narrow and nearly impossible to reuse or refill. So we custom-designed our own mold,” she says. “We were turned away by supplier after supplier.”

All those challenges were worth it in the end, as when Glow Green Co. launched recently they sold out much faster than expected.

“For a small brand with limited manufacturing capacity, that was both a challenge and a huge sign that we were onto something,”

“We’ve had customers DM us saying it’s the first time they’ve used a sustainable product that actually feels luxurious and effective. People are proud to display it in their showers, proud to share it with friends, and that’s exactly what we hoped for,” says Raffiuddin.

“We’ve received five-star reviews from across Canada, and some of our earliest customers have already reordered, which is the best kind of validation. It’s proof that people aren’t just willing to make the switch, they’re excited to. Also we were lucky, we had one of our TikToks go viral and just that one video got hundreds of Canadians from coast to coast to discover us and place an order with us.”

Glow Green is planning on capitalizing on that momentum, expanding their line and hoping to eliminate millions of single-use plastics and save millions of litres of water in the process. The next product they’re launching is a moisturizer made with 96 per cent upcycled ingredients from Mediterranean food and veggie scraps that hydrates, boosts collagen and protects against environmental stressors.

“Beyond products, we’re building a community, one that’s excited about refill culture, climate action, and changing the industry from the inside out,” says Raffiuddin.

“Smart design and conscious choices can completely reshape what beauty looks like in the future.”